Vanilla Porter

I'm a rather conservative brewer. Because of the amount of time it takes to go from grain to glass, I typically avoid putting "non-grain" flavors into my beers with fear of overdoing it. I decided with this last batch to step out of my comfort zone a little. I like having my Robust Porter around for winter. One of my wife's favorite beers is Breckenridge's Vanilla Porter. So I figured, maybe do a split batch and try putting a fresh vanilla bean in. If I screw it up, its just half a batch. I wasn't going for a clone, but hoping for a smooth vanilla tasting/smelling porter.  

I did some research and a lot of what I read said that you should use 1 whole vanilla bean for every 5 gallons of beer. The impression I get is that a little bit bean goes a long way. Since I was going to split the batch, I only needed half a bean. Too bad they don't sell half beans as it cost me $6 for one bean at Whole Foods! 

For those that have never seen one, here is what a vanilla bean looks like. Sort of like a brown, shriveled up string bean.  



What you want to do is expose as much of the inside of the bean to the beer. That is where all the good stuff is. I cut the bean lengthwise and scrapped out all the contents. It wasn’t what I expected. The inside of the bean is like the consistency of a very fine coffee ground. I cut up the pod too into small pieces to again allow as much of the inside of the pod make contact with the beer.



I dumped the entire bean and it insides into a Better Bottle. I then racked half of the porter right on top. Figured by putting the bean in first that it would help mix it up fully as it racked.

As early as the next day, there was a nice vanilla aroma coming off the beer. I can see how you can easily overdue it though! The plan was to have the beer in contact with the bean for at least 10 days.

I just racked the beer to kegs yesterday so I have yet to taste a fully finished product. But there is a nice, clear vanilla aroma and a slight vanilla in the finish. So far, so good. I’m very interested to see if the flavors changes at all once it is carbed up like does the CO2 enhance or suppress the vanilla.

For those that want the recipe, is pretty much Jamil’s….

10 lb American 2-Row (74.07%)
1.25 lb Crystal 40 (9.26%)
1.25 lb Munich I (9.26%)
0.75 lb Chocolate (5.56%)
0.25 lb Black Patent (1.85%)

1 oz East Kent Golding Pellet @ 60 Minutes
0.5 oz East Kent Golding Pellet @ 10 Minutes
0.5 oz East Kent Golding Pellet @ 5 Minutes

Vanilla bean added after beer was fully fermented and left it in for 10 days.

Award Drought is Over!

I don't brew to win awards, but when I do it feels good! Though it was a few weeks ago already, my Cream Ale took 3rd Place for the Light Hybrid flight at the Dayton Draft's Brewfest! It was this same competition that I took my first (and only) award with last year and I haven't placed since. So its nice to have the drought over.

Funny thing is that the Cream Ale was my lowest scoring of the 3 beers I entered. I don't have score sheets back yet, but I was able to get a sneak peak into the final scores to see how the other beers scored. I can't wait to see the feedback I got to see how I can improve. I enter competitions to get feedback!

The other funny part about this cream ale is that it was the first time with this recipe. I tried to take on the SMaSH approach. Cream Ale's are supposed to be "simple" yet flavorful. My previous recipe had some crystal malts for color, etc and those are not really needed. So I really trimmed the recipe down to the basics. I was really happy with the results. It was a slighty variation of a Jamil recipe.

Here is what I did for a 5 gal batch

Grain Bill
----------------
4.25 lb American 2-Row (42.5%)
4.25 lb Pilsner (42.5%)
1.50 lb Flaked Corn (15%)

Hop Bill
----------------
0.50 oz Cluster Pellet @ 60 Minutes
0.50 oz Hallertau Pellet @ 5 Minutes (Boil)


Single step Infusion at 150°F for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 63°F with Wyeast 1056 - American Ale

Yes I have been Brewing Too

I was just noticing that it has been sometime since I've posted anything about actually brewing. Well I have been trying to brew around every 4 to 6 weeks. Since my last Brew Day post I've done an American Pale Ale, Robust Porter, Black IPA and the old staple Cream Ale (with a slight adjustment). I'm going to do another APA next. I always seem to do the Cream Ale and APA back to back because of trying to use up the small amount of hops in the Cream Ale. I pick up some grains and usually some Cascade and I'm good to go. For those interested, here are the recipes for

American Pale Ale
Cream Ale  - I wanted to get the adjuncts up to 20% so I adjusted the flaked corn to 1.75 lbs and the Crystal 10 to 0.50lbs to lighten the color.

