Vanilla Stout

Grains, malts, hops, yeast, water and other ingredients used to brew. Recipe reviews and suggestions.

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Bowser
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Vanilla Stout

Post by Bowser »

I just had Saranac's Vanilla stout and I just purchased the madagascar beans to make a batch at home. I'm wondering if anyone has any tips or recipes to help me out. I was thinking about an imperial stout, but then thought that a good dry stout would probably do best to bring out the vanilla flavor. Also thinking of pairing chocolate with it...maybe a chocolate vanilla stout. Anyway, tips and recipes would be great.
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slothrob
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Vanilla Bourbon Porter

Post by slothrob »

Perhaps this might help, here's a famous recipe for a Vanilla Porter designed by renowned homebrewer Denny Conn:

#264 Bourbon Vanilla Imperial Porter
Denny Conn

A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------
Batch Size (Gal): 5.00 Wort Size (Gal): 5.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 17.75
Anticipated OG: 1.086 Plato: 20.58
Anticipated SRM: 45.4
Anticipated IBU: 31.8
Brewhouse Efficiency: 73 %
Wort Boil Time: 70 Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
62.0 11.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) America 1.036 2
8.5 1.50 lbs. Brown Malt Great Britain 1.032 70
2.8 0.50 lbs. Crystal 40L America 1.034 40
14.1 2.50 lbs. Munich Malt (Durst) Germany 1.037 10
5.6 1.00 lbs. Crystal 120L America 1.033 120
7.0 1.25 lbs. Chocolate Malt America 1.029 350

Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.65 oz. Magnum-Domestic Whole 15.00 29.2 60 min.
0.40 oz. Goldings - E.K. Whole 6.00 2.6 10 min.

Extras

Amount Name Type Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.00 Unit(s)Whirlfloc Fining 15 Min.(boil)

Yeast
-----
DCL Yeast US-56 Fermentis American Ale

Mash Schedule
-------------
155°F for 60'
Last edited by slothrob on Tue Dec 09, 2008 10:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Suthrncomfrt1884
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Vanilla in beer

Post by Suthrncomfrt1884 »

I did a Double Chocolate Raspberry Stout a few months ago and it's just now starting to be drinkable.

Anyways, I only added a few ounces of chocolate and they were added at secondary and at bottling time. I was expecting more flavor, but nothing.

I would say use 100% cocao in your boil if you want a good chocolate flavor. The powdered cocao didn't do much for me. Also, I added vanilla and didn't get much flavor from that. I only added 1tbsp. in my bottling bucket because vanilla is such a strong flavor. If you really want a good vanilla flavor, add about 4 ounces of extract. It will be very strong at first, but the flavor will mellow in time.

The problem I found with flavoring a stout or porter is that you almost eliminate all of your usual roasty flavors of the grains. If I was to do it again, I'd probably double the roasted barley in my recipe. I was aiming for a Young's Double Chocolate Stout, and pretty much dissappointed myself.
Bowser
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RE: vanilla in beer

Post by Bowser »

Thanks for the input. I think I'm going to go with vanilla beans in the secondary for 7 - 10 days. My brewshop suggested doing this and sampling the beer until it gets to my liking. Hopefully it comes out Ok, but it sounds to me that you've experienced a significant "mellowing" of flavor. Maybe I should let the flavor get pretty robust before bottling. Thanks for the tips on the chocolate. I just had a young's chocolate stout for the first time last night. it was pretty good. I think that Rogue does a good job with it as well and was the beer that got me thinking this way. I think I'll probably stick with the vanilla, but select a six-pack or two to add flavorings at bottling: chocolate extract, cherry extract, and a coffee bean or two (all separate from eachother of course). This will be my first non-kit experience, so I'm hoping for the best. Oh yeah, it'll be a partial mash...I'm not at all grains yet.
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Post by Bowser »

Slothrob - how do I convert your recipe to partial? I think I've seen in a few books that the pale malt is replaced by extract....I'm just being lazy though, I can probably find the answer in a book at home.
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Suthrncomfrt1884
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extracts

Post by Suthrncomfrt1884 »

Hey Bowser,

Make sure if you're using extracts that you test them first. I suggest brewing a gallon batch to make sure you like them. Some extracts give you one of two things, taste or smell.

I believe the chocolate extract will probably give you more chocolate smell, but not taste. Same with the cherry. I've heard that cherry extracts aren't good to use. If you're only doing a six pack with flavorings, try using a little less than 1/4lb of fresh cherries, or a few ounces of powdered cocao. If you use real chocolate, it's a mess to filter.

Check out this page for more on chocolate in beer (do's and don'ts)
http://www.maltosefalcons.com/tech/styl ... porter.php

As for your extracts....I just advice not using most of them. The raspberry I used put off a great flavor, but no aroma. There are a few that work, but for the most part, you'll be alot happier with fresh fruit.
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chocolate and vanilla

Post by slothrob »

I think you're right to go with vanilla beans in the seccndary for a week or two. I left this off the above quote by accident:
"After primary, slit open 2 vanilla beans. Scrape the insides, chop the pods into quarters, add to secondary fermenter, rack beer onto vanilla. Taste periodically for the correct balance. I left the beer in secondary for 11 days."

I understand that chocolate nibs in secondary for about a week is the best way to use chocolate. If you put it in the boil, a lot of the flavor and aroma is blown off during fermentation. Cocoa powder is supposed to work, too, but apparently you need to keep the time in the beer shorter or it can get bitter.
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Post by slothrob »

Bowser wrote:Slothrob - how do I convert your recipe to partial? I think I've seen in a few books that the pale malt is replaced by extract....I'm just being lazy though, I can probably find the answer in a book at home.
Not my recipe, but...
You could replace the pale malt with light estract.
The Crystal 120L and 40L and the Chocolate Malt could be steeped, but the Munich and Brown Malt would need to be mashed. I'd mash them all together if you can mash 6+ pounds. Not really much of a partial mash with that much grain.
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