School’s Out Vanilla Stout

With the first week of the school year already in the books and the second week nocking on the door, this entry better get posted before things get too busy with more Mark Meetings and even more time gets away.

School began on Tuesday of this last week. How does a beer enthusiast spend the final day of summer break? By doing one of the most favorite things – besides raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens: putting some heat to the bight copper (stainless) kettles.

Monday was the absolute last day to make the beer and have the name be appropriate. Otherwise it would have to wait until the end of May for school to be out again and who wants to brew a stout in May?

Before getting to the makings of SOVS, a few interesting things to share: (No, not warm woolen mittens and brown paper packages tied up with string.)

I actually won something! Really! I did! And it wasn’t a year supply of COVID vaccine.

Being a long time fan of Sierra Nevada’s Pale Ale, I submitted a simple entry to this:

I think I “Go Summer.” Not sure what that means, but hey, I’m in!

I don’t usually enter contests for two (maybe more) reasons:

1. It is a waste of time as the outcome is always the same. (I’ve been patiently waiting for the exception to arrive. You know there always in the exception to the rule.)
2. I figure that companies use the tactics as an easy way to get people’s email and what not to sell to other advertisers.

Since this was for beer and I kinda like beer – especially SNPA as a regular “go to” beer, I slowly climbed out of my comfort zone and gave it a go – fully expecting to not hear or see anything. In fact, it was in and out of memory in short order until an email arrived indicating that all my hard work and effort had paid off this time. Since the notification did not come from Nigeria, nor did it ask anything of me – other than a few weeks of wait time for the “major award” to arrive, I waited with just a hint of eager anticipation. I did not know what to expect.

Then it arrived. The MAJOR AWARD!:

It’s wasn’t a leg lamp, nor did the box read FAGILE. It’s even better! A Sierra Nevada YETI. Nice! Thanks Sierra Nevada! Whooo!

This beauty will have its inauguration soon at the fast approaching WLS Staff Infection Fantasy Football League Draft on Labor Day. In addition to the football draft, each participant is asked to bring a six pack of something to share during the draft. All remaining items after the draft will congregate in this and become participants in the beer draft. The beer draft might be more exciting than the football draft – unless everyone brings Hamm’s.

In other news, I found a few bottles of barleywine from December of 2011. Yes, 2011. My calculations put it at 12 years old. Well, what does one do with 12 yr old bottles of beer? You try them of course! I’ve had 2 so far and they were pretty decent for the age. A little potency has helped them keep fit all these years. Four bottles were discovered. 2 so far have not gone down the drain and I expect that the remaining 2 will likewise not see the interior plumbing of the local waste water treatment plant.

Not being good at most things in life – especially guessing (and winning things), there is an extremely good reason to suspect that these are the last of a Big Brown Barleywine. I brewed the BBB once upon a time. BBB is an English style barleywine coming in at a projected 10.3% ABV (Didn’t take readings back then either.), 17 SRM and 92 IBU. There is a good chance the ABV ended up being a little higher as one can tell when one has been consumed. Anyway, it surprised me that it still is very drinkable and lets me know when I’ve had one.

To the Vanilla Stout: This was a solo endeavor. Principal Mark was being responsible by being at school the day before kickoff. (At least I assumed that is what he was doing.)

Fieldpointe HQ (or Fieldpointe North) was the brew site which means the propane system was used. The electric system is at Fieldpointe South and will be used to brew a Belgian Quad on Labor Day. Mark came up with the idea to brew a Quad on draft day, let it age for a year and then tap it at the next draft event. This was / is a fantastic idea! We are all in on it.

The brew day started early and was mostly complete by early afternoon. I seem to have it down to a science now and can get it done in less time than it had taken in the past.

The brew session before this one was the Foghorn Parti (see previous post) and it was still in the conical fermenter. On brew day afternoon, while the stout was hanging out (another no chill), the Foghorn Parti was put into a keg. In the past, I used gravity (still do) to fill the kegs buy pulling the airlock from the fermenter. This lets air into the head space above the beer. I thought an improvement was in order. So, I purchased parts to make a simple way to “push” the beer from the fermenter using CO2. This method worked very well and kept the yeast under a CO2 blanket until the next day when the stout was added. Oh man, it took off like a rocket!

Learning from the Foghorn Pati fermentation mess, I went straight for the blowoff tube and skipped the airlock. The stout fermentation was belching gas like I have not heard before at the brewery. – and there have been plenty of beans consumed over time. I was amazed at how much activity was taking place in the bucket where the other end of the hose was making bubbles in the Star San solution. Wow! It will be interesting to see how this one turns out. It just might be rocket fuel the way it was going at it!

BTW – don’t think (remember) stating that the taps are finally back in use on the keezer. (Yes, random thought.) I had to replace the prior keezer just when COVID was making a scene and all the units were bought up (figures). Eventually I got my hands on a slightly larger unit which meant that my previous tap collar did not fit. I kinda got use to using picnic taps but was motivated to get the expensive stainless steel back into service. So, another collar was fabricated, installed and has been in use for a few weeks.

OK. I think I’m finished being distracted. I just better get to the recipe before I think of something else to ramble on about.

Here are the makings of School’s Out Vanilla Stout:

Grains

• 10 lb – 2 Row Malt
• 1 lb – Caramel 60° L
• 1 lb – Caramel 90° L
• 0.75 lb – Chocolate Malt
• 1 lb – Roasted Barley

Hops

• 1 oz – Challenger at 60 minutes
• 0.5 oz – East Kent Goldings at 40 minutes
• 0.5 oz – East Kent Goldings at 20 minutes

Yeast

• Lallemand 3767 Nottingham (or a previous fermentation)

Adjunct

• 3 – Madagascar Vanilla Beans soaked in vodka and added to the keg

Projected Analysis:

• OG: 1.066
• FG: 1.016
• Color: 30 SRM
• Alcohol: 6.5% ABV
• Bitterness: 36 IBU

Another week in the fermenter and then to the keg. The beer supply at FN should be good for a while. There are 5 kegs in the keezer with one waiting to get in. This will make 2 on the waiting list.

Next up: Labor Day Belgian Quad at Mark’s