Graham Cracker Ale

[Architect-Dave]

Hi all - Looking for recommendations. I want to brew a graham Cracker Ale. I have seen other recipes, but no follow up as to how it came out. I have been doing a bunch of research (talking to the brew supply stores, other brewers, online recipes and resources). I think I compiled something that hits all the marks. Was looking for suggestions on this.


IBU : 26 (Tinseth)
BU/GU : 0.55
Color : 13 SRM
Pre-Boil Gravity : 1.042
Original Gravity : 1.048
Final Gravity : 1.010

6 lb - Chevallier Heritage Malt 3 °L (51.1%)
1 lb - Honey Malt 19 °L (8.5%)
1 lb 4 oz - Victory Malt (biscuit) 28 °L (10.6%)
1 lb - Aromatic Malt 15.3 °L (8.5%)
1 lb - Caramel Malt 40L 40 °L (8.5%)
1 lb - Oats, Flaked 1.6 °L (8.5%)

60 min - 1 oz - Fuggle - 4.5% (13 IBU)
20 min - 1 oz - Cascade - 5.5% (10 IBU)

60 min - 2 - Cinnamon Sticks
Flame Out - 8 oz - Honey 1.3 °L (4.3%)

Bottling - 15 g - Vanilla Powder

NOTE: Edited Honey Malt to 1-pound…thanks LUMPHER!

 

[lumpher]

5 lbs of honey malt? I know you're looking for a sweet beer, but I think that would turn out undrinkable. I'd tone it down to 1.5 st most. 10% will be VERY noticeable.

 

[Architect-Dave]

5 lbs of honey malt? I know you're looking for a sweet beer, but I think that would turn out undrinkable. I'd tone it down to 1.5 st most. 10% will be VERY noticeable.

Yeah, sorry. I meant to have that as 1 pound in Brewfather.

 

[day_trippr]

I've found no more than 1 pound in 27 (3.7%) is ok, above that treads into the cloying zone...

Cheers!

 

[DBhomebrew]

I'd reconsider the C hop. Grapefruit?

Honey is super subtle. Even in a straight 3lb/Gal mead it can be a rather subtle flavor. I'd probably not bother with it and let the honey malt do the work. In making mead, honey flavor can reemerge after some time in the bottle. 1-2 years. At 1.048, I doubt you're planning on aging.

Along the aging front, be sure to read up on brewers' experiences with Chevallier. Try searching the forum for posts by Miraculix on the subject. I understand it's wonderful stuff if treated right. I also wonder if it's worth using when you're going to use the aromatic, biscuit, etc.

 

[G_robertus]

Not American, so I'm not sure what a Graham cracker would taste like but I feel like there is too much going on in your recipe. I'd add 1.5 - 2 pounds of roasted malts and multiply the base malt two or three times to make it an imperial stout.
I'm not too familiar with honey malt, but this might be a tad much. Biscuit to my palette is way too much. I use 10 g/l at most. Aromatic I've never had, but it seems like more of what's already there. Caramel malt is mostly a personal choice, I can't comment on that. But my point is mainly ask yourself what you want to achieve and how apparent you want it to be. Light hands in light beers (colour and especially gravity) can give loads of flavour in my experience. I fermented a 100% pilsner beer on a malty yeast cake and the beer has plenty of biscuit and malt character.

I'd look into how to add cinnamon as well. I think flameout is also a good option as opposed to boiling 60 minutes, but I would personally do a tincture for easy dosage. Same with vanilla. Use sticks if you can (and I've never heard of powder either). Honey is best added during fermentation is you want to keep the flavour in. I would also agree that rethinking your late hops is a good idea, do you actually need that?

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

The base malt has a rather low DP (50 according to Brewers Friend; I couldn't find detailed information, for free, from the maltster).

I did a quick DuckDuckGo and this link (at HomeBrewTalk) looked like a good starting point for additional information and ideas for grain bills with a low DP.

6 lb - Chevallier Heritage Malt 3 °L (51.1%)
1 lb - Honey Malt 19 °L (8.5%)
1 lb 4 oz - Victory Malt (biscuit) 28 °L (10.6%)
1 lb - Aromatic Malt 15.3 °L (8.5%)
1 lb - Caramel Malt 40L 40 °L (8.5%)
1 lb - Oats, Flaked 1.6 °L (8.5%)

 

[Kickass]

Seems like a lot of specialty malt. I’d cut that total by at least half. That’s just me.

 

[worlddivides]

Not American, so I'm not sure what a Graham cracker would taste like but I feel like there is too much going on in your recipe.

I used to be able to buy Graham crackers in Japan sometimes, but it's been quite a few years since I saw them. I've always seen them as a kind of super-sweet "luxury" dessert snack, which makes it ironic that Wikipedia has this explanation about its origin:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_cracker

The graham cracker was inspired by the preaching of Sylvester Graham, who was part of the 19th-century temperance movement. He believed that minimizing pleasure and stimulation of all kinds, including the prevention of masturbation, coupled with a vegetarian diet anchored by bread made from wheat coarsely ground at home, was how God intended people to live, and that following this natural law would keep people healthy. Towards that end, Graham introduced the world's first graham wafer product. It was a dull, unsifted flour biscuit baked by Graham himself.

