Creme Brulee Stout

[CidahMastah]

I think this is about what I'm looking at:
Hopville . "Vanilla Stout" Sweet Stout Recipe

You might want to go for the amber syrup belgian candy or simplicity syrup 45 instead for the carmel flavor. OR perhaps add some C80 or c120 and skip the syrup. The d2 belgian candy/180 simplicty syrup is really tasty, but it is more dark chocolatey and dark fruit than caramel. I didn't get those flavors from the southern tier.

IMO the southern tier was sweet, lots of vanilla and the lactose was prevalent too. For me it calling it a creme brulee was a push (since creme brulee is essentially custard with the burnt sugar on top, I got no custard flavor), but i definitely got a caramel notes and plenty of vanilla. Let's face it though, creme brulee stout is way cooler sounding that "burned sugar stout"

 

[ao125]

You might want to go for the amber syrup belgian candy or simplicity syrup 45 instead for the carmel flavor.

Noted. I'll adjust when I get home - for some reason, my work firewall won't let me delete recipe ingredients from Hopville, just add them.

Thanks

 

[D_Ranged_Eskimo]

Watch it on this, I had Southern Tier's version and it was way too sweet. Nobody in my family could drink more than a few sips, and half the bottle got tossed.

You almost need to a call a dentist immediately after drinking their version. The flavor was great, but damn was it really sugary sweet!

 

[skagit991]

I'll gladly share it if you don't have access to the december issue of BYO

 

[skagit991]

Yes, my fermentation went crazy. Put a 1" blow off hose on it and it spewed foam for nearly 2 days. I think I lost more than 1/2 gallon of beer in the process. The little yeasties were happy!

 

[sniperd]

I have this issue of BYO and will be making it next weekend. I see that it states, 1 oz of Columbus hops, yet in the in the AG version (which I'll be doing) it states "reduce the 60 minute hop addtion to 1.25 oz columbus hops". Is that supposed to be "increase" or is it a type-o and they flipped the amounts?

 

[skagit991]

Well I racked my brew to the secondary yesterday. I lost nearly 3/4 gallon in the explosion of fermentation that happened in the first two days.

This is my first High Gravity beer and I am wondering how long I should keep it in the secondary? Also, is it necessary to add more yeast before bottling a beer like this?

 

[sniperd]

I just brewed this on Saturday and hit the OG 1.106 exactly. It says in the magazine that you only let it need ferment for 2 weeks and then just a bit on the bottle, I find that odd. I'm planning on 2 weeks primary and then a few more in secondary and then I'm chucking it into a keg and will be dispensing on nitro.

If I were bottling it I would be concerned about having to pitch yeast before bottling, this is also my highest gravity beer, my previous was 1.065 or so. I would.... keg it!

 

[grizovicarl]

I brewed this same beer last weekend! Will keg soon.

 

[skagit991]

I need a keg

 

[MoeFoties]

I'm planning to tackle this brew tomorrow while smoking a nice 5-Vegas Cask Strength cigar My LHBS didn't have Belgian Black Malt, so I went with 2 lbs of Carafa III instead. The OG is estimated to be 1.112, with a final ABV of 11%. I'm also going to use turbinado sugar instead of white cane sugar. Fortunately Costco had a 2-vial pack of 10 vanilla beans for just over eleven bucks! I plan to split the batch into two 5-gallon fermenters with a 1/2-gallon starter of Wyeast 1028 into each. Hopefully the head space will keep the airlock clear. Wish me luck...I'm breaking in a new mash tun on this one. I'll post my results when they're in.

 

[skagit991]

Good idea to use the two 5 gallon fermenters. I'll definately do it that way if I do something like this again. I lost a lot during the blow off from the initial fermentation.

 

[sniperd]

I wasn't able to find Belgian Black Malt but did see that Black Patent is actually the same malt, it's just been renamed by... the guy that names malts? I have no idea. But it's supposed to be the same exact malt for anybody else looking to clone this recipe.

 

[suprchunk]

I know they list the ingredients on their site and all. But, I find this beer, Choklat, Mokah, and one other I can't remember to be too artificial in flavor. It is like the chocolate they add is not real chocolate. It tastes like the scratch and sniff stickers back in the day smelled. The only beer I really like from them is Pumking. I would like to hear how this turned out. It sounds like it will definitely be better than what ST is throwing out the doors.

