AG #4 - Four Shades of Stout [with photos]

[Nermal]

Hi all,

My fourth all grain brew and first stout.

Went reasonably well - I got 23L at 1040 / 42 - so an efficiency of only around 70%. Any ideas how to up my efficiency whilst still batch sparging - mash temp was 67 for 90-100 minutes, and I topped up / sparged with 80C water.

Full writeup with photos is now up on my site.

Cheers

[simple one]

Looks good.... doing this on Sunday. But as always... forgot the carafa special III. What does this bring to the brew?

[Nermal]

Apparently it makes the pint smoother as the Carafa Special has the husk removed.

[mixbrewery]

..... forgot the carafa special III. What does this bring to the brew?

Did you sub anything else for the carafa?
The special thing about this malt is that it is dehusked which stops a lot of the harsh, acrid nature that is normal associated with roasted malts.

[adm]

Nice looking brewday.....

The Carafa is a smoother version of Roast Barley. It gives the same dark colour and a roasty taste, but is less bitter.

I did a Four Shades without it once and it still came out as a superb pint, so I wouldn't worry about it much.

[WishboneBrewery]

excellent stuff
You mention building up a good stock for Christmas, how are you storing your beer?

[Nermal]

I bottle all my beer atm - a keg would just be too tempting

I'm putting 12 of each batch away in a sealed box at the back of the house where it's cool - should have around 48 bottles by xmas

[WishboneBrewery]

I wish I'd has such a good idea!!
With my 12L batches I've not really had the stock for putting aside, though have recently done a couple of 23L batches so I can get a bit of stock in!

[Deebee]

Hi all,

My fourth all grain brew and first stout.

Went reasonably well - I got 23L at 1040 / 42 - so an efficiency of only around 70%. Any ideas how to up my efficiency whilst still batch sparging - mash temp was 67 for 90-100 minutes, and I topped up / sparged with 80C water.

Full writeup with photos is now up on my site.

Cheers

Did you adjust the hydrometer for temperature above 20 degrees?

[simple one]

..... forgot the carafa special III. What does this bring to the brew?

Did you sub anything else for the carafa?
The special thing about this malt is that it is dehusked which stops a lot of the harsh, acrid nature that is normal associated with roasted malts.

Brewing 4 shades (or my version) on sunday. Time to start thinking about my recipe.

[Nermal]

Did you adjust the hydrometer for temperature above 20 degrees?

Yes - the wort was only 24 C so it would only be 1 point out