Four Shades of Stout (NOW WITH PHOTOS!)

[leedsbrew]

Got a four shades on the go today. A bit late to start, just getting HLT up to temp! Pics later!

Question: I'm kegging my Goldings ale today and it is sitting on a Nottingham yeast cake. Should I just dump my 4 shades on top or use Mr Malty to work out how much slurry to use?

Cheers chaps

[mysterio]

Personally, I would scoop out some yeast and work out the proper amount to use, and give your FV a good clean and sanitise it.

[leedsbrew]

Cool, cheers matey. I recond that was the sensible thing to do!

[leedsbrew]

All done and dusted now. couldn't have gone better. Hit all the targets spot on . Pics will prob have to wait till tomorrow as I'm about to sit my ass down and watch a film with the Mrs.

Laters!

[WishboneBrewery]

I kind of need to do another stout, one I've done as an extract brew I want to do AG... then there's this Stout you've just brewed, then there's a couple or three others I want to do.
I really should do a pale and an IPA soon too, then stock up on a Bluebird-esque bitter.

Hope yours is a good one

[leedsbrew]

I kind of need to do another stout, one I've done as an extract brew I want to do AG... then there's this Stout you've just brewed, then there's a couple or three others I want to do.
I really should do a pale and an IPA soon too, then stock up on a Bluebird-esque bitter.

Hope yours is a good one

cheers man. Aye there is ALWAYS something to be doing with this hobby eh! I've just had a check in the spare rom and the air lock is bubbling already!

[6470zzy]

You have to love those yeast cakes

[leedsbrew]

You have to love those yeast cakes

Oh yeah!


3 hours and it's off like a goodun!

Makes an 11g pack of dry yeast seem a bit gay!?

[Kristoff]

Sorry for being dim, but what do you do to pitch onto a yeast cake? Do you just empty your cooled wort onto it, surely it's not that easy

[leedsbrew]

surely it's not that easy

It can be but as mysterio confirmed it carries the potential for contamination. Iracked the beer from the FV leaving half an inch behind to keep the yeast covered. When I was ready to pitch (about 10 mins later) I poured off the half inch of beer and used a steralised metal spoon to scoop out aprox 100ml. This is slightly over the 90ml calculated on Mr Mlaty but hey ho!

[leedsbrew]

Better late than never!

the recipe was:

Ingredient Amount % MCU When
UK Pale Ale Malt 2.811 kg 70.0 % 3.2 In Mash/Steeped
UK Flaked Barley 0.402 kg 10.0 % 0.2 In Mash/Steeped
UK Amber Malt 0.221 kg 5.5 % 1.7 In Mash/Steeped
UK Chocolate Malt 0.221 kg 5.5 % 37.7 In Mash/Steeped
UK Roasted Barley 0.181 kg 4.5 % 43.9 In Mash/Steeped
Carafe Special 3 0.181 kg 4.5 % 30.9 In Mash/Steeped


Hops
Variety Alpha Amount IBU Form When
US Cascade 7.6 % 40 g 38.9 Loose Whole Hops First Wort Hopped


Here are the pics.

grist as per recipe


Mash


run off


Awesome Cascade hops from BB!


FWH in!


28L bang on!


The run off


tap shot!

Just taken a sample from the FV and it's down to 1.018 in under 48 hours!

[WishboneBrewery]

Good set of shots there, love the last one

[leedsbrew]

Gave the yeast a bit of rousing last night as it seems to have slowed down a bit. BeerAlchemy gave a target FG of 1.011 so hopefully it will fall the last 0.007 in the next day or so. Had a wee taste from the sample jar, Wow alot of complex flavours already. Definitly more smokey than I thought but that is a god thing in my book. I know it has been said before about 4 shades but I was unsure about the use of cascade hops, seems I had nothing to worry about, this just works!

[WishboneBrewery]

added this to my ever-growing and ever-changing list of brews-to-do
Its nice to see the dark malts go over the 10% mark to nearer 14% like my own stout recipes

[leedsbrew]

Had a quick sample out tonight to test the SG. Down to only 1.016 I think one night the heating was off and the temp dropped loads. Have given it a rouse and I'm hoping it will pick up as it's only at 3.8% at the mo!