Four Shades of Stout Question

[Barley Water]

I need to throw together a beer which will need to be ready to go by roughly the third week of March for our big contest. As everyone on this board raves about Four Shades of Stout, I though I might give it a try (it looks really good to me although I rarely make stout, I'm a porter guy). Since there is a fair amount of drinking going on at this event, I thought it would be a good idea to have a lower gravity offering so as not to go comatose too early in the evening yet have enough flavor to cut through all the other beers there. Also, over here in late March, we have St. Patricks day. It is a really a pagen holiday where we all act like we are Irish (whether we are or not) and drink alot. The semi-official swill is dry stout of course (except for the idiots who drink Budweiser dyed green which I really don't get at all).

After reviewing the formulation and comparing it to some other dry stouts in my brewing books, I am thinking about modifying it just a little. I am seriously considering doing two things. First, I thought I would double up on the flaked barley and lower the base grain accordingly so as to hold the O.G. around 1.043 or so. Secondly, I thought I might tighten up the gap in my mill when crushing the dark grains only, so as to almost make them them like flour. My objective is to try and get the beer as smooth and creamy as possible (thus the added flaked barley) and secondly to get that nice dry stout bite (by extracting some extra tannins from the dark roasted grains). Like most of the crap I come up with, neither of these ideas is original, I noticed that the great Jamil does this with his dry stout recipie. The reason I like the Four Shades formulation a little better is because the bite should not be quite as big as say with Guiness and the chocolate malt should add a little interest. I figure if I use the Irish Ale yeast I will also get a slight bit of diacetyl which will give me something closer to Beamish which I like better (I realize I may get flamed for that last comment). Anyway, my question is, does this sound like a good idea? And by the way, is there anything I am not considering here? Any help would be appreciated.

[WishboneBrewery]

something closer to Beamish which I like better .

Looking at the recipe, it is a worthy pint, though i'd be tempted to add a little of the bittering hops to the last 15

Beamish Irish Stout

For 25 Litres (23 litres in Brackets):

Pale Malt 3,100 gm (2,850 gm)
Chocolate Malt 220 gm (205 gm)
Roast Barley 440 gm (405 gm)
Wheat malt 660 gm (610 gm)

Northdown 90 mins - 34 gm (31 gm)
Hallartau 90 mins - 36 gm (33 gm)

Styrian Goldings 15 mins - 10 gm (10 gm)

OG: 1039; IBU: 42.

[mysterio]

My own feeling is keep the recipe as it is - why mess with success. The Irish ale yeast will be a nice touch though. I feel like if you grind up the roast grains finely the beer will take longer to mature. I suppose you can't do much harm increasing the flaked barley. The Cascade gives it a bit of a US twist too I guess.

[adm]

The 4 SoS makes a great pint as is.

However - there should be no issues with upping the flaked barley. To get it quicker drinking, I would maybe ditch the amber malt as I find that quite astringent until it mellows out. Definitely use the Carafa III as that's really smooth for such a dark malt.

As per pdtnc - a small amount of hops (Cascade) at 15 mins is also a nice touch - I did one like this and it came out fantastic.

Grain bill was:

4Kg Pale Malt
1Kg Flaked Barley
0.5Kg Carafa Special III
0.25Kg Roasted Barley
0.1Kg Chocolate Malt

Also, if you want it REALLY smooth tasting (with the proper whipped cream head), then keg it and carbonate with 70/30 mixed gas as that will give you the full on Guinness/Beamish/Whatever draft stout experience.

Get going! you've got just enough time to have it in perfect condition for mid March!

[Barley Water]

Well I brewed the stuff this weekend so well see how it comes out. Since I was using so much flaked barley (which looked like a stuck mash waiting to happen) I also threw in a pound of rice hulls just to make sure things moved along quickly. It was a very uneventful brew day, I hit the target gravity and got the volume I was looking for so everything worked out just great.

We usually supply beer for the first night of our big contest here. I really wanted something that would taste good and agressive but without the alcholol. I know one guy in our club just did an imperial IPA with an IBU rating something over 100 and an O.G. in the 1.090 neighborhood. If I start drinking something like that, I won't be staying up late at all.

[mysterio]

Great job, whens the contest?

Any pictures, Barley Water?

I don't think we've seen your set up over there in Dallas

[Barley Water]

The contest is the third weekend of March, it's a big deal for us every year, it's called the Bluebonnet Brew Off (the Bluebonnet being the Texas state flower). I have been putting entries aside for around 6 months now so I should have 12 different beers (all different styles) to enter if I counted correctly. Generally speaking, there should be somewhere around 1,200 entries or so covering all the style guidelines.

As my wife would tell you, I am just dangerous with a camera. Also, I have never bothered to figure out how to post pictures although I'm sure it isn't rocket science. Anyhow, next time I brew, I will have my daughter shoot some pictures and post them up for me. I don't have a very complicated set up though, I have seen pictures of other members of this forum who have a much more elaborate system than the one I use.