That strikes me as bizarre considering how sweet Graham crackers are and how they typical variant flavors of them are "honey," "cinnamon," "chocolate," and so on. Kind of hard to imagine a version of them that doesn't maximize pleasure and stimulation.

Back on subject, the idea of a Graham cracker-themed beer sounds really appealing to me and I have seen commercial breweries try that, but usually in some kind of combination (such as a S'mores stout, which is based around the idea of a Graham cracker, chocolate, and marshmallow).

 

[DBhomebrew]

If OP is interested in an imperial strength recipe, I can attest to the graham-cracker-iness of Weikert's No Heart English Barleywine. Graham cracker smeared with caramel.

Post in thread 'What are you drinking now?' https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/what-are-you-drinking-now.221302/page-7796#post-10065028

 

[tracer bullet]

The graham cracker thing is elusive. Most folks try things as mentioned but don't report back. Please do so! Also thanks @DBhomebrew for linking a recipe that pulls it off.

I've always hoped to get a bit of that flavor in a stout someday, but haven't really pursued it. I can tell you that the extract in a bottle is NOT it.

 

[Architect-Dave]

So far, I went with my original recipe with the exception of adding the cinnamon at 60 minutes. When the wort was cooled and added to the fermenter, it had that distinct graham cracker smell…without the vanilla, of course. We will see in a few weeks…

 

[Architect-Dave]

I'd reconsider the C hop. Grapefruit?

Honey is super subtle. Even in a straight 3lb/Gal mead it can be a rather subtle flavor. I'd probably not bother with it and let the honey malt do the work. In making mead, honey flavor can reemerge after some time in the bottle. 1-2 years. At 1.048, I doubt you're planning on aging.

Along the aging front, be sure to read up on brewers' experiences with Chevallier. Try searching the forum for posts by Miraculix on the subject. I understand it's wonderful stuff if treated right. I also wonder if it's worth using when you're going to use the aromatic, biscuit, etc.

Unfortunately, those are all the hops I had on hand. Let’s see if it has an impact…

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Why not just use graham crackers? I made a S'mores porter with a box of crackers, lactose, and chocolate flavoring (in addition to chocolate malt) and the graham cracker was still the prominent flavor.

 

[Architect-Dave]

Why not just use graham crackers? I made a S'mores porter with a box of crackers, lactose, and chocolate flavoring (in addition to chocolate malt) and the graham cracker was still the prominent flavor.

there were many articles on this that I researched and the results from those brewers were disappointing. It did not produce the distinctive graham cracker flavor, according to those brewers.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

there were many articles on this that I researched and the results from those brewers were disappointing. It did produce the distinctive graham cracker flavor.

I guess mileage will vary. Maybe it just worked for me because it wasn't only graham cracker.

 

[Architect-Dave]

I guess mileage will vary. Maybe it just worked for me because it wasn't only graham cracker.

Doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. I never made one of these before. I am only working off of the research that I have done.

 

[tracer bullet]

Why not just use graham crackers? I made a S'mores porter with a box of crackers, lactose, and chocolate flavoring (in addition to chocolate malt) and the graham cracker was still the prominent flavor.

Were there other parts of your recipe that might have contributed?

I too have only read of failures, never successes, until now. Folks always seem to have said it basically didn't work.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Were there other parts of your recipe that might have contributed?

I too have only read of failures, never successes, until now. Folks always seem to have said it basically didn't work.

Not really.. I mean, there were other things going on. I was mostly bummed that I couldn't get the marshmallow to come through, but I think that's a hard flavor to get. Here's my grain bill from my notes:

8 lb 2-row
1 lb Crystal 120°L
12 oz Chocolate malt
1 lb Flaked wheat
25.6 oz Graham crackers (Family size Honey Maid box)

 

[leedspointbrew]

So far, I went with my original recipe with the exception of adding the cinnamon at 60 minutes. When the wort was cooled and added to the fermenter, it had that distinct graham cracker smell…without the vanilla, of course. We will see in a few weeks…

Interested. Keep us posted.

 

[Architect-Dave]

Not American, so I'm not sure what a Graham cracker would taste like but I feel like there is too much going on in your recipe. I'd add 1.5 - 2 pounds of roasted malts and multiply the base malt two or three times to make it an imperial stout.
I'm not too familiar with honey malt, but this might be a tad much. Biscuit to my palette is way too much. I use 10 g/l at most. Aromatic I've never had, but it seems like more of what's already there. Caramel malt is mostly a personal choice, I can't comment on that. But my point is mainly ask yourself what you want to achieve and how apparent you want it to be. Light hands in light beers (colour and especially gravity) can give loads of flavour in my experience. I fermented a 100% pilsner beer on a malty yeast cake and the beer has plenty of biscuit and malt character.

