I want to make a Vanilla Bourbon Stout and have this recipe, and would appreciate any tweaks or suggestions as this is my first go at not using a kit.
3 lb. Dark Dry Malt Extract
.375 lb. Black Patent Malt
.125 lb. Roasted Barley
.5 oz Cluster (7.00%) at 60 minutes
.5 oz East Kent Goldings (4.00) at 20 minutes
1 tsp Irish moss at 15 minutes
US-05 Yeast
will add vanilla bourbon extract to taste
[quote=“joepod”]I want to make a Vanilla Bourbon Stout and have this recipe, and would appreciate any tweaks or suggestions as this is my first go at not using a kit.
3 lb. Dark Dry Malt Extract
.375 lb. Black Patent Malt
.125 lb. Roasted Barley
.5 oz Cluster (7.00%) at 60 minutes
.5 oz East Kent Goldings (4.00) at 20 minutes
1 tsp Irish moss at 15 minutes
US-05 Yeast
will add vanilla bourbon extract to taste[/quote]
how big is this batch? I’m guessing 2-3 gallons?
I would just go for the regular light/pale DME. You should get plenty of color and roast from your BP malt and RB. You might consider also getting a really fine crush on your roasted barley, it will give you better color (I actually use a vitamix blender on mine and add them @ sparge)
Any reason you chose Cluster for bittering? Never used them, but I’ve heard they’re kind of gnarly. In stouts, I typically go with a clean bittering addition, such as Magnum or maybe Liberty(?), or even a woodsy one, like Northern Brewer.
Not sure how you are planning to do your V/B extract, but you are on the right track. I would just slice open the vanilla beans, scrape out the gunk, place (bean and gunk) in a sealable container, cover with bourbon, then cover. Then after a week or two you can filter through a coffee filter and just add the infused bourbon to taste as you say.
When you brew it, jar up some bourbon and vanilla beans then add that at kegging or bottling. It will be much better than extract.
how big is this batch? I’m guessing 2-3 gallons?
I would just go for the regular light/pale DME. You should get plenty of color and roast from your BP malt and RB. You might consider also getting a really fine crush on your roasted barley, it will give you better color (I actually use a vitamix blender on mine and add them @ sparge)
Any reason you chose Cluster for bittering? Never used them, but I’ve heard they’re kind of gnarly. In stouts, I typically go with a clean bittering addition, such as Magnum or maybe Liberty(?), or even a woodsy one, like Northern Brewer.
Not sure how you are planning to do your V/B extract, but you are on the right track. I would just slice open the vanilla beans, scrape out the gunk, place (bean and gunk) in a sealable container, cover with bourbon, then cover. Then after a week or two you can filter through a coffee filter and just add the infused bourbon to taste as you say.[/quote]
Indeed im shooting for 2.5 gallons.
Read somewhere that the cluster was good in a darker beer because of its compliment to chocolatey notes, but like i said im pretty new to this, so i could be wrong. I do remember seeing northern brewer pop up a few times in stout recepies, the woodyness may play well with the bourbon?
As for the vanilla, that was the approach i was going to take with it, basically making my own extract.
[quote=“joepod”]
Indeed im shooting for 2.5 gallons.
Read somewhere that the cluster was good in a darker beer because of its compliment to chocolatey notes, but like i said im pretty new to this, so i could be wrong. I do remember seeing northern brewer pop up a few times in stout recepies, the woodyness may play well with the bourbon?
As for the vanilla, that was the approach i was going to take with it, basically making my own extract.[/quote]
Interesting. Well, in that case, Cluster-on! I should say what I’ve heard about this hop in the context of a Classic American Pilsner, which is a very delicate beer to make and balancing hops/malt can be tricky. Thus, many brewers use something more delicate, like Saaz.
I would give it a go. Keep in mind though that you will get a BIT of flavor of the hop varietal from a bittering addition, but the majority of hop flavor will come from additions after 30 minutes. Not saying to change it, just FYI. I would think it would play nicely with the EKGs.
Would there be any advantage to maybe switching out the black patent for a chocolate malt or do you think i would have to many competing flavors?
Don’t quote me on this, but I feel like black patent almost gives more of a dark chocolate flavor (because it is malted unlike roasted barley), while chocolate malt actually gives a coffee-like flavor. Depends what you are going for, and some might say the black patent AND the roasted barley is ‘belt and suspenders’, but I think it will be fine.
Thanks for your help Pietro!
This is a great resource for grain information
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Malts_ChartI find commercial vanilla beers to be over powering. I like the flavor of 1 bean in 5 gallons of beer.
If it was me, I would add 1/2 a bean (for 2.5g of beer) to the beer for 3-5 days, after fermentation has stopped. Taste it. If it is ok, THEN add the bourbon to taste.
Otherwise you may not get the flavor you are looking for.
The NB Dry Stout extract kit uses 2 oz cluster hops at the start of the boil. I tasted the one I have in secondary when I racked it off the yeast cake and it was really good. Not overly hopped at all IMHO. Alot like a Guinness.
