Bugeater's Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Amber

[DannyW]

I ended up putting my BORCA in 21 Spice/Herb/Veg with a base style of "Amber Ale." I also pointed out in the comments section that the category descriptions lists a generic "wheat ale" as an example of a non-classic base style and that likewise I am entering a generic "amber ale." Hope it works!

Apparently this approach works, at least this one time! The above mentioned entry took first place in S/H/V at Sunshine Challenge in Florida last weekend.

[Bugeater]

Congratulations!

Wayne

[Elbone]

Just tapped my first attempt at this recipe and all I can say is "wow!" The cookie flavor is subtle, but unmistakable! First beer I've ever wanted to chase with a glass of milk! I'll be serving this w/ Thanksgiving dinner and I suspect I'll leave some out for Santa as well. Thanks for the great recipe, Bugeater. How'd you come up with this?

[Bugeater]

This recipe evolved from a completely different recipe over the course of a number of brews. It started a couple years ago when I decided to brew something with carrots since they are a traditional brewing ingredient from back in colonial times. Being a cook I looked to that experience to find a flavor that complemented carrots. I do a great carrot dish using caraway and honey so I used those in a beer along with 5 pounds of grated carrots. The beer was barely drinkable but I learned a bunch of things. Caraway does have a flavor that would work in beer, but in small amounts. Caraway seeds add a great deal of bitterness in beer. This was one of the biggest problems of that beer. The other thing I learned was that fresh grated carrots (including the juice extracted in the process) will add approximately 17 pppg to your wort.

The next time around using carrots I took a different approach to flavors to complement the carrots. This time I used the same selection of spices you would use in a carrot cake. This one I mashed high and used an infusion of spices in some bourbon. The resulting beer tasted just like you had eaten a piece of carrot cake. I entered this into an experimental beer competition our club sponsored and took first place.

I then began looking for some other tasty food inspired beer. I somehow decided to see if I could do an oatmeal raisin cookie. For spices I just tweaked the carrot cake spice infusion a bit to better reflect the cookie spices. For the raisin flavor I went with the 120 L crystal malt. The result is the recipe you brewed.

This is the fun part of brewing. Think of a flavor you like (not just beer) and then do the research to figure out how to achieve that flavor in a beer. The important part of this is that you really learn just what each of the available ingredients will do for your beer. Don't be afraid to experiment and don't be afraid to brew an undrinkable beer now and then. You will learn just as much, if not more, from a badly designed recipe as from a good one as long as you take the time to figure out just what went wrong.

Glad you liked the recipe! My next version I will use a spiced run like Sailor Jerry or Captain Morgan for steeping the spices. I think a rum flavor would work great in there.

Wayne

[brewinhard]

I ended up putting my BORCA in 21 Spice/Herb/Veg with a base style of "Amber Ale." I also pointed out in the comments section that the category descriptions lists a generic "wheat ale" as an example of a non-classic base style and that likewise I am entering a generic "amber ale." Hope it works!

Apparently this approach works, at least this one time! The above mentioned entry took first place in S/H/V at Sunshine Challenge in Florida last weekend.

Interesting...just entered a Pumpkin Spice Ale into a comp and scored a 40 with it in the S/H/V category. I did not mention a base style. In the overall impression section, judges noted that the beer would have scored higher if there was a base beer to compare it to and judge it against. What the hell would I have called it then, a "generic" amber ale? A pumpkin ale is nowhere near an amber ale which is hoppy and toasty sweet malty. Oh well....anyone else ever experience this?

[Dirk McLargeHuge]

This recipe evolved from a completely different recipe over the course of a number of brews. It started a couple years ago when I decided to brew something with carrots since they are a traditional brewing ingredient from back in colonial times. Being a cook I looked to that experience to find a flavor that complemented carrots. I do a great carrot dish using caraway and honey so I used those in a beer along with 5 pounds of grated carrots. The beer was barely drinkable but I learned a bunch of things. Caraway does have a flavor that would work in beer, but in small amounts. Caraway seeds add a great deal of bitterness in beer. This was one of the biggest problems of that beer. The other thing I learned was that fresh grated carrots (including the juice extracted in the process) will add approximately 17 pppg to your wort.

The next time around using carrots I took a different approach to flavors to complement the carrots. This time I used the same selection of spices you would use in a carrot cake. This one I mashed high and used an infusion of spices in some bourbon. The resulting beer tasted just like you had eaten a piece of carrot cake. I entered this into an experimental beer competition our club sponsored and took first place.

I then began looking for some other tasty food inspired beer. I somehow decided to see if I could do an oatmeal raisin cookie. For spices I just tweaked the carrot cake spice infusion a bit to better reflect the cookie spices. For the raisin flavor I went with the 120 L crystal malt. The result is the recipe you brewed.

This is the fun part of brewing. Think of a flavor you like (not just beer) and then do the research to figure out how to achieve that flavor in a beer. The important part of this is that you really learn just what each of the available ingredients will do for your beer. Don't be afraid to experiment and don't be afraid to brew an undrinkable beer now and then. You will learn just as much, if not more, from a badly designed recipe as from a good one as long as you take the time to figure out just what went wrong.

Glad you liked the recipe! My next version I will use a spiced run like Sailor Jerry or Captain Morgan for steeping the spices. I think a rum flavor would work great in there.

Wayne

I'm thinking the next BN show should be the Bugeater Show.

[speed]

i got my version of it on keg right now, damn wayne you got something going there.everybody i've given it to has been floored by how close it comes to an actual cookie. can't wait for your next venture

[Hammy2424]

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!

I brewed Bug's OCA yesterday (Thanks for the Recipie, Bug ) using the winter warmer directions and had a question about the invert turbinado. Seeing as the beer came in at 1078, can I just add the invert to my primary when the yeast is really cranking to make sure it ferments without any problems? I pitched yesterday afternoon and today the fermenter is rolling away.

Any help would be appreciated. Just trying to avoid the 2nd-ary since I am going to keg this anyway.

Thanks,

Hammy