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Something to add to a Stout?

Beer Recipe Design
#1

Hey–I’m getting ready for my 3rd batch of beer, I’m making the Sweet Stout Extract Kit from morebeer.com but I am curious to see if anyone has any ideas on how to make it a little more exciting? Something like vanilla, Coffee, Raspberries, chocolate? I would appreciate any help especially if you’ve made this kit or something similar. Like I said I’m pretty new so any thoughts would help. Here is the description of the kit:

Sweet Stout - Extract Beer Kit

(Makes 5 gallons) A sweet stout uses lactose (milk sugar) to add a silky creamy texture to the body of the beer. This beer is rich and full of roasted flavors complimented with a sweetness from the lactose. Lactose is un-fermentable which adds a creamy body to the beer. This kit includes our dry yeast Safale US-04.

Estimated Original Gravity:1.045-49
SRM (Color Range: 38
IBU’s: 38-42 Estimated Alcohol Percentage: 4.5%

Thanks!

#2

All would be great:

Vanilla-add good quality vanilla bean to secondary
Coffee-I cold step mine then add to secondary, once again use a good quality fresh roasted coffee bean
Chocolate: Cocca nibs could be added to secondary for a week or so to get a good chocolate flavor.

never added fruit to a stout, but either a flavor extract, or a can of raspberries could be added and could be quite interesting.

#3

i like to add a few quality vanilla beans to some bourbon. let soak for a week or more, then add a teaspoon (or more) to my pint glass. or 1/4 cup too the keg

#4

after going through some of my notes; here is what i used for vanilla and bourbon

750ml Knob Creek 100proof bourbon (if i were to do this again, i would use 80proof of cheaper bourbon) and i soaked 3 Tahitian vanilla beans and one planifolia vanilla bean. and i think i let them soak for 2+ weeks

edit: I cut up the vanilla beans into small pieces, and scraped the inside out into the bourbon. i also let the skins soak in the bourbon

#5

Thanks Scoggin,

I just brewed it yesterday, it went well and it’s bubbling away!

What I’d like to do is go with the vanilla and bourbon, is there a way to add them to the secondary? I’ve never done something like this before and actually haven’t used a secondary fermenter before.

I found one recipe that adds 8 oz bourbon, 1 oz vanilla beans and 1.5 oz oak chips soaked in whiskey. He puts it in the secondary for 7 days. He doesn’t specify though how long he leaves it in the primary? About 2 weeks ok?

Also any thoughts on where to get the beans? Local stores?

Any other help would be greatly appreciated!

#6

You can add it to the secondary for a week, or just straight to the bottling bucket. I would start with a quarter cup–half cup for a 5 gallon batch and add more to taste. OR you can get a pipette and add vanilla bourbon directly to the bottles, this is my preferred method because you can add different levels to different bottles. and you can also have some without vanilla as a control, or some with just bourbon. I usually just add it to my pint glass and keep the vanilla bourbon in the freezer

i got my vanilla beans at a little health food store. some place like, Haggens, market of choice, or trader joes should have them. Tahitian is the preffered bean IIRC

Good luck! hope it turns out well! :cheers:

#7

[quote=“BadBrewBeaumont”]
Also any thoughts on where to get the beans? Local stores?[/quote]
I have been very pleased with the Madagascar beans from beanilla.

#8

I’ve had good results with a coffee vanilla stout. I’ve also added a pound of agave nectar to the boil.

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