New to the forum - Recipie Ideas

[JNshorty]

Hi, I am a new member to the forum with my first batch of beer in the fermenter (4 days in)....

I am waiting in anticipation for my beer to be completed, hoping I didn't screw anything up...

Anyways I really enjoyed making it, and I was thinking about a couple of recipes I want to try but I am not sure how to go about it.

I want to make an English Toffee - Porter, and this is the recipe I was thinking about modifying -
Porter - (recipe from my local home-brew shop)
malts-
7lbs Ultralight Malt Liquid Malt Extract
4oz Maltodextrin
Steeping grain
1 lb Crystal 40L
8 oz Black Patent
4oz Chocolate
Hops
1 oz Northern Brewer (bittering 60 mins)
1 oz Cascade (Aroma 5 mins)
Clarifier
Whirfloc Tablet
(this beer is still in the fermenter but I have tasted the same recipe from a friend)
I want to add a toffee character without messing with the balance of the beer too much, so I was thinking about replacing a lb of malt extract with 2 lbs of toffee and leaving virtually everything else the same...

thoughts or suggestions?

 

[Walker]

I don't know for sure, but I would expect the toffee to ferment out almost completely and might not leave behind the flavor you are after. (Kind of like brown sugar.... it won't leave a brown sugar taste in your beer if you throw it in because it is mainly sugar and just ferments away.)

You might want to instead put in a darker Crystal malt to get more caramel-like flavors... maybe swap out the crystal 40 and put in crystal 120 or something.

 

[JNshorty]

what if I use a yeast with a lower alchol tolerance and add the toffee in when racking, match the specific gravity of the beer to the max alcohol tolerance of the yeast and hope at least some of the toffee is not consumed?

 

[EricCSU]

Have you tried any Winter Warmer commercial examples like Avery Old Jubilation or Deschutes Jubeale? There is definitely a dark sweetness and toffee flavor and I think it is from the high crystal malts.

Can you get toffee extract?

Eric

 

[Pappers_]

Hi JN, and welcome. Toffee Porter sounds interesting! If you haven't already seen the recipe database, look further down the main menu page and you'll find it. It can be great fun just browsing through it and seeing what you find. You might be able to find something like what you're describing, too!

Sorry I can't help on this particular recipe, never tried anything toffee-ish, but it sounds like a great experiment! Cheers

 

[JNshorty]

I am currently brewing my very first batch of beer and have not experimented with anything yet, I was just trying to design a recipe, but I was thinking that the sharp sweetness of the toffee would compliment the maltiness quite well, I may have to bring up the bittering though for balance, I haven't experimented at all yet so I was looking for the voice of experience....

 

[JNshorty]

Thanks Pappers I'll check it out now.

 

[Pappers_]

Ok, one thought about your recipe with the huge caveat that I've never tried to brew toffee beer. Instead of trying to figure out how to use toffee in your brewing, perhaps another way would be to identify the flavors that might make your beer taste like toffee and then figure out how to add those flavors. For instance, carmelizing the wort during the boil, often something that is avoided, might be appropriate here. Just an idea - good luck!

 

[JNshorty]

That's an interesting Idea, now I'll have to look at how they make Toffee and see if I cant recreate the process in my beer batch.....