I've bottled and carbonated my oatmeal vanilla breakfast stout. 2 full vanilla beans gives quite a dose of vanilla aroma, but it doesn't actually affect the flavor very much. Nice thing about this beer is it doesn't have to be served really cold. Just cool will do.
I'm really enjoying this beer. It has a pretty thick and filling consistency. Its not great with a meal, but it is awesome as a snack. With all the grain that is in it, it's probably north of 300 calories for a pint, so I do have to think of it as a snack. Next time I make it, I'll step up to a full 5 gallon batch and I'll probably add a touch more hops or darker malt. It could use a little more balance to counteract all the grain and malt.
Because of the odd batch size I used the coopers drops again to carbonate. I've used them in 3 different beers now and they definitely don't provide as much carbonation as the old standby of 5 oz of corn sugar for a 5 gallon batch.
Will I continue to use the coopers carbonation drops? The answer is yes, as long as it's a style that benefits from slightly lower carbonation and it's an odd batch size. For a standard batch or higher carbonation it's just as easy to go with the corn sugar.
I had another breakdast stout this morning 5/26. The vanilla aroma is still there, but it has started to fade Carbonation was very good. I think the basement is just cool enough that it takes my beers up to 6 weeks to really carb up like they should. In counter to my earlier thoughts, I didn't think it was too sweet anymore, and the balance was pretty decent. I don't think it should have any hops flavor, but a little more bitterness would be ok.
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