Robust Porter
----------------
Batch Size (G):           5
Total Grain (lb):         13.500
Total Hops (oz):          2.00
Original Gravity (OG):    1.064  (°P): 15.7
Final Gravity (FG):       1.016  (°P): 4.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV):  6.29 %
Colour (SRM):             32.5 
Bitterness (IBU):         18.2   (Tinseth)
Boil Time (Minutes):      70

Grain Bill
----------------
10.000 lb Pale Malt
1.250 lb Crystal 40
1.250 lb Munich
0.750 lb Chocolate
0.250 lb Black Patent

Hop Bill
----------------
1.00 oz East Kent Golding Pellet (4.7% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes
0.50 oz East Kent Golding Pellet (4.7% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes
0.50 oz East Kent Golding Pellet (4.7% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes


Single step Infusion at 154°F for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 64°F with Wyeast 1056 - American Ale


Black IPA
----------------
Batch Size (G):           5
Total Grain (lb):         13.875
Total Hops (oz):          4.00
Original Gravity (OG):    1.074  (°P): 18.0
Final Gravity (FG):       1.015  (°P): 3.8
Alcohol by Volume (ABV):  7.76 %
Colour (SRM):             28.2
Bitterness (IBU):         63.3   (Tinseth)
Boil Time (Minutes):      70

Grain Bill
----------------
11.000 lb American 2-Row (79.28%)
1.500 lb Crystal 10 (10.81%)
0.750 lb Carafa II malt (5.41%)
0.625 lb Special Roast (4.5%)

Hop Bill
----------------
1.00 oz Warrior Pellet (16.7% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
0.50 oz Cascade Pellet (6.4% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil)
0.50 oz Cascade Pellet (6.4% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil)
0.50 oz Cascade Pellet (6.4% Alpha) @ 2 Minutes (Boil)
0.75 oz Warrior Pellet (16.7% Alpha) @ 2 Minutes (Boil)
0.50 oz Cascade Pellet (6.4% Alpha) @ 0 Days (Dry Hop)
0.25 oz Warrior Pellet (16% Alpha) @ 0 Days (Dry Hop)

Single step Infusion at 150°F for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 65°F with Wyeast 1056 - American Ale
I dry hopped for the last 4 days that I had the beer in the fermenter.

Brew Day - Amber Ale

It been around a week since my last brew day. Wanted to post an update sooner but have just been busy with other stuff (yeah, I know brewing should be priority).

For this brew session I did an Amber Ale. I'd say it was a very successful brew day and an important one for me personally. This was my 10th batch. As I prepared for this "special" occasion I tried to figure out ways to remember #10. The highlight of the day was the my dad helped me brew. While I live in Ohio, my parents live in New York and they were in for a visit. My dad wanted to see the process of brewing so I was happy to show him. He asked a lot of questions and seemed interested so that was a great feeling. I don't think I convinced him to become a brewer (wasn't my intention anyway), but I think he can respect my obession with it.

This was just my 3rd AG batch and for the first time I had to add some boiling water to the mash to get it up to where I wanted it. Though my strike water was where I wanted it, I had some heat lose in the transfer and still learning to dial-in on my system. I keep taking notes and I'll learn to be better.

I was able to hit all of my numbers and was at around a 85% efficiency so was very happy with that. The beer started out at 1.045 and I just took a gravity reading (one week out) and I was at 1.013. I'll keep it in the fermenter for another 2 week so I'm sure I knock out another point or two and that gets me right where I wanted.

Here's the recipe....

