Recipe attempt for Vanilla Honey Blonde

[Bernie123]

Hey there, this is my first attempt at trying to make up a recipe, wanted some help on it. Here's what I came up:

5 Gallon Batch Size-3 Gallon boil. Extract Brew

6 lbs Pale Liquid Extract (Lighter if they have if they have it at LHBS)
2 lbs Honey added at end of boil
12 oz. Honey Malt - steeping
4 oz. Cara-Pils - steeping
.75 oz. Centennial -60 min.
1.00 oz Willamette - 5 min.
1.00 oz Willamette - 1 min.

Est. OG: 1.058, Est. FG 1.008

Oh and I plan to add to 2 vanilla beans, cut and scraped, soaked in vodka to the bottling bucket as I do not use a secondary.

How does this sound? What should I change? I'm a newbie so go easy

Thanks fellas.

 

[stikks]

Recipe looks good,but I`m not sure you will get the Vanilla flavor
you are looking for with the beans in the bottling bucket.I have used
beans in secondary with good results though.I make a Vanilla cream
Ale once a month for SWMBO and use 2 oz. pure Vanilla extract in
boil at al flameout and then use another 1 oz. in the bottling bucket.
The beer is very consistent with the flavor profile when I do it this way.
Vanilla flavor is not overwhelming but you can taste it.Vanilla beans work
as well but are better suited used in the secondary.Hope this helps.

Cheers

 

[SGFBeerBuzz]

I think you'll be fine if the beans have been soaking in the vodka long enough. It will extract the flavors and aroma before it it added to the bottling bucket.

I would try a dropper test with a small sample of beer and your vodka extract to see how much should be added just in case it pulls a bit more flavor than you're expecting.

Just pour a measured amount of beer into a glass and use a dropper that measures volume (pharmacists and drugstores have these) to add the vodka tincture a drop at a time until it tastes the way you want it, then you can scale it up.

Let's say you take out a 100mL sample and use a dropper to add 1mL of the extract to hit your perfect flavor. That's a 1:100 ratio, obviously (see how I chose numbers that make this easy?)

Let's say you have 19L in your batch of beer left after you sample. (a 5-gallon batch) you would want to add .19L (190mL) of your potion to that batch to get the same flavor. Keep in mind this example is only to demonstrate the math. What you need to add may be very far from these numbers.

Alternately, you can use the same dropper to simply add the potion to your batch until you hit the flavor profile you're looking for. I tend not to trust this as much because it requires taking repeated samples, and that can have sanitation risks.

Anyway, I hope this helps.

 

[Bernie123]

Those are both good ideas-I'll have to figure out which is best.

Is the adding of honey as you turn off heat going to leave those floral aromas?

Should I heat the honey prior to this or just dump it in? I know honey has anti microbial properties but will this be fine in a sanitation sense.

Is the honey malt going to produce most of the honey flavor?

Lots of questions haha. Thanks for the responses do far.

 

[SGFBeerBuzz]

I've added honey at flameout before and had good results, but some fold will tell you you have to pasteurize it.

If you want to pasteurize it, add it about 5 minutes from flameout.

 

[LexusChris]

I'l go ahead and recommend that you don't add the honey until it has cooled down a bit. Heat will start to drive off the aromatics, so going lower is recommended for the honey aroma & flavor. I usually add mine below 130-F... as I am cooling the wort. I know plenty of folks that add it at fermenation temps too. As long as you are using a sterilized instrament to scoup/pour the honey, you'll be fine.

Also, I've not done a blonde myself, but I wonder if 2 oz of Willamette hops in that last 5 minutes will overpower the light delicate beer you have going here. Not sure what other honey blonde receipes call for. Somthing to take a quick look at, or consider if that is what you are looking for.. a good hop nose & flavor.

Looking forward to hearing how it turns out!
--LexusChris

 

[stikks]

I've added honey at flameout before and had good results, but some fold will tell you you have to pasteurize it.

If you want to pasteurize it, add it about 5 minutes from flameout.

I agree here.- I use honey alot in my brews for SWMBO.I usually add my late
additions (in this case honey) to the kettle after sitting covered for 10 minutes,when
wort is down to about 190.If your concerned about bugs in the honey this gives it
plenty of time to pasteurize.I personally never worry about it and I`ve never have had an
infection in 14 years (knock on wood ).After late addition I chill to 62-65 degrees in about
20 minutes with an IC.Just my experience,others may differ.Hope this helps.

Cheers