I'd look into how to add cinnamon as well. I think flameout is also a good option as opposed to boiling 60 minutes, but I would personally do a tincture for easy dosage. Same with vanilla. Use sticks if you can (and I've never heard of powder either). Honey is best added during fermentation is you want to keep the flavour in. I would also agree that rethinking your late hops is a good idea, do you actually need that?

I have made the Northern Brewer Christmas Ale for a few years in a row. It calls for the cinnamon to be added at 60 minutes. I have also made a tincture for other beers with vodka and cinnamon. I have found the 60-minute boil produces a better cinnamon flavor in the beer than the tincture. However, I have never had much success with tinctures, I never got the flavors from them.

 

[InspectorJon]

My experience with tinctures is that you need to use a lot. Measured in ounces, not teaspoons or milliliters. Of course there are a lot of variables involved and I like to really taste the adjuncts I use, not just hints of them.

 

[InspectorJon]

A brewery near me makes a gingerbread stout for Christmas time. I love it. I asked one of the bartenders about ingredients and was told they put a “whole lot” of ginger snap cookies in the mash.

Now it’s a really good beer so maybe I’m foolish to second guess but I think of stuff in the cookies that I don’t think are beneficial to beer, like shortening and long name chemicals. I wonder if making it with the good ingredients in the cookies like ginger, molasses and wheat, and sugar (maybe dark invert) might work even better. That sounds like what you are trying to do with the graham cracker flavor. I’m interested to see how it turns out.

 

[Architect-Dave]

I will let you all know. It is fermenting nicely so in about 4 to 6 weeks (bottling and conditioning) we will see.

 

[AmarikinBrew]

I don't know if this'll help, but I've did research dealing with Indian food and Naan breads in particular.

Graham flour AKA Indian Besan flour AKA Chickpea AKA Garbanzo bean flour.

This flour is rather high in protein and lipids, and when quickly cooked, remains a crunchy, chewy, texture. It would take some doing to get it to convert is my guess.

But then this is only one part of the equation, I'm prolly going too deep here....

 

[DBhomebrew]

Graham flour as used in graham crackers is whole wheat. You're thinking "gram".

Basic honey graham crackers are not dessert sweet. They're a common snack for toddlers. Sure, covered in chocolate and marshmallow they're dessert sweet.

 

[AmarikinBrew]

Oh well then, Nevermind.

 

[Architect-Dave]

The base malt has a rather low DP (50 according to Brewers Friend; I couldn't find detailed information, for free, from the maltster).

I did a quick DuckDuckGo and this link (at HomeBrewTalk) looked like a good starting point for additional information and ideas for grain bills with a low DP.



View attachment 871607

That is the point. Chevalier malt is known for its bready and deep malty flavor. Part of what I am looking for in the recipe.

 

[AmarikinBrew]

Your Honey malt and your Aromatic malt are basically the same, I would replace both with Weyermann Dark Wheat Malt which is of the 5-7L color range, this would would get your whole wheat taste IMO.
And then due to Wheat, you would no longer need flaked oats for the body.
I would then simply fold this flaked oats percentage into Chevallier percentile giving more of the bready malt your looking for.
Your crystal/caramel in the 8.5% of the malt bill range should carry the sweetness and the Weyermann Dark Wheat is also somewhat sweet.
Simplify.
There, now I feel lots smarter now.

 

[AmarikinBrew]

Brewfather has the Chevallier malt at Litner 100 DP which may be enough to convert all if amount is increased as a percentage like I said above.

Oh and the yeast need not be well attenuating, you do not want dry attenuation to rob the malt flavor, you wants the malts to shines, so suggest WYeast 1728 for liquid mash@ 152F(ish) fermented at lower of the allowed range, or SafBrew Fermentis S-33 mashed LOW 147(ish) and SHORT time 45min for more malt flavor and get sluggish S-33 to get to the 70% attenuation, also temp in the high of the allowed range since this one is bland yeast. You do not want any Yeasty flavors, you want the malt to shine thru.

 

[Architect-Dave]

Your Honey malt and your Aromatic malt are basically the same, I would replace both with Weyermann Dark Wheat Malt which is of the 5-7L color range, this would would get your whole wheat taste IMO.
And then due to Wheat, you would no longer need flaked oats for the body.
I would then simply fold this flaked oats percentage into Chevallier percentile giving more of the bready malt your looking for.
Your crystal/caramel in the 8.5% of the malt bill range should carry the sweetness and the Weyermann Dark Wheat is also somewhat sweet.
Simplify.
There, now I feel lots smarter now.

Thanks…buuuuuut, I am a week into fermenting. Will take this into account next time depending on the results of the current recipe.

 

[crazyjake19]

In my limited experience with it, I've made a homemade graham cracker extract and added that. I've only used it in a s'mores stout which came out good, but graham cracker was not the main flavor. If it was specifically a graham cracker beer I'd use the tincture plus some honey malt and maybe a touch of cinnamon.