Recipe suggestions - sweet

[michaewa]

I'm wanting to brew a beer to give to my dad as a gift, but his tastes are - ahem - not completely refined.

He likes beers that are 'sweeter,' one of his favorites is Leinenkugel's Berry Weiss. I asked him if he would like a 'fruit' beer (i.e. cherry or raspberry) and he said he didn't necessarily like the fruit, but the sweetness.

Does anyone have any recipes that turn out a little sweet? I'm a little confused about how to rig a recipe to be sweeter, as it seems that any sugar you add will just feed the yeast and boost up the alc. content.

[fuji6100]

I'm an extract brewer who steeps specialty grains, so this is what I do. Boost your malt extract a little but don't increase hops to compensate. This will give a maltier/sweeter flavor.

Also, steep some Crystal malt (perhaps 1/2 a pound) as the sugars it will contribute are mostly non-fermentable.

[wortchillergoal]

Your LHBS should have lactose. This is unfermentable sugar that you can add to increase sweetness.

[sallad]

i believe that mashing at the higher end of the temp range will leave you with more unfermantabale sugars, thus a sweeter beer. of course, this is only if you do all grain or partial mashes. i'd also go for a full pound of crystal- maybe around 60L with a low hop profile. maybe an irish red or something.

[Beerconnoisseur]

One kit I've tried is MoreBeer's Berry Beer (KIT130), which tastes pretty good. The batch I made wasn't too sweet, so you could add some additional Crystal 15L malt, or lactose, as fuji and wortchillergoal mention. Just make sure your Dad isn't lactose-intolerant first. :eek:

The other thing you can do is increase the grain steeping times to an hour or so. As the sugars spend more time in the kettle, they caramelize further, becoming less fermentable. This, in turn, gives a much maltier taste, which is very nice.

[Aleman]

I tried an experiment once and candied one pound of LME on the stove. Stir it in a pan over a med heat, just like if you were making candy. The carmelized extract was then added to the batch at the beginning of the boil. If made the batch very sweet. I would try 1/2 pound of LME to somewhat lessen the sweetness.

[danno]

well, there's always a Sweet Stout... I recently hit bottom of a keg of sweet stout from a Northern Brewer (http://www.northernbrewer.com/alekits.html) kit, it was very popular...

[toneyc]

I made a vanilla porter from AHS, it was verry good.

:)
Toney.

[michaewa]

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I think I'm going to go with something pretty light so it will be easy on his taste buds.

My plan right now is to re-create a weizenbier I've got in the primary right now with a few modifications as follows. I think he'll like this one due to the low hoppiness and easy drinkability. Plus, hopefully it will come out something like the Berry Weiss.

For 5-gal Berry Weiss Imitation:

7lbs 50/50 wheat/pale extract
8oz Lactose
1 oz Hallertau (bittering)
American Ale Yeast (or may do the Hefeweizen)
49oz Can of Oregon Blackberry added to the 2ndary

Any comments / modifications / suggestions would be appreciated. I am definitiely interested in the sweet stout and the vanilla porter, but I think I'll keep those for myself :D

Thanks again...

[michaewa]

I bottled this one today - it tasted really great. I made it with the recipe above, and it turned out very mellow - not too sweet and not too fruity.

I also bottled my stone brewery epic ale clone today - I had to sit down to taste that one. Very complex flavor from the dry hopping and the coriander and alligator pepper added to the 2ndary. I think the three years they quoted before it is ready to drink may be just about right...

[kevin]

but I read it a couple of time in this post. what does it mean when you say Crystal 60L or 15L??

[Beerconnoisseur]

Originally posted by kevin
but I read it a couple of time in this post. what does it mean when you say Crystal 60L or 15L??

It refers to the grain color. Degrees Lovibond (commonly abbreviated L) is a measure of this, with higher numbers corresponding to darker grains.

Crystal refers to malts that have had the starch converted to sugar, but which have then had the sugars caramelized, which makes them less fermentable by yeast (dependent on the strain of yeast, of course). So you can get a sweeter beer, or one that has more toasted/caramel/toffee/raisin flavors, depending on what type and quantity of Crystal Malt you select...