Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer Hella Vanilla Cream Ale

Williams 728
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Gil, I am keen to try this recipe of yours, can you please give me a description of the beer? Flavor profile when you drank it? Aroma? Head? Dont suppose you have a photo of a glass of it? In my mind when i hear "Cream Ale" i imagine something like a Caffreys or Kilkenny, which i love so am definately interested in how this comes out. thanks!
 
Man-O-Leisure said:
Gil, I am keen to try this recipe of yours, can you please give me a description of the beer? Flavor profile when you drank it? Aroma? Head? Dont suppose you have a photo of a glass of it? In my mind when i hear "Cream Ale" i imagine something like a Caffreys or Kilkenny, which i love so am definately interested in how this comes out. thanks!
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It has an almost imperceptible aroma. At least to me. My sense of smell sucks. It has very subdued hop flavor with a good forefront flavor of vanilla. This bottle wasn't carbed all that great as I bottled from keg a little over a year but for photo sake here is a pic of the bottle I just opened and drank half of getting tasting notes. ImageUploadedByHome Brew1412302225.049704.jpg

I haven't had kilkennys or caffereys so I can't comment on how close they are. But I do know anyone who tries it has not complained. It goes done very smooth. Medium body doesn't taste watery and there is almost no perception of alcohol present. And wow looking at my records this bottle was from the batch I brewed 11/24/2012 !!!! Looks like I need to put this back on the to brew list. The mrs has been hassling me for some more. I was holding out the few bottles I have but wow. I am even surprising myself that the vanilla flavor is still prevalent OVER a year in the bottle.


Sent from somewhere to someone
 
On a side note in the 3-4yrs I've been brewing this is the recipe I get asked to rebrew the most. Might have to cave and give the masses what they want. Forgot how good it was. Between trying to clone other beers and just trying new styles I seem to have let this one slip by for awhile. As a matter of fact thing I'm heading to the LHBS tomorrow and picking up the next batch of ingredients and brewing this up. That ms for the thread update and asking for tasting notes which I knew I didn't have available which caused me to crack a bottle from the back of the fridge. And it's a good beer even over a year old. Wish I'd of had more experience bottling with the bmbf but it is still a good vanilla cream ale mostly flat and over a year old. Still get good vanilla flavor which is what I hear is the hardest to retain long term storage.


Sent from somewhere to someone
 
made a version of this, although I was very loose with the recipe:

8lb 2 row
2lb crystal 20
2lb flaked corn
152F mash
OG was low at about 1.58, apparently corn may not mash well, or my process got screwed up. Not sure on FG because I am using a refractometer.

14g 60min citra
7g 30min cascade
7g 0min cascade

1.5l starter of wlp080 at 63-65. fermentation was complete after 3 days, after a week i racked to secondary one 1 lone vanilla bean for ****s and giggles, and then cold crashed it for 48 hours. after racking to the keg i noticed that the yeast which fell out in secondary were all dyed a slight brown, must have been from the vanilla bean? there was no perceptible vanilla from the sample i pulled.

for the vanilla extract i split, scraped, and chopped 3 comoros (similar to madagascar) beans into ~6oz of makers mark and shook the jar once a day. this extract sat for only about a week before going to the keg, i have since made a second batch of extract to use in the future which should give better flavor and aroma since the extract will have more time to develop.

The wife loves it... hell, I love it. If you take a potato peeler and put a bit of orange zest in your glass before you pour, it tastes like an orange creamsicle.

next time i'm going to cut the corn down to 1lb (it smells too much like butwiper), sub honey malt for the crystal 20, and add some carapils. i may add hops because this has almost no hop character and i'd like to get more citrus from it. i would like to try comparing mexican vanilla as well since it's supposed to be a more aggressive vanilla.

pics or it didn't happen:
IMG_20141009_220554_957_zpsebbyrwqf.jpg


not as clear as i would have liked, i probably shouldn't have rushed it to the keg like i did.
 
Hi!
So I tried this recipe and somehow it didn't turn out well. It was my first all grain brew and I'm not heartbroken or surprised but I would love to know what I did wrong so at least I learned something!
I followed your recipe as closely as I could but it ended up with a distinctly "corny" flavor. I used vanilla extract instead of beans (because I didn't want to spend all the money for beans in case it didn't work) and the vanilla flavor didn't come through at all. I only mentioned that to ask if somehow that messed the flavor up?
 
zekekurcab said:
Hi!

So I tried this recipe and somehow it didn't turn out well. It was my first all grain brew and I'm not heartbroken or surprised but I would love to know what I did wrong so at least I learned something!

