Harry Potter Butterbeer

[ChimayLover]

Hello All!

I have only 3 bottles left of my first homebrew, an amber ale that turned out great. I have a Belgian Dubbel in my primary, and am now planning my next brew...In honor of the last Harry Potter book coming out this summer, I would like to attempt to brew butterbeer, the beer of choice for young wizards and witches...I realize this is a fictional brew, but I wonder if something like it could be made...I think it would be a light caramel colored ale with nice head and a creamy caramel butterscotch flavor, more of a desert brew...like a box of cracker jacks somehow turned into beer. Could some of the master brewer's here help me formulate a recipe to brew something that would do justice to a wonderful book series?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[DeathBrewer]

lol, don't forget to throw some dry ice in the glass

sounds really good I'll keep an eye out, but nothing off the top of my head.

 

[Kayos]

Take Cheesefood's Vanilla Caramel Cream Ale and tweak it to your liking. No vanilla, more crystal.......check it out and see what you think.

 

[Cap'n Jewbeard]

I like that- and (call me crazy), if you're really going for the "butterbeer" idea, we could try and get it to have some diacetyl in it. (Which gives it a buttery smell, as far as I understand).

Can anyone help me to figure out what gives it that edge?

If we get this recipe down, I might just brew it with you. A small batch, for the HP premiere.

 

[ChimayLover]

Hmm, maybe I could take a recipe like cheese's caramel cream ale and add some butterscotch chips or syrup into it...Has anyone brewed with butterscotch before? I wonder how I would incorporate it, maybe boil it along with the malt extract for a while? Or maybe add equal parts golden syrup and butterscotch?

How does that sound?

 

[LouT]

Use real butter.

 

[Cheesefood]

How about this:

2 pounds wheat DME
4 pounds extra light DME
1/2 pound caramel 60L
1 pound caramel 20l
1 pound honey malt

same hop schedule
Scottish ale yeast

Ferment warm.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Hmm, maybe I could take a recipe like cheese's caramel cream ale and add some butterscotch chips or syrup into it...Has anyone brewed with butterscotch before? I wonder how I would incorporate it, maybe boil it along with the malt extract for a while? Or maybe add equal parts golden syrup and butterscotch?

How does that sound?

Honestly...it sounds gross to me. The whole idea doesn't really sound that appealing, but I'll try to help.

Adding butterscotch chips or syrup will probably introduce a lot of fats and oils that will ruin the head of the beer and perhaps even cause a nasty oil slick on top of the beer.

Instead, try fermenting at the upper end of the temperature range of a yeast that leaves high levels of diacetyl after fermentation. Scottish ale yeast or a very flocculant English ale yeast are good candidates.

Here's an article: http://brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue1.2/fix.html

 

[feedthebear]

How about an addition of 8oz. of Lactose to give it a little more creaminess?

I like the idea of butterscotch chips, but I'm guessing the oils would kill the beer's head.

I think using Scottish Ale yeast too warm might give it a sour apple flavor. At least, that's what I got using WLP028 and fermenting too warm.

 

[Cheesefood]

Here's another interesting article
http://www.evansale.com/diacetyl_article.html

 

[david_42]

High diacetyl levels are often the result of weak yeast, long lag times and the yeast not being able to consume the diacetyl late in the fermentation. So, do not make a starter, do not aerate, start the fermentation at the top of the yeast's range then cool it to the low end about 1/4 of the way through.

This might result in other results, but ...

Or use some butterscotch flavoring in the clearing tank.

 

[feedthebear]

I was wondering today if this could also be done as a braggot.

 

[McKBrew]

You might try something like this:

http://www.spicebarn.com/butterscotch_flavoring.htm

But probably not something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000F3LRSG/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[ChimayLover]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I think I might try brewing the Caramel Cream Ale with a little tweaking, more lactose, and maybe some butterscotch flavoring...You think the syrup and chips would be too oily to support a head though? What about the butterscotch extract linked in the previous post?

