Bread Pudding Beer

I'm not the greatest recipe developer, so take these comments with that in mind:

1. Golden Promise for the base malt
2. I wouldn't do it, I'd be afraid of adding unconverted starches to my beer and risking infection
3. I think you'd want to pick your yeast to be a low attenuator that produces complementary flavors, not what is closest to bakers yeast.
4. For a milk/cream/vanilla taste I say keep it sweet and add vanilla. Try to get lots of body via adjuncts or lactose.
5. Use special B instead of raisins, it produces a very raisin-like flavor
6. Add hops @ 60 minutes only to reach a low IBU value for balance

 

1. I think you're looking for just grainy malt with a moderate level of attenuation so that there's some sweetness left behind. I'd go with a good quality 2-row (maybe Crisp, or I'll second fistfight on the Golden Promise) and about 10% quality Munich malt.
2. No.
3. I think what you want is the Belgian yeast that gives you that dark-skinned fruitiness, however I don't recall which one it is.
4. Vanilla beans would be the obvious choice, although vanilla extract could work just as well. Better less than more to begin.
5. I refer you back to #3.
6. I'd use aged hops myself, just to get some bitterness and antibacterial quality. Obviously only at the start of the boil. I'd go with Goldings or Fuggles or Hallertau or Cluster, something like that.

 

Interesting thought experiment. I've never made such a thing but who knows, go for it. I'm more pragmatic and might just perfect my bread pudding recipe and have that along with a beer I really enjoy. Report back with your recipe and results!

 

1. Golden Promise is a specialty floor-malted malt along the lines of Maris Otter, and yes, it's grainy-bready. One of my favorites, and I don't really like Maris Otter, it's just a bit too much for my tastes; Golden Promise is more subdued but still distinct. Also expensive.
2. I really can't remember. Which is recommended for Abbey Dubbel? I'm thinking White Labs WLP500 - that's the ticket!
3. I'd avoid crystal, sweetness and body are completed in the mash. Also avoid suggestions regarding cara-pils in my opinion.
4. I've used massive amounts of lactose without real effects on mouthfeel, but it will throw off the beer in some way that I can't explain. I wouldn't use any more than you'd use in a milk stout, and I personally wouldn't bother with it at all - again, sweetness and body are accomplished in the mash.

 

I can't help you with any suggestions for recipe creation, but I wanted to chime in to say that I've had a beer that tasted exactly like a Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pie, and I also had a beer that tasted exactly like French toast. So I know it's possible to get 'bakery-like' flavors into a beer. I'll be following this thread and will look forward to how this turns out.

 

Both beers are by small breweries here in Michigan that do not bottle their beers, so you won't be able to get one to drink.

Oatmeal Cream Pie (OCP): http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/34314/143339/ This beer page says that the beer is now retired, but you might still find info, or the brewer may be willing to give you guidance via email.

French Toast Ale: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/37717/150939/ This beer was brewed during the winter of 2014-2015 but was not brewed this winter so it may also be retired. The brewery is a local brewery for me, and I was looking forward to drinking more of this one.

 

1) Believe it or not, I get "bready" most of all from regular American 2-row pale malt. Also rye malt, up to 20-30% is good without being too much. Yeah.

2) No, no stale bread. Or I wouldn't recommend it. Unless maybe you wanted to make a kvass....

3) Wyeast 1007 is the most bready yeast of all, no doubt about it. Fantastic bready yeast like no other. Last time I made a yeast starter with this, I drank half the starter because it reminded me so much of bread dough. Very tasty.

4) I think oats would help with creaminess and vanilla. Also add actual vanilla!

5) Don't use raisins at all, no. The secret to raisin flavor is Belgian Special B or very dark crystal malt like Crystal 120 or higher if you can find it. But go easy on them. Only about 3-5% is plenty. Make up the rest of your specialty crystal malts with good old Crystal 40, 55 or 60.

6) Just use 20 IBUs worth of a noble hop like Hallertau, can't go wrong there.

7) Mash short for just 30-40 minutes to maintain natural body and sweetness. Mash temperature doesn't matter as much as mash time. Um....... and that's about it!? Oh... lactose!? Yeah, don't use any more than 1 pound in 5 gallons or it will be kind of cloying and nasty. I'd recommend closer to 0.75 lb, or even less if you try the short mash thing.

 

Okay, Old guy, here's where I landed taking my first crack at a 5-gallon recipe:

11 lb Golden Promise
3.5 lb Rye malt
2 lb Oats
2 lb Munich
0.75 lb Special B
0.5 lb Crystal 100 or 120
0.5 lb Lactose
1.5 or 2 oz Goldings (60 or 90 minutes, depending what IBUs you want)
more Goldings at the end if you want
Wyeast 1007
spices to your hearts content, added on bottling/kegging day from a vodka tincture -- your guess as good as mine as to how much to use

I'm thinking you should collect extra wort / sparge more and plan to boil for 100-120 minutes. This will improve efficiency and help you achieve your gravity goal. I've assumed about 55-60% efficiency with this monster, and an OG around 1.080, with 20-35 IBUs, 8% ABV. Will the 1007 yeast get you up there? I would think so, but guess I don't know for sure.

This should get you real close. If the grist seems too complicated, you could eliminate one or two specialty malts and still have it turn out great.

For what it's worth, for style, I figure this falls somewhere between an Old Ale and a British Barleywine. If you use British Crystal malt, this will help make it taste British as well, if you care. Or Canadian, I dunno about you Canadians but I imagine everything there tastes more British to a Yank like me anyway.

Best of luck to you.

 

Oh yeah, you'd better make at least 3-4 liters.

 

So you aren't wanting to make a Westy XII clone then? Cause there are recipes out there for that.
Northern Brewer recently posted a recipe where you aged the beer on dark rum-soaked raisins, cinnamon sticks, and vanilla beans. I thought that would go particularly well with your target taste. Good luck!

 

To be honest, I have not used Golden Promise, but I hear it's yummy. My best advice I can give is to munch on a couple kernels of several base malts and pick the one that YOU like the best!