I followed your recipe as closely as I could but it ended up with a distinctly "corny" flavor. I used vanilla extract instead of beans (because I didn't want to spend all the money for beans in case it didn't work) and the vanilla flavor didn't come through at all. I only mentioned that to ask if somehow that messed the flavor up?
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I wouldn't think the extract was responsible for the corny flavor. When I used extract it just wasn't a very vanilla forward flavor. When I hear corny flavor my first thought was perhaps DMS. Which usually occurs from either not boiling very vigorously, or having a lid on during the boil process. That is usually the culprit I read about most when having "corn" flavor issues. I Know DMS is usually discussed when using Pilsner grain but I suppose it could be a concern of plain 2row also. Wish I had more to offer you, but I don't believe the corny flavor is due to the vanilla extract I would think the only issue from that would be the lack of vanilla flavor in the end product. What was your grain bill just in case someone else can spot anything I could've overlooked.
 
Yes this recipe is a keeper!!!! I brew 10 gal in August in hopes it would get me at least to Thanksgiving but that didn't happen...... lol Looks great !!!!! :rockin:
 
This was my first AG brew. I just built a version of Kal's electric brewery and I'm still learning my system. Some lessons and things I noted:
1. My efficiency was only 61.3% according to BeerSmith. I believe my grain crush wasn't fine enough and I am still perfecting my sparge techniques. I use the Ultimate Sparge Arm so I am going to look at improvements/techniques.
2. I didn't hit my OG target of 1.061. My OG was 1.053 and my FG was 1.014.
3. The fermentation seemed to be slow (3 days before I saw activity). I fermented in a conical for 8 days and then pulled the trub off (3 qt.) and let it sit for another 8 days before kegging (10psi).
4. After 2 days in the keg, the beer has a vanilla aroma and taste. It is easy drinking but has low ABV (5.12).
5. It has a sharp taste after about 18 days but not bad.

I plan on using a yeast starter next time and improving my sparging. Anyone have any advice that they learned on this recipe. I want to try it again and I want to see if the beer gets better with age. Had fun doing this and can't wait to try it again to perfect it. Here is a pic of the beer I pulled off the keg tonight.

image-16-02-15-19%3A13.jpeg
 
Congrats on the brew. I mill my own grains and get a pretty consistent 85%mash efficiency so other than crush it sounds like your process is pretty good. I think a closer milling of the grains would've put you where you wanted to be. I do know this beer ages pretty good found a few bottles that were over a year old and they were very smooth with a slight aftertaste of vanilla. Good luck on hitting your next batch's numbers closer. But either way the lower gravity just puts it closer to style guidelines if you worry about things. Either way I think you have yourself a tasty easy drinker that will disappear quicker than you thought it would.
Cheers.

Beer looks good. Makes me wish I wasn't at work on my lunchbreak.
 
Funkadelicturkey, can you explain how you went from grain to keg in just over two weeks? Didn't you lager it to clear it up by slowly raising the fermentation temp over several days, letting it rest several days, then slowly lowering the temp over several days to 30ish, letting it rest several days and then finally keg? The fastest I figure I can do grain to keg is one month, however I'd love to do it faster if you have a good technique.

Thanks for the info!
 
dustinboyd said:
Funkadelicturkey, can you explain how you went from grain to keg in just over two weeks? Didn't you lager it to clear it up by slowly raising the fermentation temp over several days, letting it rest several days, then slowly lowering the temp over several days to 30ish, letting it rest several days and then finally keg? The fastest I figure I can do grain to keg is one month, however I'd love to do it faster if you have a good technique.

Thanks for the info!
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Unless you are making a lager you really don't have to do the whole. Chill to near freezing and letting rest several days before putting it to keg. I usually just let mine finish primary. Cold crash for 24hrs then rack to keg and let it set 1.5-2weeks to reach carb level desired. Usually pretty clear and mostly carbed at the end of week one. But just that much more well rounded by end of week 2.
So you could quite feasibly ferment 10days(or until FG is reached) cold crash a day. Then keg and carb 7-10days. So you could get cold,carbed, drinkable beer in 3 weeks but I'm not that much in a rush for the beer. Pipeline's been pretty good lately so give the beers plenty of time to get where they're going on their own.

But again since it is an ale and not a lager there really isn't necessity to lager for clarity. And after a few of these your not really concerned with the clarity as much as the taste and enjoyment.

Hope that clears it up some for you...... Or at least doesn't totally confuse you anyway.
Cheers.
 
Have this in primary ready to secondary tomorrow morning before we leave for vacation. My question is I don't have a good strainer, think I could strain the vodka/vanilla bean through a hop or muslin bag in a pinch without any issues?
 
