Stout

[Mashman]

My local has had some amazing stouts lately, rather getting the taste for them! So I have decided to try my hand. I don't usually concoct my own recipes but here goes. Opinions and comments welcome and requested.

Brew lwngth 40lt
Target ABV 4.0/4.2

7000g Pale Malt
435 Roast Barley
250 Chocolate Malt

Possibly some Flaked Barley for head retention. (How much?)

Any advice re suitable yeast welcomed.

Mashman

[tubby_shaw]

My first impression would be that it may turn out a little light colour wise for a stout ?
I would personally add at least 500g and probably more like 1kg of black malt and another 250 to 500g of chocolate malt to up the colour and flavour
I prefer black malt to roast barley for flavour reasons but each to his own
As for flaked barley replace 1kg of your pale malt for 2 kg of flaked barley
At 70% efficiency this should give you your target abv and good head retention

[Mashman]

Thanks Tubby. Can you describe the difference in flavour by using black malt as opposed to Roast Barley? Always a difficult thing to describe subtle favours though!

Mashman

[Frothy]

Depends what kind of stout your going for.
For a Dry Irish stout (similar to guinness) check out Eskimo Bobs & Pensans recipes
Eskimo's Irish Stout
Pensans Dark & Roasty

Flaked oats or Barley are good for head retention. For this style of stout apparently you want little hop flavour & lots of bitterness hence one hop addition. First wort hopping is a good idea and this is where you just bung the hops in as soon as the wort is in the boiler - this apparently produces some more beneficial flavour in beers like this. A fairly neutral yeast is good.

Frothy

[tubby_shaw]

As you say trying to describe a taste can be difficult
But I would have to say that the black malt tastes less burnt, more bittersweet
But using roast barley as Frothy says will give you the Guinness / Dry Irish stout flavour, using extra chocolate malt and black malt will give a completely different flavour

[Mashman]

Looks like two brews coming up to try both styles. Guinness isn't really what I was after Has anybody tried the Dark Star expresso? Can't say the coffee is noticeable but it is very nice. Anybody live near here - www.micropub.co.uk If so give it a try, fantastic

[onlooker]

Patent/black malt was designed to give maximum colour with little flavour. It gives a slight roasty flavour in significant quantitys.

Roast Barley will give a strong roasty/burnt flavour , but can also give off dark fruit aromas and flavors, it can also give slightly sweaty/meaty aromas when in a young beer.

My advice would be keep your grist simple , its easy to muddy a stout or porter recipe by getting carried away and adding the kitchen sink.

[PieOPah]

KISS isn't always the best advice.

I love my stouts and always try to have at least one on tap at any given time.

So far I have never made the same stout twice BUT I will be. I recently made a stout which I loved. I have since modified the recipe to take into account my improved efficiency (although I want to be more consistent with it before I make this stout again!) I used an Irish Ale yeast (can't remember the exact yeast but any irish ale should be good enough.)

This also needs to be matured for a good month to allow the hops to mellow out.

This was a fairly big grain bill but everything about the stout was amazing....

5.0 kg Maris Otter Pale
1.0 kg British Crystal 55°L
0.5 kg Barley Flaked
0.5 kg Carapils®/Carafoam®
0.5 kg Roasted Barley
0.3 kg English Chocolate Malt
0.25 kg British Black Patent
100.0 g Hallertau (4.5%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
0.5 tsp Yeast Nutrient (AKA Fermax) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
0.9 tsp Irish Moss - added during boil, boiled 15 min

[Mashman]

Thanks PieOPah, I think I may give your recipe a go - I haven't ordered the grains yet!
What brew length was this grain bill for?

TIA

Mashman

[PieOPah]

I did a 90 minute mash. I think the temp was 68C. After that it was a 60 minute boil.

The recipe is based on 65% efficiency with an OG of 1.074 and FG of around 1.020

This was intended to be a strong stout anyway, but you may want to adjust it to suit your own efficiency.

If you make it, all I ask is that you let me know what you think

[Frothy]

added to the "to do" list Pop
I guess this would have a great body given all the roasted/ unfermentable sugars in there... sorry I'm stating the obvious with a FG of 1.020

Frothy

[Garth]

yeah, me too, that's saved in the 'to do' file also, looks excellent, cheers Pop, have you a name for it so I can name the file?

or is it just Pop's Excellent Stout?

[Mashman]

PoP I will order the grains from H&G next week, will hopefully brew in the fortnight. Is the recipe for 23lt? You have Hallertau as 4.5%, I thought they were about 7-8%?
I will keep you updated on progress.

Mashman

[PieOPah]

yeah, me too, that's saved in the 'to do' file also, looks excellent, cheers Pop, have you a name for it so I can name the file?

or is it just Pop's Excellent Stout?

This was made before I had 'inventive' names. I just called this one Strong Stout. Actually, the version I have posted here is the slightly modified version which is Strong Stout V2

PoP I will order the grains from H&G next week, will hopefully brew in the fortnight. Is the recipe for 23lt?

Yes

You have Hallertau as 4.5%, I thought they were about 7-8%?
I will keep you updated on progress.

Mashman

I don't know what the Alpha was for the hops as I got them loose and it wasn't written on the pack. The 4.5% is just the default from Beertools Pro.

[Frothy]

Mashman you can use virtually whatever hops you like as the malts provide the flavours in this kind of beer. Northern Brewer, Fuggles Goldings etc. as long as you work out the IBU's there isn't much flavour left after a 60 minute boil. Hallertau are traditionally a lager hop aren't they POP?

Sorry Mashman I don't know how much AG you've done but I'm guessing with a 40L brewery you've probably done quite a lot so in all likelyhood you already know most of this

Frothy