Experimental Beer Slim's Graham Cracker Ale 2.0

[SD-SLIM]

I brewed a stout variation. Finally snuck taste although not ready. I used 5 bags of graham crackers. Vanilla beans soaked in gentleman jack with some cinnamon and ginger. First impression? So far it tastes kinda like a tootsie roll. Don't really get the graham cracker taste yet. Won't know until its fully carbed.

With those type of additions, I would recommend letting the beer bottle/keg condition for a couple of months...if not, I'm certain you will get some really strong flavors that don't go together smoothly.

 

[jonnyp1980]

With those type of additions, I would recommend letting the beer bottle/keg condition for a couple of months...if not, I'm certain you will get some really strong flavors that don't go together smoothly.

Agreed. The coffee I put in was trying to push through the jack and vanilla. I will post pics and do a video review of it in two months.

 

[fedexA300pilot]

Quick question! Planning on doing this soon for a holiday party. As far as the graham crackers go in the mash....Did you just crush them up in your hand or did you pulverize them...like putting them in my grain mill??

Thanks!

 

[SupervisingChildren]

Quick question! Planning on doing this soon for a holiday party. As far as the graham crackers go in the mash....Did you just crush them up in your hand or did you pulverize them...like putting them in my grain mill??

Thanks!

Hand crushed in sanitized bag

 

[fedexA300pilot]

I guess I should have clarified, I am doing all grain..Slim said earlier to sandwich the crackers in between grain layers in the mash. Just wondering if hand crushing them is good enough or powdering them would be better! lol

 

[SD-SLIM]

I guess I should have clarified, I am doing all grain..Slim said earlier to sandwich the crackers in between grain layers in the mash. Just wondering if hand crushing them is good enough or powdering them would be better! lol

Either way works....the hot water will turn the crackers too mush, so either way will work.

 

[FLBrew]

Finally got around to racking to keg two nights ago. It sat on vanilla beans for a couple weeks. I upped the grains because beersmith had me falling short on the OG. What I've learned since then is that I should have just upped the base malt instead of all malts in the recipe. So IMO my first attempt is more chocolatey than it should be. However it smells awesome. Kinda like Count Chocula from Green Room Brewing. Taste was good too. A little boozy still so I'll let it sit a little longer before I tap it.

 

[SD-SLIM]

Finally got around to racking to keg two nights ago. It sat on vanilla beans for a couple weeks. I upped the grains because beersmith had me falling short on the OG. What I've learned since then is that I should have just upped the base malt instead of all malts in the recipe. So IMO my first attempt is more chocolatey than it should be. However it smells awesome. Kinda like Count Chocula from Green Room Brewing. Taste was good too. A little boozy still so I'll let it sit a little longer before I tap it.

Count Chocula would make a great beer!

 

[FLBrew]

Count Chocula would make a great beer!

I'll send you a bottle if it turns out ok.

 

[SD-SLIM]

I'll send you a bottle if it turns out ok.

Great! I would love to try it!

 

[mystikhybrid]

So I brewed this 2 weeks ago, was on my to-do list for almost a year now. The brew process went smoothly, everything to recipes but subbed brewers best cacao nibs instead of bakers chocolate. Wondering if the substitute was the culprit...

When I racked to bottle half and keg other half, I thought i saw the usual small amount of trub was on top edges (didnt cold crash), greenish brown fermented hops and debris (didnt appear mold like). Funny thing was it felt extremely oily, literally like grease, water beading in my hand.

I doubt it was the recipe see so many other successes, but does anyone have a tip as to what would cause this?

Tasting: Not so good, expectedly still sweet (almost too much though), uknown off flavors, and a good bit of DMS ....

Can infections cause oil? (or vice versa)

 

[SD-SLIM]

So I brewed this 2 weeks ago, was on my to-do list for almost a year now. The brew process went smoothly, everything to recipes but subbed brewers best cacao nibs instead of bakers chocolate. Wondering if the substitute was the culprit...

When I racked to bottle half and keg other half, I thought i saw the usual small amount of trub was on top edges (didnt cold crash), greenish brown fermented hops and debris (didnt appear mold like). Funny thing was it felt extremely oily, literally like grease, water beading in my hand.

I doubt it was the recipe see so many other successes, but does anyone have a tip as to what would cause this?