FL Amber
American Amber Ale
Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (G):           5.5
Total Grain (lb):         10.000
Total Hops (oz):          3.50
Original Gravity (OG):    1.046  - Mine came in at 1.045
Final Gravity (FG):       1.012
Alcohol by Volume (ABV):  4.52 %
Colour (SRM):             13.6
Bitterness (IBU):         36.1   (Tinseth)
Boil Time (Minutes):      70

Grain Bill
----------------
6.750 lb American 2-Row (67.5%)
1.000 lb Vienna (10%)
0.500 lb Crystal 120 (5%)
0.500 lb Crystal 80 (5%)
0.500 lb Victory (5%)
0.500 lb Wheat Malt (5%)
0.250 lb Crystal 40 (2.5%)

Hop Bill
----------------
0.50 oz Magnum Pellet (14.4% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
0.50 oz Cascade Pellet (8% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil)
0.50 oz Willamette Pellet (4.8% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil)
1.00 oz Cascade Pellet (8% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Boil)
1.00 oz Willamette Pellet (4.8% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Boil)

Single step Infusion at 156°F for 60 Minutes.  - I came in closer to 154°F.

Fermented at 68°F with WLP001 - California Ale

The first taste out of the fermenter was pretty nice as well. I think a nice balance of malt and hops. Still really soon to get the full potential but its always encouraging when a early taste doesn't taste horrible.

On the hops front, the continue to grow. They are not nearly as aggressive as what I see on the message boards but I'm hopefully for at least some harvest later this year.

Brew Day - Cream Ale

So All Grain batch #2 is in the books. Another pretty good brew day overall. I'm happy with it, but there are still parts of the process that I want to clean up. I had a small stuck sparge but was able to get out of it by moving the grains around, but it taught me a lot about how my mash tun works so I can avoid that in the future (see below).

My original gravity came up a few points short of where I wanted to be but that could have been due to a little extra volume of water post boil. I left a lot of trub in the kettle, which I typically don't do, cause I wanted to test to see if I get a cleaner product in the end.

Just getting to the boiling point.

Above you can see how my braid came out of the grain bed. Next time I need to just spin it/bend it so that it turns down below the grains. Once the tip was exposed to air, that's when I had issue with the sparge. After I got it back below the grain bed, all was fine.

A 1L starter just before putting it on a stir plate.

Here's the recipe for this Brew Day

FL Cream Ale

Recipe Specs

----------------
Batch Size (G):           5.25
Total Grain (lb):         8.750
Total Hops (oz):          1.00
Original Gravity (OG):    1.046  (°P): 11.4
Colour (SRM):             4.2   (EBC): 8.3
Bitterness (IBU):         17.5   (Average)
Boil Time (Minutes):      70

Grain Bill

----------------
4.500 lb American 2-Row (51.43%)
2.000 lb Vienna (22.86%)
1.500 lb Flaked Corn (17.14%)
0.750 lb Crystal 10 (8.57%)

Hop Bill

----------------
0.5 oz Cluster Pellet (7.6% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)

0.5 oz Mt. Hood Pellet (4.7% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil)

Misc Bill

----------------

Single step Infusion at 150°F for 60 Minutes.

Fermented at 66°F with Wyeast 1056 - American Ale (1L Starter)

Brew Day - American Pale Ale

Here are pictures of my last brew day.  This was my first all grain batch. Nailed all my numbers perfectly and was very happy with my first AG attempt. Flavor turned out great too, I think its my best batch yet!

Getting help from my assistant brewer.

FL Pale Ale

American Pale Ale

Recipe Specs

----------------
Batch Size (G):           5.25

Total Grain (lb):         11.375

Total Hops (oz):          3.00
Original Gravity (OG):    1.059  (°P): 14.5
Colour (SRM):             7.9   (EBC): 15.6
Bitterness (IBU):         37.9   (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 70
Boil Time (Minutes):      60

Grain Bill

----------------
10.500 lb American 2-Row (92.31%)
0.750 lb Crystal 40 (6.59%)
0.125 lb Crystal 60 (1.1%)

Hop Bill

----------------
1.0 oz Cascade Leaf (7.5% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
0.5 oz Cascade Leaf (7.5% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil)
0.5 oz Cluster Pellet (7.5% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil)
0.5 oz Cascade Leaf (7.5% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Boil)
0.5 oz Cluster Pellet (7.5% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Boil)

Misc Bill

----------------

Single step Infusion at 152°F for 60 Minutes.

Fermented at 67°F with Safale US-05

Recipe Generated with BrewMate