Butterscotch Beer

[whitetiger777]

So, I've made a bit of a name for myself brewing flavored beers for the locals. I find more women come to my beer tastings with things like strawberry Blond Ale, blood orange wheat, candy cane chocolate beer and so on. I've recently been challenged, probably by a Harry Potter fan, to make butterscotch beer. In doing research on this I've read a few threads where someone tried this but never posted their results. Also I've never used an extract in my beers, having used all grain and real fruit and I'd like to keep that going. Is there a way I can get a nice butterscotch flavored beer without using butterscotch extract?

And yes I've read where a butter or butterscotch flavor to a beer is actually a sign that something when wrong with the beer, to much Diacetyl, but the challenge has been thrown so I must answer...plus she's hot

 

[quincy07]

Maybe rack to secondary onto a whole bag of werther's for a couple weeks? As far as the style of beer goes I think a brown would be good.

 

[TheZymurgist]

I had a stout at one my home brew club meetings that was a butterscotch bomb. The guy fermented too hot and transferred off the yeast before terminal gravity was reached, so it had a bunch of Diacetyl. He didn't mean for it to taste like butterscotch, but it actually wasn't bad. Now if he entered it in a competition, he'd get railed, but that's not what you're planning on doing. I would think adding some butterscotch candies at flame out, or even dissolving and adding them near the end or after fermentation is complete, you'd get some flavor from them. Personally, I think the flavors would do best in a stout, or some type of heavier malt focused beer.

 

[whitetiger777]

I was thinking about throwing a bag in at the boil but was worried that the boil might evap out the flavors or change them. Plus the added sugar should raise the alcohol content.

 

[TheHunk]

Just made a decent butterscotch porter. Here is the porter recipe.

8.0 lb Maris Otter
1.0 lb Munich malt
1.0 lb Victory Malt
8.0 oz Carapils
8.0 Crystal 40
6.0 oz Honey Malt
12.0 oz Chocolate Malt
1.0 oz Bramling Cross [7.4 %] (60 min)
1.0 oz Bramling Cross [7.4 %] (10 min)
0.5 oz Bramling Cross [7.4 %] (0 min)

After I hit terminal gravity (1.012) I kegged it with 8 oz of butterscotch schnapps. Yummy!

 

[Calichusetts]

Easy...caramelize the first runnings of a wee heavy or something close. The more the better...

 

[Flipadelphia]

Just brew a lager and don't do a diacetyl rest.

 

[bboyeruga]

I did a version of Butterbier where I put actual butterscotch sauce in the boil at flameout. The beer tastes fantastic, but it does not taste like butterscotch. I will be using extract next time around.

 

[whitetiger777]

Has anyone done this with the candies and how did it turn out? When did you ad the candies?

 

[zmanzorro]

There was a Dogfish Head tap takeover here in Dallas at the Common Table about a month ago, and they had 120 Minute randalled with Werthers. I didn't know what to expect, but the outcome was amazing. I'm not sure how to recreate the flavor without a randall, but maybe using a heavier beer, like a barley wine, as a base and secondarying a bag of candies might do it.

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

MY friend made an "IPA" that tunred into a butterscotch beer. It was some lat extract, steeped biscuit malt (I dont know why) and 6ozs of citra hops.

it was 1 Oz every 5 min starting at 30 minutes so
1 @ 30
1 @ 25
and so on.

Cal Ale yeast I think. Then he aged (too lazy to bottle it) it for 6 months! The hops were all but gone and it tastes like caramel butterscotch beer.

 

[whitetiger777]

Kind of thinking the same thing, one bag on the boil off and one bag in the secondary.

 

[Doctor_M]

Maybe Google southern tier creme brulee clones.

 

[TobyG]

So, I've made a bit of a name for myself brewing flavored beers for the locals. I find more women come to my beer tastings with things like strawberry Blond Ale, blood orange wheat, candy cane chocolate beer and so on. I've recently been challenged, probably by a Harry Potter fan, to make butterscotch beer. In doing research on this I've read a few threads where someone tried this but never posted their results. Also I've never used an extract in my beers, having used all grain and real fruit and I'd like to keep that going. Is there a way I can get a nice butterscotch flavored beer without using butterscotch extract?

And yes I've read where a butter or butterscotch flavor to a beer is actually a sign that something when wrong with the beer, to much Diacetyl, but the challenge has been thrown so I must answer...plus she's hot

Diacetyl comes off more as butter to me than butterscotch, but the slickness in the mouthfeel is always the dead giveaway. That being said, kettle caramelization in Scotch ales is often confused for diacetyl/butterscotch, so something to consider is to make a strong Scotch ale with either an extended full rolling boil (120 minutes), or a pre-boil of your first runnings before a 90 minute boil.