Caramel cream ale?

[gwood]

Just made a list and ordered online. Brewing next week, should be a good one.

Thanks Cheese, I've been wanting to do something a bit different!

 

[Schlenkerla]

Cheese - Check out this link:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=477943#post477943

 

[Schlenkerla]

My VCCA is made, yeast pitched , now to wait it out. Prolly rack to the 2ndary after new years.

Can't wait to giver a taste.

 

[Ice9]

I racked mine to secondary this evening.
OG - 1.052
FG - 1.012

 

[Schlenkerla]

I'm kind of curious, does the wyeast 1007 take awhile to get cranking?

This is my first time using 1007. My smack pack was fully inflated.

Its been 18hrs since I pitched. Its showing signs of activity, but not much. Temp is a little on the low end ~57F

Is this one a slow starter?

 

[Cauldron7]

Mine was raging away 12 hours after i pitched. My temp was a steady 64 the whole fermentaiton though. You wont be disappointed with this beer. I had to force myself to hide a 6 pack away for true aging.

 

[Chriso]

Didn't like the taste AT ALL when I transferred this to secondary.

Tried a taste after adding my priming sugar/malto/lactose/vanilla, and it's much better. Can't wait for this to age, I can tell that it's GOING to taste good, just not yet.

If I had to change any one thing, though, I would add only 1 oz at boil, and 2 oz at bottling. I did it in reverse this time, 2 in boil, 1 at bottle. (Only had a 3 oz bottle)

Already have another bottle of vanilla extract for the next batch, can't wait to get it going!

 

[Schlenkerla]

Holy Crap!

I have 5 galllons of VCCA in a 7.9 gal and its blowing out the airlock. I'm gonna add my blow off hose.

I should have known better!!!

 

[PearlJamNoCode]

Just bottled my first batch of this (also my first batch ever) on Friday. Tasted like beer! Gonna let this sit for the next three-four weeks and then have a real nice beer.

OG: 1.055
FG: 1.014

EDIT:

Mine was a slow started as well. My packet barely swelled, pitched and fermented at 68*, and it took nearly 48 hours to get going. But when it did start boy did it start!

 

[Schlenkerla]

Mine was a slow started as well. My packet barely swelled, pitched and fermented at 68*, and it took nearly 48 hours to get going. But when it did start boy did it start!

Mine was swelled to the max. Started slow and is rip-roaring now. The blow-off has bubbles passing through every 3-4 seconds. :rockin:

Boy this almost sounds dirty!!!

 

[Lukus]

I pitched a couple of days ago and it started slowly bubbling 12 hours later and I thought man I must have messed something up, but then it started foaming at the mouth. So it must be ok

 

[PearlJamNoCode]

I just primed and bottled a batch on Saturday after exactly 3 weeks in primary. When do you think would be the earliest I could try it, then when would it be at peak flavor?

I am surprised at how patient I have been so far! Maybe that's because I haven't had any of it yet!

 

[Soulive]

I just primed and bottled a batch on Saturday after exactly 3 weeks in primary. When do you think would be the earliest I could try it, then when would it be at peak flavor?

I am surprised at how patient I have been so far! Maybe that's because I haven't had any of it yet!

The earliest you should try it is 10 days. It'll be better at 14 days though and even better at 21. It'll probably be at its best between 4-6 weeks...

 

[PearlJamNoCode]

Today I had my first two... been bottled for about 12 days now and I like it, can't wait to see what it tastes like in a week or two. If I had to do it all over again I'd add more vanilla when I bottled, I only added 2oz.

 

[gwood]

I did all 1 oz hop additions, and toned down the vanilla to 2oz after boil and 2oz at bottleing - tastes amazing!

Good to hear that you bumped up the hops on this as well. I did an oz each of Cascade, Saaz, and Tett. How does the vanilla play with the additional hops?

 

[Cauldron7]

Good to hear that you bumped up the hops on this as well. I did an oz each of Cascade, Saaz, and Tett. How does the vanilla play with the additional hops?

I think it came out perfectly balanced. If i were to do it again, I dont think i would do anything different.....

 

[gwood]

I think it came out perfectly balanced. If i were to do it again, I dont think i would do anything different.....

