Brew #3 - Vanilla London Porter - 1/14/12

So I've decided to brew my next batch.  My 1st batch, the British Ale, will probably suck.  I've tasted a few times in recent days, and it sucks still, but may get better.  My 2nd batch has potential.  The Yellow Dog should be good to go in a few weeks.

So, I've tried a new beer since my last batch, and I've decided I love it and need to try to clone it.  My inpisration was the Beer Buzz Radio with Ben Stange, who discussed new beer year resolutions, and I decided to try beers I usually would never try.  My comfort zone is usually Pale Ales, IPA's, ESB's, and some other selections from Boulevard, Schlafly, Mother's and Lienie's.   Porter is usually not in my game plan.  I like Guinness (regular, not extra stout), but I didn't' recall a porter I ever liked.  So I saw this on the shelf and decided to give it a shot.

OH my.  This may be my new favorite beer.  The vanilla is subtle, but just enough to make it an awesome brew.  So I figured I may as well try and brew it.  Found some recipes online, but they were mainly all grain (not extract, which is the only way I'm set up to brew), so I figured why not brew some porter and just add some vanilla? 

I read some forums online and they said to either use pure vanilla extract, or a few real vanilla beans.  I decided on the real beans.  They sell them at the shop in Ozark, so I bought two.  They suggested using one in the last 2 min of the boil (for vanilla flavor) and then using the other in the secondary fermenter (for aroma).

I bought and started brewing this kit - the London Porter.  The brewing instructions were very similar to my first two batches.  The specialty grains and the dry extract were darker though, seeing as this is a porter.

Brewing went as expected.  Added the vanilla bean and seeds with 2 minutes left in the boil, as suggested by my Home Brewery homies.  This is the vanilla bean I used.  Cut it open down the middle, scraped the seeds into the wort, then threw the bean shell in there too.

I froze some extra ice bombs for cooling the wort, and used about all of them.  I changed the water 3 times, and it went well.  Took about 40 minutes to cool to 75 degrees this time.  (it took a lot longer last time, no matter what my previousl posts "extimated").  I would like to stir the wort (with a sterilized spoon) next time as it's cooling, since that will help cool it more quickly.

Next I aerated the wort for about 1-2 minutes, pitched the yeast ( I went dry, and did not re-hydrate this time), let it sit for about 10 minutes, shook it just a bit more, then set it to ferment.  the original gravity (OG) was about 1.054.  The recipie kit said it was supposed to be around 1.048.  Not sure if this was because of the vanilla bean or what, but we will see what effect this increaded OG has.

Plan is to rack to a secondary fermenter in about 5 days, and add the vanilla bean and seeds to the secondary fermentation.  Hopefully will end up with a lovely Vanilla Porter.

Brew #2 - Yellow Dog Pale Ale 1/4/12; Bottling Beer #1

I meant to do this earlier, but I need to update what has happened.   I bottled Beer #1 - British Pale Ale - a few weeks ago.  Bottling was fairly uneventful, except for the fact that the Mother's Brewing Company bottles kept breaking.  I discovered later that these did not have the ideal "lips" for capping homebrews, so I will stop using them.

My next batch was some Yellow Dog Pale Ale, a dry malt extract kit bought from The Home Brewery in Ozark (just like the first one).  This time, I tried to follow my own advice and make the improvements I mentioned in my first post, and for the most part, it worked.    I rehydrated the yeast, with somewhat mixed results.  Still don't know if I did it right.  I still had some trouble bringing the temperature of the wort down, so I planned on freezing more ice for enxt time.

Since then, I've bottled the Yellow Dog and it's still conditioning in the bottles as we speak.  I've sampled the British Ale (i.e. the f'ed up batch) vs. the Yellow Dog, and even though the Yellow Dog is still a few weeks away from proper tasting time, I can tell it tastes "cleaner" than the British Ale, and will end up being the better brew.