Today I bottled up some of the Oatmeal Cluster Stout I brewed in September. Notes of toffee, chocolate, coffee, bourbon and vanilla create a pleasing aroma. My mash temps were a little low, creating some lack of body, but all, in all, this is a very pleasing brew. I had struggled to carbonate it. It sat for weeks with ten to twenty pounds of pressure on it, and remained flat. I let it age a few more weeks and then today I shook the daylights out of it and turned up the pressure. It's now carbonated. I am still not sure just what the issue was. My best guess it that a coffee bean was stuck in the line, affecting the carbonation as it dispensed. I only used three beans, but it seemed to add plenty of coffee character to five gallons. On the flipside I used six to eight fresh bourbon vanilla beans and I only have a slight vanilla flavor. Vanilla flavor is greatly dependent on the other flavor aspects of the ale. My cream ale only required three beans for a week in secondary to create a huge vanilla flavor. One thing about vanilla is that it quickly fades as the days pass.
I want to make another attempt at this brew being a bit more careful with my mash temps and sparging. I might also save some out that has no bourbon, coffee, oak, or vanilla to be able to compare the two.
Ingredients:
I want to make another attempt at this brew being a bit more careful with my mash temps and sparging. I might also save some out that has no bourbon, coffee, oak, or vanilla to be able to compare the two.
Ingredients:
19 Lbs American Two Row Malt
2.5 Lbs Munich Malt
1.00 Lb Carmel/Crystal Malt (120 L)
½ Lb Carmel/Crystal Malt (40 L)
½ Lb Chocolate Malt
1 Lb Oatmeal
½ Lb. Black Patent Malt (Debittered)
¼ Lb Roasted Barley
3 oz Cascade (2 leaf, 1 pellets)
2 oz Willamette (Finishing)
1 Teaspoon Yeast Nutrient
1 Teaspoon Irish Moss
Cultured American Ale Yeast
Seven Vanilla Beans, Oak Chips, and Coffee beans in spirits pitched into secondary.
Makers Mark Bourbon at Kegging
