After discovering I still had vanilla beans, I decided to make another vanilla flavored beer. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I had to include coffee and coconut as well. This sounded like a great combination for an Imperial Stout.
In preparation for this brew, I sliced and scraped about 6 or 7 vanilla beans and soaked the innards and all into a cup of vodka. I let that sit (shaking every few days) for over a week. The coconut, was purchased pre-shredded, and then toasted in my toaster oven for 10 minutes until golden brown. This I stored in a ziplock baggie until ready for use.The coffee was pretty simple to prepare. I boiled a few cups of water and then placed in it a grain bag filled with the cup of coffee grains. I let that soak for a bit and then squeezed out the coffee into the water. Next time, I may start earlier and make a nice cold brew.
So how did the brew turn out?
This here imperial stout is nothing short of awesome. It lacks any sort of head due to the oil from the coconut, but totally makes up for it with its everything else.
With a first whiff, you get a wonderfully prominent coffee aroma. At first taste, you immediately notice it’s richness and velvety, luscious texture. Up front, there is a strong coffee and toasted coconut flavor that gets more and more rounded out from the moderately low carbonation the farther down the glass you get. Halfway through, you start to notice the gentle smooth warmth from the alcohol. It’s right about here, you notice that there is very low to no hop aroma here, but a wonderful maltiness that underlies the whole thing. By the end of the glass, the alcohol has set in, leaving me feeling quite cozy and warm. I am left with a wonderful toasty, coco-nutty aftertaste that leaves me satisfied.
Vader’s Morning Brew
OG: 1.10
FG: 1.033
ABV: 9% +
SRM: Black
IBU: 60
12 lbs. Pilsen Malt Extract
1.75 lbs. Roast Barley
1.75 lbs. Pale Ale Malt
12 oz. Crysal 10˚
8 oz. Chocolate Malt
2 oz. Columbus (16% aa) @ 60 minutes
1 oz. Cascade (6.2% aa) @ 20 minutes
1 tsp. Irish Moss
Fermentis Safale US-05 (American Ale Yeast)
Fermentis Safale S-04 (English Ale Yeast)
6 vanilla beans (Grade B)
8 oz. sweetened shredded coconut
~1 cup ground coffee (I used Kona Coffee Co. Vanilla Macadamia Nut Coffee)
The coconut was put in the secondary for a week. The beer was filtered through a fine mesh bag to strain the coconut before bottling. The vanilla and coffee was added to taste just prior to bottling.
