Any ideas on how to make a creamsicle-ish beer? My wife really wants to me try and I'm not sure how to make it happen. A kit or an original recipe would be awesome. Thanks
5 Answers
I suppose one could start by making a beer flavoured with Vanilla and lactose. Vanilla beer is not at all unknown but one would probably want the ice cream aspect more pronounced for creamsicle. Hence the idea of adding lactose (think milk stout) especially if one wants it sweet. For a more pronounced cream taste one might want to use a cream flavouring essence - one or two drops in a 25ltr brew should add a hint of cream without overwhelming the palette or the beer.
There are a number of fruit beers/ciders and fruit flavoured beers. Apple, Raspberry and cherry are well known. Lemon is a popular flavouring in "Mexican" cervezas. So using fruit is a common thing. The only question is which one and how. If one can make juice from fresh fruit then that is perfect. Add the desired fruit in juice form - although it might be prudent to pasteurise or even boil it first. Otherwise find commercial fruit juice (eg 1 lltr to 23 wort) and add it to the fermentation vessel. Some fruits add a very appealing taste and aroma - others not so much.
So a good starting point would be a Vanilla flavoured beer with added lactose, drop or two of cream flavour essence and pasteurised fruit juice of choice. Blueberry sounds nice....
With all those flavours there is not too much point in making a dark beer. I suppose a vanilla chocolate milk stout is not beyond belief although the roast grains would have to be well chosen and blended and probably well conditioned in the bottle too. So it seems a pale ale or lager type of base might be the best place to start. A nobel hop like Halltertau, Tettnanger might be better than a bittering hop - if one wanted to use hops at all. One might even consider a wheat beer base like Hoegarden which is a spiced beer with coriander and orange.
Good luck
I might be reading what you want wrong but if you want something that tastes like eating an orange creamsicle--as in maybe a little artificial tasting--it is not that hard. Get a kit from your favorite homebrew supply for a mild, light colored ale like a blond ale or maybe an American wheat and just add vanilla and orange extract to it (maybe leave out some or all of the aroma hops). If you want something a little more involved make your own flavor extract w/ orange zest and vanilla beans soaked in spirits. Taste test on a small sample and scale up to the full batch.
If you'd be willing to take the easy way out, and technically still be beer... it has malt and hops.
OG 1.050 FG 1.014 ABV 4.8%
7 pounds of Pilsner/Extra Light LME Dissolve into hot water and boil for 45 minutes 4g Warrior hop pellets (or any kind of hops, really) at 45 minutes remove hops, cool wort to 70F and pitch 1 packet of Safale US-05 dry American Ale yeast, ferment until done.
Add this secret ingredient to taste:
It definitely tastes like a Creamsicle when mixed in water, and gives a light orange color. You'll have a medium-low bodied neutral ale without much bitterness that should let the flavoring shine through.
If you want to add body, add 4 tablespoons of Maltodextrin to the boil.
To get a nice fluffy white creamy head (should compliment the creamsicle experience), you can mash all-grain with 30-50% Wheat Malt.
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An interesting idea that one could easily test by squirting the above flavouring directly into a glass of lager or whatever beer one chooses. I presume the above recipe is for a 24l/5gal brew? Might be better using a noble hop like Hallertauer or Tettnanger but that is academic when one uses strong artificial flavours. If one did use malt extract then IMHO there is no need to boil it. At all. Jan 26, 2017 at 7:47
I was just browsing Facebook when I noticed a friend had shared an image of a beer they were drinking - Buxton v Omnipollo: The Original Ice Cream Pale Ale. Had a scout around and wile unable to find a clone recipe, I did see some indication that to get the flavour, their beer is conditioned on one vanilla bean per litre of beer. Maybe check this link out and see for yourself. Could always play around with an American Pale Ale recipe and the vanilla beans for yourself....
EDIT I didn't realise vanilla beans are technically the entire long vanilla pod... that's a lot of vanilla and 23 of those in a 5 gallon batch would certainly impart flavour!
Thanks for all the answers. I'm still working out the how exactly I want it taste. I think she is imagining something like creamsicle ice cream. Thanks for the input