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My Vanilla Bean Milk Stout

Beer Recipe Design
#1

Hey All,

This is my first recipe. Honestly it kinda came out of the blue. A friend of mine who has been doing his own homebrewing for quite sometime now helped out with the particular ingredients. It was certainly fun to come up with and I certainly can’t wait to do the brew. So here is the ingredient list and please give me any feedback:

Malts:
3lb - Wheat Dry Extract
3lb - Amber Dry Extract
1lb - Pale Chocolate Malt
1lb - Briess Caramel 60L
8oz - English Roasted Barley

Hops:
.5oz - Magnum Hop Pellets (60 minute boil)
.5oz - New Zealand Pacifica Hop Pellets (10 minute boil)
.5oz - New Zealand Pacifica Hop Pellets (dry-hopping)

Yeast:
1 packet - Safale US-05 Dry Yeast

Miscellaneous Ingredients:
1lb Lactose (added during main boil to help it dissolve better as I have read it has a hard time dissolving if added later)
3 - Vanilla Beans (sanitized/immersed in Jim Beam bourbon)
1fl oz - Jim Beam Bourbon (this one is questionable)
5.3oz - Dark Brown Sugar (priming for bottling)

Readings I am looking to have:
IBU: 23.5
ABV: 6.4%
Original Gravity: 1.066
Final Gravity: 1.018

Just on one quick side note: I am debating between doing .75 or .5 ounces on the Magnum hops that are during the main boil. Reason being is that .5oz gives an IBU of 23.5 (stated above) whereas the .75 ounces gives and IBU of 33.8. With this being a stout, I know the IBU should be on the sweeter side. However, I don’t know that the brown sugar would make that fall. I used a calculation program to find all the values with the exact ingredients, however I know those are not 100% accurate. Opinions are certainly welcome.

Thanks in advance - David

#2

I just wanted to say that I also looked up the brew online and found some brewers doing it but I do want to try it out.

#3

Anyone mind giving me some feedback as to whether I should .75 or .5oz of the magnum? I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

#4

I’d go with .75 ounce.

#5

hi hello… new here in site… i’ll try that one .

#6

Sounds tasty!

#7

I’d go with .75 ounce.[/quote]

Thanks for the advice. I had just read last night in “Joy of Homebrewing” about IBU’s being perceived by the palette. With the sweet notes in this, it should be a pretty good balance. Thanks again!

#8

Glad to hear it. I am new here myself. Learning quite a bit and loving it!

#9

Thank you! I sure hope that it comes out just as tasty as it sounds. It is my first one but I will be having a friend help me that has brewed several times so there shouldn’t be any hick-ups.

#10

Vanilla beans just came in today!

x3 Tahitian Vanilla Beans in a glass vile ordered from Beanilla.com

The bourbon has already been added to the glass vile so they are now soaking in it.

#11

Now just a quick question on the vanilla…should I be letting the beans sit in the bourbon in the fridge or simply at room temperature away from the sun? Any suggestions?

#12

The vanilla has been resting in the bourbon now since Thursday. I realize that this may be enough time now for sanitizing the beans. However, my question now is should I leave the beans whole and intact or should i split them lengthwise and place them back in the bourbon? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

#13

for the most vanilla flavor. chop them lengthwise, and scrape out the inside gunky/grainy stuff into the bourbon. then chop up the bean ‘skins’ and put them into the bourbon also

let all that vanilla bean matter soak in the bourbon for a week or two. then filter it out. and add it to the carboy/keg/bottling bucket or individuality to the bottles or pint glass

#14

[quote=“S.Scoggin”]for the most vanilla flavor. chop them lengthwise, and scrape out the inside gunky/grainy stuff into the bourbon. then chop up the bean ‘skins’ and put them into the bourbon also

let all that vanilla bean matter soak in the bourbon for a week or two. then filter it out. and add it to the carboy/keg/bottling bucket or individuality to the bottles or pint glass[/quote]

Thanks for the advice. If I choose to leave them whole, will they still impart anything at all to the bourbon or vice-versa?

#15

they probably will… but not as much… but i’ve never tried leaving them whole. cutting them up will give you a lot of vanilla flavor, and the bourbon will keep everything sanitary

#16

i like to cut them up, let it soak, then add it to my pint glass. this gives me the option of varying levels of vanilla. sometimes i like to add it to commercial beers. 1 pint of vanilla bourbon has lasted me over a year. i soaked 4 beans in my knob creek bourbon, and a teaspoon of that stuff in a pint adds a lot of flavor

ps. to your previous question, i answered on the previous page :cheers:

#17

[quote=“S.Scoggin”]i like to cut them up, let it soak, then add it to my pint glass. this gives me the option of varying levels of vanilla. sometimes i like to add it to commercial beers. 1 pint of vanilla bourbon has lasted me over a year. i soaked 4 beans in my knob creek bourbon, and a teaspoon of that stuff in a pint adds a lot of flavor

ps. to your previous question, i answered on the previous page :cheers: [/quote]

Thanks for the info. Yeah I did see your answer to the previous post. I am still kinda up in the air with what I am going to do. I may leave them whole as we are planning to brew next Thursday and simply adding a bit of the bourbon that the vanilla sat in to the primary. Again, still kinda trying to figure things out. I am sure that the bourbon would mellow things out as I am doing 3 beans. Am a bit uncertain about time of splitting them. Doing it before the primary will cause it to be a bit stronger while doing it while in the bourbon may allow it to mellow out. Such a decision process…haha. For a first brew I am putting a bit of thought into it…maybe too much.

#18

i don’t actually add the vanilla beans to the beer, but i know you can. the vanilla flavor imparts itself into the bourbon, i filter the beans out and add just the bourbon (infused with vanilla flavor).

good luck, and happy brewin :cheers:

#19

[quote=“S.Scoggin”]i don’t actually add the vanilla beans to the beer, but i know you can. the vanilla flavor imparts itself into the bourbon, i filter the beans out and add just the bourbon (infused with vanilla flavor).

good luck, and happy brewin :cheers: [/quote]

Oh I understand now. In the research I did leading up to this I hadn’t seen it done that way. That’s quite an interesting way to do it. That way you don’t end up with the vanilla “gunk” in the bottles. If I do it the way I had described to you I may consider filtering before bottling. Like I said in earlier posts, I am new to the site and definitely enjoy getting feedback. Always open to learning something new!

#20

and i can see the bourbon mellowing out the vanilla a bit too

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