A fast but very festive home brewed Vanilla & Rum Porter All-Grain Recipe, which can be turned around in under 2 weeks. With plenty of sweet, vanilla and run flavour complimented by subtle fruit notes from the use of Simpson DRC malt and Bramling Cross Hops, which bring notes of winter berries and dried fruit.

Full of body from the addition of the Maltodextrin, leaving a smooth and silky mouthfeel yet light enough to still be drinkable. The body can be enhanced or reduced, depending on your preference by either increasing of decreasing the amount of the Maltodextrin added to the boil.

The key to making this beer in such a short time was the choice of Mango Madness Thermotolerant Yeast by WHC Lab – this yeast is a beast and will rip through fermentation of even higher gravity beers in speedy times, usually within 48-72 hours. Make sure to add plenty of yeast nutrient to the boil too, as this really helps these style of yeasts perform well.

You can see how we brewed this beer over on our YouTube channel, as part of our seasonal brewing playlist 

Ingredients Included

Simpsons Low Colour Maris Otter (4300 grams)
Simpsons Malt – Brown Malt (200 grams)
Weyermann Carafa Special Type 3 (350 grams)
Simpsons Malt – DRC (Double Roast Crystal) (400 grams)
Bramling Cross Whole Hops 100g (1 pack)
WHC Dried Yeast – Mango Madness – 11g Packet (1 pack)
Vanilla Pods x 3 (1 pack)
Maltodextrin 500g (1 pack)

Method

Beer Style (main): British Ales
Beer Style (sub): Robust Porter
Batch Size: 23
Original Gravity: 1.060
Final Gravity: 1.020
ABV %: 6
IBU: 32
Mash efficiency: 80
Brewing equipment:

THE MASH
Temperature °C (Step 1): 66
Length (mins) (Step 1): 60
Temperature °C (Step 2): 75
Length (mins) (Step 2): 10

THE BOIL
Boil time (mins): 60

Hop / kettle additions and timing:

30g Bramling Cross @ 60min
20g Bramling Cross @ 5min
250g Maltodextrin @ 5min (Ideally remove 1l of wort from the kettle carefully and dissolve the Maltodextrin before adding back to the boil)

Whirlpool / hop stand:

50g Bramling Cross @ 90c for 15min Hop Stand – ideally recirculating the wort over the hops to rehydrate

Yeast: WHC Mango Madness – 1 Packet
Fermentation temperature/steps: Pitch at apx 30c and hold until fermentation has completed – 48-72 hours – check final gravity has been achieved over a 2 day period before moving on

Secondary additions:

Once final gravity has been achieved and is stable for 2 days, add in the vanilla beans – ideally these should be soaked in apx 300ml of dark rum for a few days before adding to the FV, including the rum! We suggest splitting the vanilla bean pods before adding to the rum for maximum flavour absorption. The final ABV of the beer will be apx 6% once the rum and vanilla bean mixture has been added. Once this has been added to the main batch of beer, leave for a couple of days before packaging.