Tasting: Not so good, expectedly still sweet (almost too much though), uknown off flavors, and a good bit of DMS ....

Can infections cause oil? (or vice versa)

What brand of graham crackers did you use?

 

[Hammy71]

Did a 10 gallon batch this morning. Stuck to the original recipe. Mine came in at 1.078. Guess my effenciency was pretty good. I expected a small jump from the crackers, but wow. Wort smelled amazing, if not scary looking. Thick, very thick. Should be interesting, thanks Slim.

 

[mystikhybrid]

What brand of graham crackers did you use?

It was the standard red box of nabsicos

 

[hnbc34]

The red box has preservatives in it. The honey maid ones do not. That could be a part of the issue.

I would also like to thank Slim for this recipe. Brewed this over the weekend and my ferm closet smells boner inducing. Hope it comes out as well as it is smelling.

 

[Capn12]

Hmm...now that may explain part of my problems with this brew.

I was using Food Lion Honey Graham Crackers both times I brewed it, and both times, it has some weird, off flavors to it.

 

[maturemutation]

I have brewed this with 2 boxes of Honey Maid and mine still has an off taste. The best way I can describe it is that it tastes watered down.

 

[SD-SLIM]

I have brewed this with 2 boxes of Honey Maid and mine still has an off taste. The best way I can describe it is that it tastes watered down.

That's odd....let it bottle/keg condition for 3 weeks and taste it again. Did you take reading to see if it had finished fermenting and turned in to beer?

 

[SupervisingChildren]

Making batch #2 now. Doing another PM for this as my equipment is only capable of it. This stuff is delcious! Can't wait for it to be ready!

 

[Setesh]

Made a 5 gallon batch of this on Sunday and it was a lot of fun. I collected too much wort by about 1 gallon and didn't bother boiling longer so my FG was 1.063 instead of the predicted 1078. If the flavor and aroma of the wort is anything to go by it won't matter one lick. This is the best smelling and tasting wort I have ever tried. If I had any vanilla ice cream I would have tried drizzling some over it. My head was in the mash tun every chance I got during this batch.

I modified the recipe a lot:

no rice hulls, put crushed crackers on top of grain bed after recirculating for a couple of minutes and then mashed for 1 hour.
10lbs base malt (really glad I did this after collecting 1 gallon too much in sparge)
2lbs turbinado
1lb oats
I normally skim but never do when there is coco in the recipe since it seems to hang out in the crema
EKG for all of the hops since I had a pound of them

I pitched 6 ounces of US-05 slurry into the fermentor and it was obviously too much as there was krausen and churning 6 hours later. So, I made a lot of mistakes on this one but if it turns out I'll be doing it again. I'll let you guys know how it turns out either way. Oh, all I had on hand was cheap airlock grade vodka so I'm going to pick up a bottle of the good stuff tonight and start my beans a steepin.

 

[maturemutation]

That's odd....let it bottle/keg condition for 3 weeks and taste it again. Did you take reading to see if it had finished fermenting and turned in to beer?

I must admit I always skip this step because I don't really care if I know the exact ABV. So I couldn't honestly say what my starting gravity or ending gravity ended up being.

I currently have it sitting outside the Keezer cause I am out of space in the Keezer. I took the CO2 off it cause I had a party coming up and needed to carbonate up something I knew would be well received. It had CO2 on it for a day or so before I yanked it so its probably about flat (not that it got carbonated much to begin with). I had debated with actually bottling this since I am out of space and I fear I screwed it up.

 

[TheSmithsEra]

Hmm think i'm going to take a crack at this one. Do you guys think that 2 weeks primary, 3 weeks bottle will be enough time for this to taste right at xmas? I would be brewing it this weekend

 

[Setesh]

Hmm think i'm going to take a crack at this one. Do you guys think that 2 weeks primary, 3 weeks bottle will be enough time for this to taste right at xmas? I would be brewing it this weekend

Depends a lot on your OG, how much yeast you pitch, and your fermentation temperature control, but I would say it's doable as long as your OG is on the lower side. Most fermentation activity was done within 5 days on mine. Yeast was S-05. It's been two weeks and there are a few yeast rafts left but it's mostly settled. I fermented at 65 and raised the temp 1 degree a day after high krausen until I hit 68. I'll leave it for another week then keg it. I'll bottle strait from the keg for gifts if it's any good. I also want to keg it so I can get the vanilla just right. I've found adding things warm and still just doesn't give me the right idea of what it will end up tasting like.

