DevilsCups
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Please do keep us updated!
Mexican Cake clone info - directly from Westbrook Brewery
- Thread starter ebj5883
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This beer turned out fantastic for me, and it should continue to improve, given it's only a little over a month old.
Finished around 1.028, although it would probably be slightly better had it finished at 1.030 or a little higher.
I ended up using the following adjuncts:
2g Ground Cinnamon
3 Madagascar Vanilla Beans, split and scraped, and then chopped - Approx. 10g
1 Habanero, chopped - Approx. 10g
4oz Cacao Nibs - Raw from Sprouts
I covered these in a really nice Balcones Single Malt Bourbon for two days before adding to the fermenter. The Chocolate and Vanilla are amazing on the nose. If I had to change anything, I would reduce the Habanero. I love spicy foods but have never been huge on beers with pepper, but still wanted to try this. The mouth burn is fairly mild, but it gives a solid burn on the back of the throat. That is probably increased a bit due to bourbon and alcohol burn, but I would prefer it to be a tad less. If I did this again, I would do a half habanero, and just throw it in whole vs chopping it up, then taste and add more if needed. That may fade a bit in a couple of months and be perfect, but we will see.
Just pulled a sample of the beer. It has been in primary for 11 days at this point.
Gravity came in at 1.026, which puts ABV at a whopping 11.1%!
Some notes from the sample:
Wonderful aroma. Notes of coffee, dark chocolate, and some toffee as well.
Flavor definitely has some booze in it. But a good balance of a bit of sweet and slight dark chocolate bitterness.
I'm very excited. Planning to rack this to secondary on top of my tincture listed in previous post tomorrow. Will post updates as they occur! I'm stoked!
Gravity came in at 1.026, which puts ABV at a whopping 11.1%!
Some notes from the sample:
Wonderful aroma. Notes of coffee, dark chocolate, and some toffee as well.
Flavor definitely has some booze in it. But a good balance of a bit of sweet and slight dark chocolate bitterness.
I'm very excited. Planning to rack this to secondary on top of my tincture listed in previous post tomorrow. Will post updates as they occur! I'm stoked!
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Metalhead_brewer
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Thank's bro added to the list next year 
triethylborane
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Whoa, how did you come by that?! That is awesome.
That's like 17% sugar? Surprising.
Kegged my version of this last night. Final gravity came in at 1.026. ABV of 11.1%.
Poured half of the liquid from the tincture into the bottom of a purged keg and siphoned the beer on top of it. Purged headspace and set CO2 regulator to 12 PSI @ 40F to achieve around 2.4 volumes of CO2.
Gonna taste the beer in a few days to see where the flavors are at. If none of the adjunct flavors are coming through enough, I will add more of the tincture and taste again. Will repeat as necessary until it's where I want it. Really excited for this beer.
Poured half of the liquid from the tincture into the bottom of a purged keg and siphoned the beer on top of it. Purged headspace and set CO2 regulator to 12 PSI @ 40F to achieve around 2.4 volumes of CO2.
Gonna taste the beer in a few days to see where the flavors are at. If none of the adjunct flavors are coming through enough, I will add more of the tincture and taste again. Will repeat as necessary until it's where I want it. Really excited for this beer.
They post these on their fermentors and bright tanks of the beer that’s in them. During tours I walk around aimlessly looking at them haha.
DevilsCups
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Brewed the version that bolus14 posted in here this past weekend and I'm somewhat disappointed. Not at the recipe at all, but disappointed that for some reason I got 84% attenuation with WY1968. Kind of unheard of from what I see. Started at 1.094, which is great, but sitting currently at 1.014. Definite fear of a thin body.
I'll be adding vodka tinctures to this for the spices. Does anyone know what kind of gravity points vodka adds (per whatever measurement)?. Maybe I can still sneak this one out, though I know I can't do much for body if it's lacking.
I'll be adding vodka tinctures to this for the spices. Does anyone know what kind of gravity points vodka adds (per whatever measurement)?. Maybe I can still sneak this one out, though I know I can't do much for body if it's lacking.
DevilsCups
Well-Known Member
Yeah I might look into it post-tincture if that doesn't do the trick. I have no idea how I got that strain to attenuate so much.
Or if you don't want sweetness from lactose, you could use about 150 grams of maltodextrin boiled in about 150mL, then cooled and mixed into the keg. I just did this to add body to an overly dry Irish stout. Maltodextrine is unfermentable (except by Brettanomyces yeast) and flavorless.
DevilsCups
Well-Known Member
Did it notably improve the body? I took a sample last night and the flavor and perceived uncarbonated sweetness is okay, but the body seems very thin.
I brewed this recently. Started with the recipe from post #40 and tweaked it to brewery recipe posted later. I ended up using only 1 habenero, if it did it again I'd use 2...just seems to loose more after time.
Ended at 1.020. Pretty balanced, good mouth feel, etc. Pretty smooth for being you and ~11%.
Was thinking about entering it in a local comp. Any idea what category it would best fit in?
Ended at 1.020. Pretty balanced, good mouth feel, etc. Pretty smooth for being you and ~11%.
Was thinking about entering it in a local comp. Any idea what category it would best fit in?
Roadie
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Category 30 Spiced Beer
Did you ever post this recipe anywhere? I would like to brew the 4th Anniversary beer.
Metalhead_brewer
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Same here
jptouchton
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lets hope not
I did, but I haven't brewed it yet. This is a pretty rough scaling, I literally just did division with gallons per bbl, but I think it's accurate.