That wouldn't even be necessary. I soaked mine in a small tuperware container then just cracked the lid enough to where I could pour the vodka out but not the beans. Poured directly into the secondary bucket.

On another note, my first batch of this was ready to drink on March 30 and its gone already. I'm kind of disappointed because I wanted to taste it when others said it reached its prime, but it was so damn good already! I'll be brewing the strawberries and cream version next.

Thanks for the awesome recipe!
 
dustinboyd said:
That wouldn't even be necessary. I soaked mine in a small tuperware container then just cracked the lid enough to where I could pour the vodka out but not the beans. Poured directly into the secondary bucket.

On another note, my first batch of this was ready to drink on March 30 and its gone already. I'm kind of disappointed because I wanted to taste it when others said it reached its prime, but it was so damn good already! I'll be brewing the strawberries and cream version next.

Thanks for the awesome recipe!
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Yeah this recipes disappears faster than average at my place too. Think my next run will be 10 gallons just so when the first keg is kicked the second 5gallons will just be coming into its own. Either way though this is definitely a crowd pleaser that goes a little quicker than other recipes I brew.
 
bkirsch said:
Have this in primary ready to secondary tomorrow morning before we leave for vacation. My question is I don't have a good strainer, think I could strain the vodka/vanilla bean through a hop or muslin bag in a pinch without any issues?
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I think you'd be fine either way. But as stated above just crack the lid and pour off the liquor. He** I've even just held a butter knife to the lip of the container and poured it off that way. Hope you enjoy the recipe (pretty sure you will). It does disappear fast though. So don't be afraid to stash a bottle or two in yourself so you can try one after the bulk of it disappears.
 
Wanted to write an update on how this turned out. It is simply the best beer I've brewed and it's not lasting long. Had a couple friends over the other night and they couldn't get enough of it. I had to take a trip to the LHBS so I can get another batch going. This will be on tap in my house for a long time. Thanks for the recipe. I was starting to doubt my brewing abilities
 
Gonna give this a shot tomorrow. Was going to add lactos but then read the whole thread and just decided to follow it as written. Seems to be pretty popular as written.
 
Chewdog said:
Gonna give this a shot tomorrow. Was going to add lactos but then read the whole thread and just decided to follow it as written. Seems to be pretty popular as written.
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Yeah I don't think the lactose is needed it is a pretty good recipe although I am a bit biased. I think you'll enjoy it as is. Could always try adding lactose the next time you make but again I think it's good without it. Post back what you think when you taste it. Feedback is always welcome.
 
Just put it in the secondary, I boiled a little long and only collected 4.5 gallons in the primary and over shot the gravity quite a bit (I was using a new mash tun and my own grinder so hopefully I will be able to dial that in better.) It was 1.071 going into primary and 1.011 coming out so it did taste a bit hot but really good. I probably should of topped up with some di water going into the ferment-er but did not have enough.
What did you do with the vanilla beans after being strained can they be soaked in vodka again? With their price would be nice to get some more out of them.
 
After soaking in the vodka I just strained then and threw them in a bag of cane sugar. I don't expect them to add too much as I think the vodka took most of the vanilla flavor with it. But likewise thought I'd try and get a little something more from them.
 
Took 3 growlers of this in to work today for beer Friday, Was a big hit even with the extra alcohol content. Everyone really liked it, or at least liked 8% ABV beer lol.
 
Chewdog said:
Took 3 growlers of this in to work today for beer Friday, Was a big hit even with the extra alcohol content. Everyone really liked it, or at least liked 8% ABV beer lol.
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That's awesome. Yeah free beer at work always goes over great. Especially free big beers at work. Glad it turned out good for you as well.
 
Man.... I dont know what to brew next, but this is making my mouth water. One of, if not my very, first brew was the Cheesefood caramel cream ale and it was incredible. Tempted to try this one...

Theyre very similar.. Cheesefood had lactose in it and used extract, 6 oz total. 4 oz of it goes in when you go to bottle/keg.

I may give this one a whirl as is and see whats up though :)
 
I haven't had the cheesefood caramel cream ale. (Sounds pretty appealing though) but I can say this recipe was well received by everyone. My wife actually been bugging me to put it back in the rotation as its been awhile since I've brewed it. Will have to pick up some vanilla beans and get to it. Really should keep her happy since she started this whole lifestyle? Change when she got me hooked with a mr.beer quite a few years ago now. So I blame her for the obsession. Works out well for all parties involved lol. Go for it @ctufano I don't think you'll be disappointed.
 
think ill run it next. wife seemed excited (she had a cheesefood a while ago). ive got freshly bottled zombie dust clone and some dogfish head 60 about to be bottled. will probably brew this in a month or so
 

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