S'more beer

[figgnewton]

I am still a rookie and just looking to get a little feedback on a s'more beer I am creating.

I want the color of the beer to be a little on brown side but not very dark.

Here is my recipe so far that I have brain stormed.

seep at 160f the following ingredients.
2.5 lb of carabrown
1/2 lb of castle belgian chocolate malt
1 lb of victory malt
1 lb biscuit malt
1.8 lb of honey malt
4 oz of 40L crystal malt
1 lb of toasted oats
I was debating on adding some smoke malt to kind of incorporate a somewhat burnt marshmellow flavor but not sure which kind to use or how much.

I then wanted to add 6 lbs of munich extract and an oz of magnum hops to the start of a 60 minute boil. with 15 minutes left in boil I add 1lb of lactose and 1 cinnamon stick and 1 oz of sterling hops. With a minute or so left I wanted to add 4 tablespoons of bakers chocolate.

I was then going to rack on a potion mixed up of vodka teaspoon of cinnamon 2 vanilla beans and maybe some cocoa nibs. I also wanted to add some kind of graham cracker extract or flavoring but not sure what kind to use.

any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Michigan_Wolfman]

Too much smoked malt has the potential of putting the flavor profile of the beer out of balance. If your were to use any at all, I would use no more than a few ounces with the rest of your specialty grains and steep them at 160.

 

[microbusbrewery]

I've been toying with the idea of a s'more inspired beer myself. IMO, skip the smoked malt. To me, smoked malt is much more reminiscent of BBQ (think ribs, pork shoulder, etc.)...not really what I'd associate with s'mores. I get the smokey aroma when you're eating s'mores by the campfire, but I don't usually pick up smoked flavor in my s'mores. I'd also go a little more simple on the grain bill. This seems a little bit of a kitchen sink approach and I think it'll probably turn out a bit muddy with too much going on. Simpler is usually better. A couple things I'd consider:

Briess Extra Special Roast Malt - I've heard in larger proportions it contributes marshmallow-like flavor and aroma
For more marshmallow...how about some actual toasted marshmallow?
For chocolate character, I'd skip the bakers chocolate or just go with 100% cocoa towards the end of the boil. I'd also consider Drew's The Bomb tincture, https://www.maltosefalcons.com/tech/cacao-nib-extract-drew-way
Not sure on the graham cracker flavoring. I was thinking of trying some on a pumpkin beer a while back, but I read some reviews where a lot of people complained of a metallic note with the flavoring. I brew all-grain so I'm seriously considering a bunch of graham crackers in the mash.
I like the idea of lactose as well.

 

[microbusbrewery]

P.S. Here are some hints per Off Color Brewing's Dinos'mores Imperial Stout (10.5% ABV):

Malts: Pale, Vienna, Wheat, Cara II, Extra Special, Flaked Oats, Dark Chocolate, Black, Roasted Barley

Hops: Nugget - 40 IBUs

Secret Ingredients: Marshmallow fluff, vanilla beans, molasses, graham flour, cocoa nibs

 

[figgnewton]

Thank you all for the replies.

So I think I will not use any smoked malt, crystal malt or chocolate malt. I will probably either cut the victory and biscuit in half or take those out. I really want the graham flavor to shine and carabrown should do that so i think leaving that at or near the 2.5 lbs would be good.

I like the idea of adding some extra special roast, just gotta decide on how much.

I think ill add a small amount of molasses, graham flour, and cocoa nibs.

Should the cocoa nibs be grinded up good to extract the flavor before adding this to some vodka?

And yeah I kinda went with the kitchen sink approach, it works with my chili lol. I can see why this wouldn't translate as well in a beer though.

 

[figgnewton]

Also I liked the idea of adding toasted marshmellow myself, but I read somewhere of a brewer doing that and it didn't bring much flavor to it

 

[microbusbrewery]

Also I liked the idea of adding toasted marshmellow myself, but I read somewhere of a brewer doing that and it didn't bring much flavor to it

Yeah, I could see that. It probably just ferments right out. Did they mention how much they used? I'd probably try adding marshmallow cream/fluff towards the end of fermentation. Sometimes yeast can get lazy if they have access to too much simpler sugars too early in the game. I'd try to keep it to no more than a pound for a five gallon recipe...at least for starters.

