Brewed a s'mores stout a little over 2 weeks ago. In the mash, I added 4 whole boxes of honey graham crackers, crushed up and mixed in. (I did almost forget about them and added them AFTER dough in, so they were probably only in the mash tun for, say, 80 minutes or so - I did a 90 minute mash). Regardless, I would think 80 mins would be enough... In the last 10 min of the boil, I added 39oz of marshmallow fluff. (I'll get to why this is relevant further down...)
Fast forward to 2 days ago, I pulled a sample to check gravity, and of course, taste it. The taste and the smell were awesome. Taste was immediate smoke from the smoked malt which faded quickly into roastiness and chocolate. Smell was roastiness followed by a slight chocolate smell, and then on the very back end of the smell, was a SLIGHT "sweetness" that was so faint, I almost missed it. However, no graham cracker smell or taste was present.
The slight sweetness that I was getting on the smell, I'm thinking that either came from the marshmallow fluff or the graham crackers, just not sure. However, it's not what I wanted from either.
I have a plan for the marshmallow flavor so I'm not worried about that. My question is in regards to the graham cracker flavor. The way I see it, I have 3 options...
1. Add graham crackers to a secondary vessel and let the beer sit on that for a while.
2. Add graham flour to a secondary vessel and let it sit.
3. Find a graham cracker extract and give that a shot.
I'm not a fan of extracts - at all. To this day I have yet to try one that I like. I've tried the Apex flavors, the amoretti flavors, and brewers best. By far, brewers best was the best one but still not good. So if possible, I'd like to avoid the extract option.
I have zero experience with graham flour. How is that compared to graham crackers? Anyone had any luck with using either graham cracker or graham flour in a secondary vessel and getting the flavors into the beer?
Fast forward to 2 days ago, I pulled a sample to check gravity, and of course, taste it. The taste and the smell were awesome. Taste was immediate smoke from the smoked malt which faded quickly into roastiness and chocolate. Smell was roastiness followed by a slight chocolate smell, and then on the very back end of the smell, was a SLIGHT "sweetness" that was so faint, I almost missed it. However, no graham cracker smell or taste was present.
The slight sweetness that I was getting on the smell, I'm thinking that either came from the marshmallow fluff or the graham crackers, just not sure. However, it's not what I wanted from either.
I have a plan for the marshmallow flavor so I'm not worried about that. My question is in regards to the graham cracker flavor. The way I see it, I have 3 options...
1. Add graham crackers to a secondary vessel and let the beer sit on that for a while.
2. Add graham flour to a secondary vessel and let it sit.
3. Find a graham cracker extract and give that a shot.
I'm not a fan of extracts - at all. To this day I have yet to try one that I like. I've tried the Apex flavors, the amoretti flavors, and brewers best. By far, brewers best was the best one but still not good. So if possible, I'd like to avoid the extract option.
I have zero experience with graham flour. How is that compared to graham crackers? Anyone had any luck with using either graham cracker or graham flour in a secondary vessel and getting the flavors into the beer?