Thanks!

 

[Yuri_Rage]

The butterscotch extract should be fine. The chips/syrup are asking for trouble, I think.

 

[gruntingfrog]

This is a SWEEEET idea. I always thought of the butterbeer in Harry Potter as a butterscotch flavored root beer (basically). I would therefore go with an English Brown Ale (Southern or Northern doesn't matter) with a touch of butterscotch flavoring.

ChimayLover, if you brew yours and I brew mine, maybe we can trade a 6 pack.




ALERT
I'm sure Snape's a good guy. Dumbledore ordered Snape to kill him. That's what they were arguing about at the edge of the forest in The Half-Blood Prince. I guess we'll find out, though. I can't wait.

 

[ChimayLover]

Allright, I think I am going to go with the butterscotch extract...Ill post a recipe soon and maybe you guys can give me some feedback...Hopefully I can have it ready by the time the book comes out...I will be happy to trade a six pack if it comes out right (or even if it comes out wrong)!

I totally agree that Snape is good, Im sure he and Dumbledore enjoyed a few pints of Madam Rosemerta's Extra Special Butterbeer upon a time!

Thanks for the great Suggestions!

MIke

 

[grampska]

Uh, can't you just wave your magic wand?

 

[Cap'n Jewbeard]

Heh... narf. I'll show YOU my magic wand... narf.

Also- perhaps we should include a few (subtle) spices in this? Anyone know what brings out butterscotch well?

 

[ChimayLover]

Here is the recipe Ive chosen:

3lbs Extra Light DME
3lb Wheat DME
1lb Crystal Malt 60l
7oz Lactose
4-5 oz butterscotch extract in secondary
Same Hop Shedule as Caramel Cream Ale by Cheesefood
Scottish Ale Yeast

Let me know what you think!

 

[Cap'n Jewbeard]

That looks really quite nice!

I think I'll brew that this week, and get it kegged and ready in time for the book or the movie.

Let's compare when it's done! (Specifically, if you put yours in secondary before I do, let me know how the butterscotch plays out).

Jewbeard

 

[Cap'n Jewbeard]

OK- first of all, I'll brew it as you've planned it, but I think I'll add a "tea" of some spices in the secondary- a few cloves, probably don't need additional sassafras, maybe some other random herbs I find in the health store. I'll play with it.

Also, I've made this label:

I did the paper background myself. (Just learned how, on GIMP!)

 

[Money Pit Home Brew]

What a great idea. I HAVE to brew it this week-end. I'll probably leave out the lactose though. The last time I had a beer with lactose it was in a stout and really runned a good beer IMHO.
Has anybody used the butterscotch extract yet?
Are you just going to add it to the secondary like dry hopping?

 

[Cap'n Jewbeard]

OK, this is my operating recipe. I've cut down on IBUs to bring it into the wheat-beer model, due to my audience (mass-market to many people who "don't like beer".

I'm also experimenting with herbs/spices, as you see below.

Treble-Strength Butterbeer

A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal): 5.00 Wort Size (Gal): 5.00
Total Extract (Lbs): 7.00
Anticipated OG: 1.060 Plato: 14.81
Anticipated SRM: 12.3
Anticipated IBU: 11.6
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
42.9 3.00 lbs. Briess DME- Gold America 1.046 8
42.9 3.00 lbs. Briess DME- Weizen America 1.046 8
14.3 1.00 lbs. Crystal 60L America 1.034 60



Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.50 oz. Tettnanger Whole 4.50 1.6 5 min.
0.25 oz. Perle Whole 8.25 8.8 60 min.
0.25 oz. Czech Saaz Whole 3.50 1.3 20 min.


Yeast
-----

WYeast 1728 Scotish Ale


Notes
-----

7 oz lactose at end of boil

Herbs/spices in secondary: cloves (4), sassafras (1 oz), others? Horehound?

