White Chocolate (AL)

An attempt to make a Bruery White Chocolate clone. A wheat wine with vanilla and cocoa nibs.

Brewed 5.0 gallons on 2016-03-20

Preboil gravity: 1.078

Original gravity: 1.094

Final gravity: 1.019

ABV: 9.8%

Apparent Attenuation: 79.8%

Process notes

2016-03-20

Chopped and scraped 3 vanilla beans and put in some Captain Morgan.

2016-03-21

Dropped to 62° overnight.

2016-03-22

Active fermentation 36 hours after pitching.

2016-04-09

Kegged. This fermented ~67°. Added the vanilla and rum to the keg. Red, copper, hazy. Fruity, alcohol, some vanilla aroma. Alcohol warmth, but not unpleasant. Some chocolate flavors, but mild Sweet malt, but some bitter balance. Heat from alcohol needs to die down, but not bad so far.

Boil for 90 minutes

At 60 minutes

1 ounce of 14.9% Alpha Acid Nugget pellets

At 15 minutes

0.5 ounces of 6.8% Alpha Acid Cascade pellets

At 15 minutes

1 Whirlfloc Tablet

At 5 minutes

5 ounces of Valrhona Grue De Cacao Cocoa Nibs (Put in bag and let sit in wort while it cooled.)

At 0 minutes

0.5 ounces of 6.8% Alpha Acid Cascade pellets

Mash

[61.90%] 13 pounds of White Wheat (GreatWesternMalting)

[28.57%] 6 pounds of American Pale High Color Malt (GreatWesternMalting)

[4.76%] 1 pound of Caramel 40L (Briess)

[4.76%] 1 pound of Rice Hulls

Single infusion mash. Mashed with 5.25 gallons (1.00 quarts per pound) of reverse osmosis water for 60 minutes. 21lb of grain was used in the mash.

Strike water temp: (0.2/1.00) * (152 - 65) + 152 = 169.4

2.60g calcium chloride, 1.10g gypsum, 2.10g epsom salt, 0.50g baking soda, and 0.30g chalk added to water

After 0 mins

mash is 152°; pH is 5.50

After 60 mins

mash is 151°; pH is 5.50

Sparge

Sparged for 90 minutes with 4 gallons of 170° reverse osmosis water.

2.00g calcium chloride, 0.80g gypsum, and 1.60g epsom salt added to water

After 15 mins

pH is 5.41; specific gravity is 1.099

After 45 mins

pH is 5.40; specific gravity is 1.095

After 80 mins

pH is 5.49; specific gravity is 1.055

After 90 mins

pH is 5.63; specific gravity is 1.036

Yeast

2016-03-20

Pitch 2 packs of 1187 Ringwood Ale (Wyeast) at 70°.

Tasting notes (8.00/10; 3 ratings)

2017-03-17

[8/10] Vanilla, caramel, toffee, raisin, sweet but not cloying. Bitter finish. Long, earthy/spicy finish. Getting a lot of citrus (bitter) in the aroma. Burnt sugar. Dark, hazy red. Thin off-white head persists.

2017-05-28

[8/10] Dark orange, hazy; little-to-no head retention. Boozy, sweet, some alcohol heat, caramel, toffee. Sweet, but not cloying. Pretty similar to how I remember it from a few months ago.

2017-06-10

[8/10] Last pour. Cleared up well. Nice, ruby-red color. Similar taste/aroma to last tasting. I'll have to do this again.

Beer competition results

Placed 1st and scored 38 in 2016 Chili Cookoff w/ WoW. (2nd in Best of Show)

Scored 29 in 2017 Stein's Anniversary Competition .