I plan on brewing this next year.. So if you do brew it this year and go off this, keep us posted on how it went.
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I'm hoping to make this in the next couple weeks. Kind of waiting to see how WLP023 Burton's Ale performs on a Graf I have fermenting now to decide if I use that strain or if I go with American Ale 2. I might just split the batch and do half with one and half with the other, might be interesting to see the difference, if there ends up being any.
Picked up grains today and will be brewing tonight. Will be making a couple small modifications to the recipe I posted.
I'll be using WLP 023, going to pitch half or more of the yeast cake from the Graff that i'll be bottling while brewing this up.
Using Warrior instead of CTZ, I have another brew in planning that will use Warrior so given that it's only really playing a bittering role I decided to use it in this too.
LHBS, also a hydroponics store, had a bunch of Carolina Reepers they were trying to get rid of, so instead of the habenero I'll be using that. Just need to decide how much since the Reeper should be much hotter than a habenero.
More to come...
I'll be using WLP 023, going to pitch half or more of the yeast cake from the Graff that i'll be bottling while brewing this up.
Using Warrior instead of CTZ, I have another brew in planning that will use Warrior so given that it's only really playing a bittering role I decided to use it in this too.
LHBS, also a hydroponics store, had a bunch of Carolina Reepers they were trying to get rid of, so instead of the habenero I'll be using that. Just need to decide how much since the Reeper should be much hotter than a habenero.
More to come...
Well she's all brewed and in the fermenter, pitched yeast about 3 hours ago. All I can say is the wort is DELICIOUS, smooth chocolate, not quite bittersweet, little bit of coffee/roast, and finishes with an almost milk chocolate quality.
I ended up using Special B in place of the Carel 160, LHBS, only had 80L, then Special B, so I went with it.
Pitched a 2 week old pint jar of WLP 023, should be plenty of yeast to chew through this. I missed the OG by 6 points, so I'm starting at 1.096, not sure if I started with too much water or if I didn't boil off enough, but is what it is at this point. Still pretty sure it'll be an awesome beer when it's done!!
I ended up using Special B in place of the Carel 160, LHBS, only had 80L, then Special B, so I went with it.
Pitched a 2 week old pint jar of WLP 023, should be plenty of yeast to chew through this. I missed the OG by 6 points, so I'm starting at 1.096, not sure if I started with too much water or if I didn't boil off enough, but is what it is at this point. Still pretty sure it'll be an awesome beer when it's done!!
toddo97
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Did you use the scaled recipe that paarman posted?
toddo97
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toddo97
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Cool--just making sure it wasn't page 7 on a different thread!
Just a quick update, SG is at 1.021 or maybe 1.020, so more or less right where Westbrook's ends up. It's been about 3 weeks so I'm not really expecting it to ferment down anymore, as it stands it will 9.98% ABV which is good enough for me 
Not surprising it has some of the nice "fermentation" flavors, kind of fart like to be honest, but the finishing roastiness is good. I'll likely give it another week or two amd hopefully the yeast cleans up those flavors and then I'll add spices and such, let those sit for a week or so then bottle.
Not surprising it has some of the nice "fermentation" flavors, kind of fart like to be honest, but the finishing roastiness is good. I'll likely give it another week or two amd hopefully the yeast cleans up those flavors and then I'll add spices and such, let those sit for a week or so then bottle.
Ok guys and gals, getting close to looking at bottling this up likely next weekend.
I've been sampling more stouts already this year and am really debating on potentially splitting this beer up in 2-3 ways. Part of me is thinking to add cacao nibs and chocolate powder to a gallon or two, maybe nibs or powder and toasted coconut to some, and do 1-2 gallons with the Mexican Cake spices.
Any thoughts?
I've been sampling more stouts already this year and am really debating on potentially splitting this beer up in 2-3 ways. Part of me is thinking to add cacao nibs and chocolate powder to a gallon or two, maybe nibs or powder and toasted coconut to some, and do 1-2 gallons with the Mexican Cake spices.
Any thoughts?
Added my spices today.
2g of ground cinnamon
1/4 of a Carolina Reeper
9oz Cacao Nibs
2oz vanilla extract
Had to go with vanilla extract because I thought I had beans, but apparently used all of them up. So, about 4.5-5Tbsp got me to 2oz of extract.
The Reepers are DAMN hot. I think I have a decent tolerance for spicy heat, but just the lick of my fingers after cutting a few slivers up had my mouth on fire.
The nibs after roasting at 325 for 15 min smelled like brownies, and tasted like them too. I went with 9oz because the couple of hydro samples I pulled didn't have much of a chocolate taste and I really want some chocolate in the finished product.
Hoping to bottle next weekend, then I'll sample a bottle or two every week to see how it comes along, really hoping this one ends close to the real thing!!
2g of ground cinnamon
1/4 of a Carolina Reeper
9oz Cacao Nibs
2oz vanilla extract
Had to go with vanilla extract because I thought I had beans, but apparently used all of them up. So, about 4.5-5Tbsp got me to 2oz of extract.
The Reepers are DAMN hot. I think I have a decent tolerance for spicy heat, but just the lick of my fingers after cutting a few slivers up had my mouth on fire.
The nibs after roasting at 325 for 15 min smelled like brownies, and tasted like them too. I went with 9oz because the couple of hydro samples I pulled didn't have much of a chocolate taste and I really want some chocolate in the finished product.
Hoping to bottle next weekend, then I'll sample a bottle or two every week to see how it comes along, really hoping this one ends close to the real thing!!
