Butterscotch Beer?

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liampenn

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I have a basic base for a 'Mild Ale'. And I was wondering if it would be possible to make it taste sweeter and buttery. Would I just add butterscotch sauce into the brew? And if so at what stage. I have also heard of the word 'diacetyl' thrown around?
Any help would be much appreciated as I haven't brewed beer before. Just cider's and wines. :grin:
Here is the recipe:

-15g Fuggles hops
-450g Malt Extract
-450g Sugar
-1 Gallon water
-Brewers Yeast
Boil the hops, malt extract and sugar in the water for 90 minutes. Add more water to bring the volume back up to 1 gallon. Strain the liquid into a fermentation bin. Cover and cool until lukewarm. Sprinkle in the yeast. Cover and leave in a warm place for 3 days or untill fermentation is complete. Rack of the beer and bottle it, adding 1/2 teaspoon of sugar per pint. Cover tightly. Stand the beer in a cool place for 3 weeks before opening.

Thanks!
Liam
 
For 1 gallon that sounds like a lot of sugar / extract and could well be very strong for a mild. I would be using a 1 to 1.5 kg extract .5 kg sugar in 5 gallons but to be sure you need a hydrometer to get a reading of around 1038-1042 and then bottling at between 1012-1014 to get the maltiness. To get the Diacetyl (popcorn, butterscotch flavour) use Danstar Windsor yeast and go no lower than than 1012-1014 final gravity so ferment no longer than 5 days. 50g-70g of Fuggles would be about right for 5 gallons of mild.

Let us know how you get on, but don't be too disappointed if is not pub quality - a mild recipe would normally have a bit more to it.
 
This made me smile. I was reminded of a competition I was judging where an English bitter came down the table and it was loaded with so much diacytal that it tasted like the brewer threw in a toffee square prior to bottling. I think he scored a 28 on that beer overall if I remember correctly, but I suppose you could do that. I must say this is the first time I've heard of a brewer intentionally wanting his beer to have a diacytal character.
 
I would go with BAz's suggestion. When you make a beer and you want a particular flavour you use malts to impart that. If you were merely to add butterscotch it would simply ferment out leaving little of the original flavour. Also are you boiling your hops for the full 90 minutes if you do you will have no hop aroma or flavour just bitterness.

:thumb:
 

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