4 oz butterscotch extract at bottling

 

[ChimayLover]

Im planning on using the butterscotch extract in secondary, and maybe a small dash into the bottling bucket during bottling...

 

[Cap'n Jewbeard]

I have found with extracts (especially vanilla extract as in the original caramel cream ale), you may be best to leave it til bottling- that way you have a somewhat better idea of what the overall composition of the brew is. (For instance, at boil, it's very sweet and hard to judge).

Also, for brews like this, the lactose is more suitable than in other things.

 

[Focus]

I must say, this sounds like an amusing idea - really bringing the story to life, even more so than the movies themselves. I wonder if you couldn't do this for other fiction icons:
Romulan Ale (Star Trek)
Correllian Ale (The beer they'd serve in Star Wars cantinas)
Fadora (sp?) Stout (a homebrew that Sallah serves Indiana Jones when he goes to his Cairo home in Raiders)
Baker Street Brown Ale (Sherlock Holmes)

I'm just throwing out crap here - and truth be told, it probably belongs in Drunken Ramblings - but I think brewing something you could imagine your favorite fiction character brewing is pretty cool. I guess I get this from my HS english-teachin SWMBO.

Focus

 

[Speranza]

House-elves can get drunk on butterbeer, but it doesn't have that effect on humans.

Well where is the fun in that? I think we are on the right track here fellow brewers. Cheesefood's recipe seems like the way to go. But using Butterscotch instead of Vanilla. Since in the books it is a drink marketed for children I think the sweet taste from the lactose will make a really good brew.

How is butterbeer made and what does it taste like? When asked about this by "Bon Appetit" magazine, JKR responded: "I made it up. I imagine it to taste a little bit like less-sickly butterscotch."

www.drinksmixer.com suggests "1 oz butterscotch schnapps 8 oz cream soda" But I think we can pool our efforts and make something much more "magical." ( [it] does create a feeling of warmth in the drinker)

I'm just batty about Butterbeer!

 

[ChimayLover]

I brewed it 2 days ago, it smelled really good and looked pretty nice too, kind of a golden amber...I used 1 and 1/2 packs of scottish ale yeast, about 7 ounces of lactose in the final 15 minutes of the boil, and I put 2 drops of butterscotch extract in the primary...I am going to taste befpre I rack to secondary before adding more extract, because the extract is very strong..Maybe 2 ounces is the way to go...I was thinking of adding some roots or spices, what do you think would complement butterscotch? Maybe something nutty, to impart a butter pecan type flavor?

I love the label!

 

[Beerrific]

So I never thought I would be posting in this thread but SWMBO wanted some butterbeer for a party before the upcoming movie release. This is the first time she has shown interest in my home brew so I must oblige.

Now the trick is, she and her friends won't drink 5 gallons so I think I am going to make an amber ale and add butterscotch liqueur at bottling, prime with it and only do this to half keeping the other half for me.

I think I will make the Fat Tire clone from AHS (I have been wanting to make this for a while anyway). Yooper Chick was kind enough to convert the extract kit she bought from them to all grain, so it should be something like this:

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: 1056 (or Nottingham)
Yeast Starter: If liquid
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.050
Final Gravity: 1.012
IBU: 31.7
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 12.0
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 10 days 68 degrees
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 2 weeks 68 degrees

5 lbs of Munich
4.5 lbs 2-Row
.5 lbs Crystal 90L
.25 lbs Victory
3 oz Biscuit

Mash at 150 for an hour ( I did about 75 minutes)

.75 oz Northern Brewer 60 min
.5 oz Hersbrucker 15 min
.25 oz Willamette 5 min

I am going to use this information: http://www.drinksmixer.com/desc245.html
This will let me decide how much butterscotch liqueur to add to one bottle to prime it.

I actually may convince SWMBO to add this when pouring so there will be no butterbeer leftover, but this may be too sweet.

What are your thoughts?