 

[sniperd]

I should have taken some pictures from brew day. I was using my friends mash tun which is a 10 gallon cooler from Home Depot with a braided hose on the bottom. My mash tun is a big coleman cooler with copper on the bottom and we had been debating on if one is better then the other, should we make a false bottom etc. and we used my my mash tun to brew up a 15 gallon batch of a northern brown ale, (which we split 2/3 and 1/3 ownership of the wort) so we used his to make my stout.

Right away I thought we were in trouble with a stuck mash. The wort was coming out like warm molasses, very slowly. Well, too late now just go with it. Did the rest of the brewing and when we went to siphon it into the fermenter it was also very slow... hm.. so I dunked my spoon and and just let it dribble off.. it really was like hot molasses! So it wasn't a problem with his cooler, just very thick wort. Pretty neat!

I'm 1 week in and my fermenter's airlock is still bubbling a little bit. Gonna give it another week in primary and then probably a few weeks in secondary... or at least until my Oatmeal Stout keg kicks! And then it's onto nitro powered stout faucet!!! So excited!

 

[MoeFoties]

I brewed this labor-intensive beer last night. I agree with sniperd that this was a seriously thick mash...it lautered very, very slowly, but it all worked out in the end.

I usually boil-off about 1.25 gallons, but for some reason I started with 6.25 gallons pre-boil, and only 4.5 gallons went into the fermenters. I think maybe I'm just not used to using whole leaf hops...they seemed to soak up quite a bit more wort than I remember. My OG is 1.106...so I'm on track for a 10.5%-ish beer. I'm definitely glad I split the batch into two 5-gallon fermentors...fermentation started in only a couple hours and the krausen is gonna be massive!

For those of you who brewed this, did you get much of a vanilla aroma at all? I split & seeded three vanilla beans I bought from Costco and threw them in at flame-out, but never really got much vanilla aroma. I'll have to sample it in a month or so, and then maybe throw 2 or 3 more beans into secondary if the vanilla isn't a little more noticeable.

All said and done, I'm sure that even if this isn't a dead ringer for ST Creme Brulee, it'll be a solid beer anyway! Good luck to those of you who still plan to tackle this one. Oh...here's a little piece of advice I could've used: Start to caramelize the sugar BEFORE the lactose addition for better timing, and use a pan of low weight with a handle for pouring into the kettle. I also should've turned the flame off before adding the sugar...it didn't burn, but it tunred the wort into a temporary active lava pit during the addition!

 

[sniperd]

I also should've turned the flame off before adding the sugar...it didn't burn, but it tunred the wort into a temporary active lava pit during the addition!

Sort of reminded me like the first time I brewed. "What's this, 'hot break' I read about.. oh well, let's just AHHHHHH! TURN IT OFF!"

 

[csiewert]

Brewed this 2 days ago... I had boiling wort/sugar all over my arms, stove, shirt, pants and dog when I added the caramelized sugar... which hardens almost instantly and was a real mess. I'm assuming that I lost a few oz of the sugar when this happened. Also, my hydrometer broke right before I got a chance to take the SG... really everything that could go wrong with this brew did... hoping it still turns out. It is currently spewing out of the blowoff tube, so that's a good sign.

 

[sniperd]

I'm down to 1.048 gravity at 2 weeks in. Anybody get this down to 1.033?

 

[j_dub4t]

I brewed this one up with my buddy at the beginning of January. We brewed it just as the instructions stated as an extract partial boil and threw the lactose in at 10 min (We almost forgot as we were about 12 deep into a case of Yard's IPA). Our OG (at 5 gallons) ended up being 1.109.

I ended up making a 1.5L starter with a vial of WP002 and WP007 (the LHBS didnt have 2 vials of the recommended yeast). We oxygenated and then let it rip. It got all the way down to 1.028, which was surprising. By calculation that is about 10.7% ABV.

The beer is dangerously drinkable. The alcohol does not come through at all except for a gentle warming. I will say that I am a bit disappointed in the appearance of the beer though. It does not look like an imperial stout should. It looks more like a porter or maybe even a brown ale. I believe that this may be due to our lack of experience handling that many specialty grains/mini-mash at the beginning. All the more reason to jump to AG soon! The flavor/aroma had a heavy vanilla, but no where near the intensity of Southern Tier's beer.

