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| The 'Slow Ride' - everyone getting settled in. |
Because I enjoy beer a lot, I did a little research on this one. Creme Brûlée Imperial Milk Stout is made by Southern Tier Brewing Company in the state of New York. It's a Summer Seasonal beer that the company releases around June. It's a pretty big beer with lots of flavor and high alcohol content (10% ABV). I really liked this Creme Brûlée beer, but wasn't sure where to get it now that I'm back in Virginia.
I was able to dig around a little bit and find a clone recipe online at Hopville.com. I only have a few home brew batches under my belt and I've never made a beer from a recipe that wasn't put together for me by the guys at Home Brew USA. I decided to give it a shot. The recipe - found here - was for an all-grain brewing process, a process that's a little too advanced for me, so I had to convert the base malt (American 2-Row Pale) into an ingredient that I could use in my malt extract process (LME). Using a conversion equation I found at Brew-Dudes.com, I was able to figure out how much LME I would need.
So, I headed to my local Home Brew shop and plopped down the recipe. The guys at the shop had never heard of Southern Tier Creme Brûlée, but took a look at the recipe and decided that it was a pretty tasty beer. All my math and conversions done at home were pointless - the guys just punched in the ingredients and their computer told them exactly what I'd need. For what it's worth, my math was pretty accurate.
So, a few days after the New Year began, my brother and I began brewing Creme Brûlée. As you can see in the picture, the process starting with the steeping of some grains. We steeped 3 lbs of Chocolate, 1 lbs of Caramel and 1 lbs of Black Patent. All of that gave the wort I nice, dark coloring and a very rich scent. The brewing process didn't take long - after steeping, we added the LME. Once you add the malt and bring it back to a boil - it has to boil for an hour. After that, the brewing process is basically over. The longest part of the process comes next. You have to let the beer cool to room temperature before you pitch the yeast. If the beer is too hot, the yeast will not survive and fermentation will never take place.
The beer finally cooled and I pitched the yeast. When fermentation began, it was like nothing I had seen before. I've heard stories of violent fermentation, but I wasn't expecting that to come from my delicious, dessert beer. The fermenter was making all kinds of noises for a few days, you could hear the beer pulsing and moving inside the container. After a few days, the action cooled down a bit and wasn't as loud and violent. About a week into fermentation, I added some vanilla beans. Added specialty items like that late in fermentation is supposed to give the beer added aroma.
The Creme Brûlée has been fermenting for about two weeks now, and will probably be ready to bottle this weekend. I can't wait to have a taste - hopefully it will be just like I remember it from the Slow Ride when we were pedaling down the streets of Savannah, GA.