Re the nibs, the ones I've used have been crushed so they're already broken up into fairly small pieces. I wouldn't grind them more than that because you'll want to be able to remove them from the tincture before dosing your beer.

Good luck with this and be sure to post your results.

 

[figgnewton]

I will probably get this started next weekend and will be sure to post the progress.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

I have a recipe from brooklyn brew shop for s'more beer. if you'd like a copy for comparison, send a PM.

 

[figgnewton]

well I just gave it a taste and seems to be fully carbonated or very close to it. It has a really good graham cracker taste with a decent chocolate and vanilla/marshmellow taste. I will make this again for sure with just a few tweaks.

 

[myerstyson]

So what was your final recipe, if you don't mind sharing?

 

[figgnewton]

I will try to give you at least the idea of what I did.

first off I would recommend switching out the LME and just going all grain but I don't have the equipment for that.

step 1 bring 3 gallons of water up to 165 degrees, remove from heat and seep the following ingredients.
1 Lb of flaked wheat, 20oz of honey malt, 6oz caramel wheat malt, 36oz of carabrown malt, 6oz smoked cherry wood malt, 8 oz of toasted oats, 7oz of extra special malt and 1/2 lb of graham flour. let that seep for 30 minutes or more.

step 2 remove grains and bring to a boil then remove from heat and stir in 4 lbs of munich malt extract and 2 lbs of amber malt extract, then bring to a boil. At the start of a 60 minute boil add 1 oz of magnum hops, with 15 minutes left add 1lb of lactose and 1 oz of sterling hops. At flameout add 4 oz of mollases and 2 cinnamon sticks

step 3 after bringing the wort down to under 80 degrees and adding the top off water needed, pitch S-33 ale yeast, let ferment in primary for about 2 weeks. while that is fermenting make up a vodka tincture of 12 oz of marshmallow vodka 4 oz of roasted cocoa nibs and 2 vanilla beans sliced and scraped.

step 4 rack on top of the vodka tincture and 2 oz of graham cracker extract (I bought this from jasper's home brew shop and this stuff is amazing) and let that sit for about 2 weeks.

step 5 I would probably just ignore my ways of getting chocolate flavor into the beer because I never have any luck with any method so far... I ended up mixing in 6 oz of ghiradelli cocoa powder with my priming sugar (3.5 oz) I ended up yielding just over 4 gallons though so adjust as needed. Then bottle it up.

Things I would change for next time... find a better method for getting a better chocolate flavor. This was the second time using chocolate nibs and they barely helped, the cocoa powder got the chocolate flavor through pretty good but creates a lot of extra sediment. I would either up the smoke malt by 4 oz or maybe just get rid of it (didn't seem to come through much) I would double up on the extra special malt. The grains may seem excessive to some but I think it was almost the perfect combo to create a graham cracker taste. Next time I will convert this to an all grain recipe though.

 

[Gibson87]

Thanks for the write up! I've got this in my favorites to try out some time.

 

[figgnewton]

No problem, I am very happy with the final result. I just think all grain is the way to go just cause so much grains in my recipe. took me 3 large grain bags!

 

[InsertCreativeNickname]

Can you tell me what brand of graham cracker extract you used? Thanks!

 

[figgnewton]

I forgot to mention I also added 2 vanilla beans to the vodka. I wish I could say what the actual brand of the graham cracker extract I used but all I can say is I bought it from Jaspers at https://www.boomchugalug.com/ when it shipped it had there own label on it, so I am thinking they buy a big bottle of it somewhere and then make 2 oz bottles. The stuff is amazing, I put 1 capful which was probably about a teaspoon to a mildly hoppy pale to test it out and it reminded me of southern tiers pumpking if you are familiar with the graham pie crust that has.

 

[Rayi]

What was the final recipe?