Very glad to hear this. I've been wondering if the cascade at 1oz for bittering was going to throw things off a bit.

 

[RadicalEd]

Just wanted to report in here; I brought a bottle of this stuff over to the local HB club meeting, and got universally good feedback on it (well, ok, there was one guy who doesn't like crystal and another who doesn't do sweet, but they obviously don't count). It's definitely a dessert beer, but I think that it'll do well as a "change of pace" beer, or with a group of friends after a big meal. Thanks for the recipe!

 

[Bandit112]

After reading all of the reviews that this beer has sparked, had to try it. My friend and I just bottled it today, and I could not stop sipping on the sample we pulled from the little bit that was remaining once the bottles were done. I'm lookin forward to it in a few weeks. Thanks Cheese

 

[JeanLucD]

Just brewed up my second attempt at this great beer, and only after brewing realised that the more up to date recipe (which is what I followed this second time round) had substituted Hallertauer for Tettnanger. Is there any reason for this, other than possibly the fact that you guys have that hop shortage? 'Cause I'm pretty sure that there was hallertauer at my LHBS - I don't think that we've been affected too much by your shortage (for eg my 100g of tett cost me $8NZ, which is ~$1.79US per oz).

Either way I guess it won't hurt, just curious more than anything. I must admit that I prefer the smell of tett compared to that of hallertauer, so maybe I'll like it better in my beer.

 

[Skunkyhops]

Just wanted to shout out to Cheese and say thanks for throwin such an awesome recipe up! I have this sitting in primary and it looks and smells AMAZING even after a couple days I tasted a reading sample and it was pretty damn good for only being 2 days old.

 

[InkPouchMan]

Damn, this looks amazing! It'd be nice if an eHBS would put this together as a kit; the hops are kinda hard to find, and paying shipping on 3 different orders to get 'em all seems a bit over the top. The LHBS might have them, but their selection didn't seem all that great the last time I was there.

Do any eHBS do custom kits, with a kit-size discount?

 

[gwood]

Just had my first pint of this last night and WOW! Great recipe! It's been in the bottle now for two weeks and I'd venture to say it's still a bit green, still great though...it will only get better.

I did 2oz of high quality vanilla at bottling and I'm very happy with the results (For my taste it was just the right amount as I suspect it will mellow over time), also bumped up the hop additions to 1oz each. I still find it very well balanced and think it will be a great addition to the stash.

 

[DiscoFetus]

Put this into primary today. Man it smelled awesome. Made a few adjustments. Used a London Ale yeast since they were out of the German. Figured the oaky, woody feel would go nice, and rather than Crystal used Mt. Hood. We'll see what happens.

 

[BeachBumDeac]

This is gonna be my third beer as a home brewer. Need to go get a second fermenter before I can brew it, but I'm pretty excited.

 

[TerapinChef]

Brewed it up tonight, chiller is running right now. Fairly smooth process, had a big dumb*ss moment when I started to take the second runnings from the MLT into my Ale Pail (for movement to the cold outside and for measurement purposes) and ran to the bathroom real quick. Came back to find a slowly creeping puddle of beautiful golden wort on the floor, as I left the spigot open. DOH!
But everything worked out very well, sampled OG @ 1.060. tasted great!

 

[bgrand281]

is this the recipe that is used, or is there another updated one in this 50+ page thread? I don't have the patience to read ALL of this. I want to make it, but I am getting a brain cramp reading all of this. But, Wow< it must be good with all this responce

 

[PearlJamNoCode]

is this the recipe that is used, or is there another updated one in this 50+ page thread? I don't have the patience to read ALL of this. I want to make it, but I am getting a brain cramp reading all of this. But, Wow< it must be good with all this responce

i used the recipe on the first page... maybe the 3rd or 4th post in the thread. it turned out grat and i've gotten much good feedback for it.

 

[bgrand281]

does this recipe have actually caramel flavor? Or is it a subtle hint like a Leinies honey weiss, wiath the honey that you don't "taste" but is there in the sences of the beer?

 

[Yooper]

Well, I made it about a year and a half ago. I think it tastes like cream soda with beer. I don't really know if that's what you're asking, but the vanilla is there along with some cloying sweetness. I don't recall specifically caramel. If you like cream soda pop, you'd like this.