Toffee Flavour Beer

[Nobby Novice]

What can I add to my brew to give it a subtle toffee flavour?
I have just bought 8 bottles of Sheperd Neame Tapping the Admiral, 8 pounds for 8 bottles (Lidl, Bargain!) and I am impressed with the flavour. The label on the back of the bottle says "smell, Toffee, Spicy, Roast" and "Taste, Brandy, Sweet, Rich". I think it tastes more Toffee than Brandy, but I would like to brew something similar.
I think Ruddles County says it has a Toffee/caramel flavour too.
Any advice will be gratefully welcome.
Nobby.

[PureGuiness]

I've not tried it myself but I've heard people take a small portion of wort into a pan and boil it down to reduce and caramelise it before adding back the the bulk of the wort to give it some toffee type notes.

[yojimbo]

I have just started using pale crystal malt that gives nice toffee flavour with windsor yeast

ENDLESS MISERY
Date:
Gyle Number:
Fermentable Colour lb: oz Grams Ratio
Pale Malt 5 EBC 8 lbs. 13.0 oz 4000 grams 82.6%
Crystal Malt, Pale 60 EBC 1 lbs. 1.6 oz 500 grams 10.3%
Flaked Barley 0 EBC 0 lbs. 11.9 oz 340 grams 7%


Hop Variety Type Alpha Time lb: oz grams Ratio
Fuggle Whole 4.6 % 90 mins 0 lbs. 1.3 oz 38 grams 80%
Challenger Whole 7.6 % 90 mins 0 lbs. 0.3 oz 10 grams 20%


Thats for 23 litres

If you use normal crystal for this recipe its a big differance in flavour.

[gnutz2]

+1 crystal malt,

i'd try 3-400g of a medium crystal in a 5gal batch with s-04 yeast, dont over hop it and drink it fairly young.

That should give loads of toffe IMO

[redbenson111]

I remember seeing a recipe for an Innis & Gunn clone which included a bar of highland toffee in the boil to give a toffee flavour (as if it could give anything else!). I have always fancied trying this but have never dared because I thought that the oils in the toffee would destroy any head that you are likely to get from the beer.

Has anybody else tried this or is it just another example of you shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet?

[dave-o]

I'd recommend dark or extra dark crystal malt for toffee flavour.

[Nobby Novice]

Thanks guys. I think I shall try the extra Crystal malt method first before I go to extremes of adding toffee.

[Barley Water]

When I'm looking for that effect (and I rather like that flavor alot) I use a good quality crystal malt, I boil down some of the first runnings and finally, I use a yeast strain that will throw off a bit of diacetyl (the Fuller's strain comes to mind as well as a few of the other British strains). For some reason, just a touch of diacetyl, at least for me, accentuates the toffee flavor. I think that particular taste is what makes many British beers as good as they are, you just don't run into that generally with American craft beers.