Regardless, a very drinkable beer that I would like to get a second chance at. I would like to hear feedback on how the beer turned out for everyone

 

[MoeFoties]

This weekend will mark two weeks in primary for this beer. I'm going to transfer it to secondary, hope for solid attenuation, give it a taste and evaluate the vanilla presence. Wish me luck...I'll report back on the two-week tasting notes after the weekend.

 

[franksnbeans89]

I brewed this recipe from BYO as well. I brewed the extract. I hit OG @ 1.100 and FG @ 1.036. It is currently in a keg carbing up. But i will be bottling it this weekend. Cant wait to try the first bottle, smells great!

During primary fermentation (64-65 F), i used a 3-piece airlock with no issues. Bubbled away consistently for about a week, then I transferred to my secondary. I was surprised to find an inch of yeast at the bottom of my primary. I was impressed i've never seen so much.

 

[Dhruv6911]

wow... either one of you want to ship me a pint, i'll pay shipping '

 

[MoeFoties]

Just transferred to secondary...the hydrometer reading looks like the FG is 1.033. The OG was 1.106, so it's right around 10% ABV. My wife and I just sampled the hydrometer remnants. Let me begin by saying she's my biggest critic when it comes to brewing...she LOVED it and claimed that once kegged it won't last long. I don't get the overwhelming ST Creme Brulee vanilla aroma, but I'm okay with that. It smells amazing after only two weeks in primary and I'm confident it's going to be a solid beer! I'll be sure and come back in about three weeks once it's kegged and carbed to give another update. Happy brewing!

 

[sniperd]

I've got my kegged up, but my FG was only about 1040 . However I'm just leaving it in the keg for a bit (hopefully drop in gravity) and will chill it in a few weeks (actually whenever my Oatmeal Stout kicks I'll hook it up.) I going to be running it on nitro through my Stout tap so it will be in interesting to see if it strips the aroma or enhances it, or .. does something.. It sure did smell good going into the keg though!

 

[rferguson61]

I've got my kegged up, but my FG was only about 1040 . However I'm just leaving it in the keg for a bit (hopefully drop in gravity) and will chill it in a few weeks (actually whenever my Oatmeal Stout kicks I'll hook it up.) I going to be running it on nitro through my Stout tap so it will be in interesting to see if it strips the aroma or enhances it, or .. does something.. It sure did smell good going into the keg though!

Definantly let us know how it its on nitro

 

[MoeFoties]

I'm kegging mine tomorrow...I threw in 2 vanilla beans five days ago, and it smells amazing! I'll be sure and check back with tasting notes in 1-2 weeks.

 

[sniperd]

Well, it's kegged up and I've had a taste. I think I screwed something up on the cardamom, since it tastes like cardamom stout. It's also a bit on the sweet side. I have a few guess on what I did wrong.

I used fresh cardamom and ground it myself, that may have made it too fine. Perhaps I should have just used to seeds and filtered

I don't think I hit my FG, it seems too sweet and syrup like. I did make a starter but maybe I needed to let it sit longer in the fermenters.

So, if I were to do this again I would go much lighter on the spice, and perhaps use vanilla extract instead (I know.. but I can't even taste it from the beans I put in). I think the rest of it over powered the vanilla and it just faded away.

It's not a dump beer but it's not what I expected. Hopefully it was just mine that way haywire. How did everybody else's come out?

 

[cincydave]

OK..First off, I've never tried the Southern Tier, but love creme brule. Would like to try something like this. That being said, would adding some vanilla extract to the bottling bucket bring out more vanilla flavor. Also, instead of the carmelized sugar, what about throwing a handful of caramels (like the kraft caramels used for caramel apples) in instead. Just thinking out loud here.

 

[ao125]

Also, instead of the carmelized sugar, what about throwing a handful of caramels (like the kraft caramels used for caramel apples) in instead. Just thinking out loud here.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E1DSL8/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I think you'd want to be careful of adding things that are going to make your beer taste artificial. The ingredient list doesn't really make me have faith that it is going to lend the same delicate flavor as just plain caramelized sugar.

Ingredients
Corn syrup, sugar, skim milk, palm oil, whey (from milk), salt, artificial flavor, soy lecithin.