Victory @ Sea Attempt #1: Insight appreciated

[sddanc]

Presidents Day, a cohort and I took our chances with a V@S clone. We formulated a basic grain bill/hop schedule consisting of:

16# Marris Otter
1# Crystal 40L
2# Chocolate Malt
.25# Black Patent

and

1.25oz Nor' Brewer @ 60min
1.25oz Nor' Brewer @ 15min
1.25oz Mt. Hood @ 5min

we hit our OG dead on @ 1.101 and are ferm'ing with WhiteLabs Burton yeast.

48hrs later our krausen has reached the neck of the carboy and the blow-off tube is going nuts.

We intend on going 10 days secondary with whole vanilla bean(s?) and using the Caffe Calabria cold-pressed coffee.

Question is (for those that have enjoyed V@S):

Will 10 days with the vanilla bean give us the appropriate vanilla profile? Is one bean enough? Two beans?

When should we inoculate the cold-pressed coffee? In secondary, maybe about 5-7 days? At bottling?


Thanks!

 

[sddanc]

Anyone?

 

[passedpawn]

Zero input, but wishing you the best of luck.

I love the name of that beer. Victory @ Sea. Just sounds epic.

BTW, thats a big beer, what's your yeast strategy?

 

[sddanc]

We just pitched a vial white labs burton yeast and its still going nuts. Brewed on Monday, ferm started Tuesday, and the blowoff tube is still spitting out foam. Im taking that as a good sign the attenuation is high

 

[codfishh]

A single vial doesn't seem like it would be near enough.

 

[permo]

I wonder if its too late to add another vial...or two?

 

[sddanc]

if i had the capacity to go with a starter, i probably would have. i pray that the burton works!

 

[Euphist]

I've never had V@S, but I have a Vanilla Mild in the bottle. It had a whole bean, split and tossed in the secondary. It's not quite ready, but the vanilla was just barely noticeable in the bottle I sampled.

 

[sddanc]

similar boat here. i did a sweet stout and went 7 days with a split bean, and it was delicate in flavor. i think with the mellow sweetness of the sweet stout taken into consideration, the V@S might earn two beans

 

[HopLife]

I would consider a fairly long secondary for a big beer like this.

I like to drink beers that have an OG around 1.040-1.055 pretty young, but anything over 1.070, and especially over 1.090 I would let age twice or three times as long.

 

[sddanc]

so maybe a 21 day secondary on two vanilla beans?

 

[ghpeel]

I did 2 vanilla beans soaked in vodka and some spices for a Pumpkin Lager I did, and e vanilla character was perfect. However, that was the main flavor in my beer and you have a LOT of other things going on. I'd start with 2 beans (myspicesage.com has AWESOME beans for cheap, very fresh and gooey). Taste it after a few weeks and see if you want to add more. As mentioned, you will need a looong secondary on this one anyway.

 

[Euphist]

myspicesage.com has awesome beans for cheap, very fresh and gooey

+1

 

[sddanc]

Excellent. Thanks for the heads up on the beans

 

[HopLife]

so maybe a 21 day secondary on two vanilla beans?

That is plenty of time on the beans. With a big beer like this I have heard of doing a secondary as long as six months. 21 days is probably fine, just try to let it age in the bottles in a nice cool environment after cabnonating.

Enjoy!

 

[lemmiwinks]

I just did Denny Conns Bourbon Vanilla Porter and added cold pressed coffee as an homage to V@S which is easily one of my two favorite beers.
My OG was 1.082 and I used 2 Madagascar vanilla beans, split and quartered and soaked in 6 oz. of Makers Mark.
Cold pressed 2 oz. of Kona coffee in 12 oz of filtered water.
Added both to secondary for two weeks and then bottled.
The coffee and vanilla are very well balanced with the vanilla coming through on the front and the coffee being more prominent as the brew warms up.

Since your OG is a bit higher, it should probably stand up well to a 3rd week on the vanilla.

 

[sddanc]

Took my first gravity reading since brew day and it came out at 1.031. We are shooting for 1.028 so we are almost there. I did want to inquire about the coffee. V@S is a very coffee-forward beer. I have heard mixed things regarding inoculation of the coffee (racking into secondary, later during secondary, at bottling, etc etc). I plan on using cold-pressed caffe calabria beans, but I am not sure on the amount of beans. Nor am I sure on how much water to steep the grounds in (overnight?). I have a french press so no worries there. I just want to make sure the coffee is as prominent as in V@S. Cheers!

Suggested amount of coffee beans? Amount of water for steeping? When to add to wort?

 

[lemmiwinks]

Took my first gravity reading since brew day and it came out at 1.031. We are shooting for 1.028 so we are almost there. I did want to inquire about the coffee. V@S is a very coffee-forward beer. I have heard mixed things regarding inoculation of the coffee (racking into secondary, later during secondary, at bottling, etc etc). I plan on using cold-pressed caffe calabria beans, but I am not sure on the amount of beans. Nor am I sure on how much water to steep the grounds in (overnight?). I have a french press so no worries there. I just want to make sure the coffee is as prominent as in V@S. Cheers!

Suggested amount of coffee beans? Amount of water for steeping? When to add to wort?

Check my previous post. Used 2 oz. of Kona beans, coarse ground in 12 oz. of cold filtered water. Let it steep overnight and I added mine to secondary with the vanilla beans. Was in secondary for 2 weeks and is now almost 4 weeks in the bottle. Stuff is great. You get vanilla on the front and the coffee notes more as the glass/brew warms up.

Cheers mate - hope the brew turns out well for ya.

PS - Don't forget to sanitize your Press. I made that mistake and had to dump my first flask of coffee.

 

[sddanc]

Just racked onto vanilla and coffee on friday.

-Two, split then quartered vanilla beans soaked in elijah craig 12 year for 24 hrs

-8oz roughly ground Caffe Calabria French Roast steeped in 14oz of filtered water overnight in the fridge.

I french pressed the coffee prior to the secondary addition. Added about a cup of liquid and then 1/3 of the grounds in a double-layered hop sock.

With this being a very coffee forward beer, I hope the beer will continue to leech coffee flavors from the grounds. I intend on checking the flavor regularly and if it ever gets too great, I will just rack it into a tertiary.

Stuff is thick as V@S and similarly robust! Fingers crossed!!

 

[sddanc]

Turned out great!!

 

[CaliforniaBurrito]

I'm brewing this as we speak. 75 min mash came out a little light on the pre-boil gravity so I pulled more wort and plan to boil off in hopes to correct the OG.

Going to run primary for 3 weeks then do 14 oz of cold brewed french roast from a local roaster and 2 split vanilla beans in the secondary.

Cheers.