 

[TheSmithsEra]

Depends a lot on your OG, how much yeast you pitch, and your fermentation temperature control, but I would say it's doable as long as your OG is on the lower side. Most fermentation activity was done within 5 days on mine. Yeast was S-05. It's been two weeks and there are a few yeast rafts left but it's mostly settled. I fermented at 65 and raised the temp 1 degree a day after high krausen until I hit 68. I'll leave it for another week then keg it. I'll bottle strait from the keg for gifts if it's any good. I also want to keg it so I can get the vanilla just right. I've found adding things warm and still just doesn't give me the right idea of what it will end up tasting like.

well damn, i'm going for a 7.5 % beer at 3.5 gallons going into the fermenter. Currently its the same recipe but instead of 1 pound brown sugar its 1/2 a pound. Giving me an OG (from BrewersFriend) of 1.077 and I'm hoping the graham crackers bump me up another 5 points to 1.082

So maybe shoot for new years beer instead?

EDIT: Two fresh Wyeast activators and ferm temp under control, no worries there

 

[Setesh]

well damn, i'm going for a 7.5 % beer at 3.5 gallons going into the fermenter. Currently its the same recipe but instead of 1 pound brown sugar its 1/2 a pound. Giving me an OG (from BrewersFriend) of 1.077 and I'm hoping the graham crackers bump me up another 5 points to 1.082

So maybe shoot for new years beer instead?

EDIT: Two fresh Wyeast activators and ferm temp under control, no worries there

It might work out fine, but I find anything over 1055 or so takes a little while to come together. Not a long time, mind, but it seems to increase with the ABV. Keeping them warm will help them condition faster too. It's going to depend on the beer as well, and I have no experience with this one. I'm getting ready to go take a hydrometer sample of mine now, pretty exited to see how it tastes. I always chill it down in the freezer before actually tasting to get a better idea of how it will end up.

 

[TheSmithsEra]

It might work out fine, but I find anything over 1055 or so takes a little while to come together. Not a long time, mind, but it seems to increase with the ABV. Keeping them warm will help them condition faster too. It's going to depend on the beer as well, and I have no experience with this one. I'm getting ready to go take a hydrometer sample of mine now, pretty exited to see how it tastes. I always chill it down in the freezer before actually tasting to get a better idea of how it will end up.

Sweet, hope yours is a delicious!

 

[Setesh]

Well, I just tasted the hydrometer sample both warm and cold, with and without vanilla extract and it is one of the worst hydro samples I have ever tasted. There aren't any off flavors I can pinpoint, but the hops are running all over the graham cracker flavor. This will probably change after it is crashed, carbed, and aged. It would have also been much been better If I had hit my OG, as the extra sweetness would have required some hop balance. Here's hoping time treats it well....

 

[SD-SLIM]

Well, I just tasted the hydrometer sample both warm and cold, with and without vanilla extract and it is one of the worst hydro samples I have ever tasted. There aren't any off flavors I can pinpoint, but the hops are running all over the graham cracker flavor. This will probably change after it is crashed, carbed, and aged. It would have also been much been better If I had hit my OG, as the extra sweetness would have required some hop balance. Here's hoping time treats it well....

That's not good...most people love the smell of the wort, the sample and overall the beer....I hope time mellows this one for you!

 

[Setesh]

That's not good...most people love the smell of the wort, the sample and overall the beer....I hope time mellows this one for you!

Yeah, I had noticed that, and wort was extremely tasty, I just mucked up the recipe by getting low efficiency and not thinking to reduce my bittering charge to match. Rookie mistake. Luckily (in this case) hops tend to age down pretty quickly. I'll keep you posted.

 

[ulsh72]

Brewed this yesterday. OG of 1.074, smelled great. Used dark brown sugar to get a darker beer.

I BIAB and the graham crackers had me stirring during the whole mash to keep my recirc pump from running dry. No real issues though. Got about 6 gallons in the fermentor, pitched onto a yeast cake of S-04 from a previous batch of ESB. Bubbling away like mad this morning!

I've got high hopes!