Vanilla Toffee Cream Ale

[callio]

Hey all,

I am a relatively new brewer, having only brewed the following:

kit of morgan's ginger beer
JAO honey mead
some simple apple cider with ALDI juice
and a few experimental wines

well, being not much of a beer drinker, I wanted to start with something a little sweeter than your regular VB type beers (yuk!)

here is the recipe I want to do, but have no idea if it is too far advanced for me. I don't really know how to read it, but it looks and sounds yum!
http://ryanbrews.blogspot.com.au/2009/01/v...-cream-ale.html

Your help and guidance would be much appreciated!

 

[Matt89]

Vanilla Toffee Cream Ale

Starting Gravity: 1060
Bitterness: 22IBU
Colour: 15SRM

7.25 lb 2-Row (Ale Malt Grain)
0.75 lb 40L (Crystal Grain)
0.50 lb 80L (Crystal Grain))
0.50 lb Carapils (Grain used for Head retention)
1.00 lb Lactose (Unfermentable Milk Sugar)
0.50 lb LME (Boiled for 10min) (Liquid Malt Extract)

Bitter Addition: 1.0 oz NZ Hallertaur 7.0% @ 60min

Yeast: US05

Looks pretty easy, just convert from Pounds to Kgs

Advice would be to Mash at a higher temp maybe 67-68 to get that toffee, chewy flavour

 

[callio]

Thanks for the reply. I think I am gonna have to do a bit of reading to figure out exactly what to do with these now I know what they are :s - I am a very new brewer. Anyone recommend a good book?

 

[callio]

k so how i understand it (from what I've been reading), I boil the LME to make the caramelly/toffee flavour, add that to the grains and boil them. then after 60 mins, I add the bitter addition and boil for a bit longer, then cool it down, chuch it in fermenter and pitch yeast?

then do a secondary ferment and add vanilla?

i am a noob - sorry to bother you with my silly questions.

 

[Rubix]

Are you set up for All Grain brewing? If not, you'll need to convert this recipe to an all extract version.

 

[brettprevans]

Ok mate u dont boil grain, so ur obviously never brewed, which ok, it just means u need to read. Its not like youd try and rebuilt an engine without reading first.

Start off with Palmer - How to Brew. http://www.google.com.au/#sclient=mobile-g...320&bih=295

Plenty of stuff on ahb to read also. Look for brewing guide for new brewers.

 

[callio]

Thanks for your feedback. I would like to stay true to the recipe, so i'll stick to grains rather than extracts.

I shall check out the Palmer guide.

It'll be a challenge but I'll get there.

 

[mwd]

Not sure on the volume but does seem to me to be heavy on Crystal and lactose and light on hops going to end up very sweet and cloying to my mind.

 

[callio]

Yeah the guy intended it to be sweet, he made it with a creamy soda flavour in mind. In his taste test, he wrote that it wasn't too cloying (what ever that means)

 

[mwd]

Not my taste but let us know how you get on it is interesting if a long way out of the ordinary. definition of cloying sweet + sweet.

 

[Lokkness]

Thanks for the reply. I think I am gonna have to do a bit of reading to figure out exactly what to do with these now I know what they are :s - I am a very new brewer. Anyone recommend a good book?

How To Brew - John Palmer... great book to start with ^^
here's a link:
http://www.howtobrew.com/

 

[callio]

Vanilla Toffee Cream Ale

Starting Gravity: 1060
Bitterness: 22IBU
Colour: 15SRM

7.25 lb 2-Row (Ale Malt Grain)
0.75 lb 40L (Crystal Grain)
0.50 lb 80L (Crystal Grain))
0.50 lb Carapils (Grain used for Head retention)
1.00 lb Lactose (Unfermentable Milk Sugar)
0.50 lb LME (Boiled for 10min) (Liquid Malt Extract)

Bitter Addition: 1.0 oz NZ Hallertaur 7.0% @ 60min

Yeast: US05

Looks pretty easy, just convert from Pounds to Kgs

Advice would be to Mash at a higher temp maybe 67-68 to get that toffee, chewy flavour

K so I mash the first four, then when I boil the wort, I add the lactose and the boiled down LME, then add the bitter after 60mins, cool down, then pitch yeast?

what is the difference between 40L and 80L crystal grain?

I am more of a visual learner, and whilst I've been reading the john palmer guide, I had to watch some youtube vids as well. I found a great one which was really simple and easy to understand.

Also planning on buying through liquorcraft if I can get it all with them - is this the best place to get my stuff?

 

[Adam Howard]

Mashing the grains involves holding the crushed grain at a certain temperature for approx. 60 minutes. 66-67 degrees celsius is a good temperature to aim for. You then have to drain the liquid out of the grains into a pot and then rinse the grains with some more water to extract as much of the sugars from the grain as you can. The rinsing liquid goes into the pot with the 'first runnings'.

You then bring this liquid to the boil and add your hops the moment it hits the boil. The hops are then boiled for 60 minutes. Hop addition times are in reverse order i.e. 60 mins means boiled for 60 mins, 40 mins means boiled for 40 mins.

40L and 80L are the colour ratings on the crystal grains. L stands for Lovibond which is a colour rating. Higher colour ratings give a darker, toffee like colour and flavour.

Best bet for ingredients is through Grain and Grape in Yarraville or Keg King in Springvale.

Liquorcraft caters more for kit and extract brewers although they are usually stoked with all-grain brewers. I highly recommend Keg King. Great service and good prices.

I think you're best off reading and watching a few more videos before putting a batch down. Once you think you have the right idea post up the method you plan on using and have it critiqued by people on here, this will save you wasting money.

Good videos are the Brewing TV guys from Northern Brewer in the US. Total beer geeks but top blokes. I HIGHLY recommend you watch this video. http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewingtv/ Episode 54: Jake's got a new bag. It covers the basic brew in a bag way of mashing and extracting sugars from grain.

 

[Adam Howard]

I forgot to add. That recipe would involve mashing the grain, boiling the liquid with the hops in it for 60 mins. I would recommend adding the LME 50 minutes into the boil so it is boiled for 10 minutes then add the lactose when you turn off the heat and stir to dissolve. Find a way to get the liquid temperature down to less than 25 degrees get it into the fermenter and adjust volume to your desired fermentation volume with cool boiled water. You then pitch the yeast and keep the temp between 16-21 degrees (not hard in Melbourne at the moment). Ideally you should try to keep the temp steady at around 18-20 but keeping it between 16-21 will still produce a good clean tasting beer.

 

[callio]

Thanks Adamski29 - what you have covered here is what was in the video I saw, but thanks for clearing up the timing thing in regards to the hops timing. They also showed how to make a mash tun to keep my mash at the right temps. I think it's all starting to make sense Will also check out the above mentioned stores. Thanks again for your suggestions and help everyone.

 

[chalky]

Where in Victoria do you live? There is more than likely a local homebrew club in your area. Watching somebody else on a brewday is a great way to learn.

Thanks Adamski29 - what you have covered here is what was in the video I saw, but thanks for clearing up the timing thing in regards to the hops timing. They also showed how to make a mash tun to keep my mash at the right temps. I think it's all starting to make sense Will also check out the above mentioned stores. Thanks again for your suggestions and help everyone.

 

[callio]

I'm in Bendigo, and I've contact BAD brewers, but they are not exactly active at the moment.