Stout recipes

[Scotty]

I fancy making a stout (probably tomorrow).

Can anyone recommend a decent recipe for a 40l, 1.040-odd beer.

I have roasted barley, choc, crystal, amber, wheat and crystal. Hops-wise, I'm going to use Target as the pack is open and yeast would be S-04

Cheers

[Kev888]

The Guinness Extra Stout in BYOBRA was recomended to me by another kev on here; it usually goes down well with my friends and is refreshingly uncomplicated. I don't think its how I remember the original so I don't tell them its supposed to be a clone, but in actual fact it seems better to me.

I'm at work at the mo so can't check, but IIRC it uses target and roasted barley..

Cheers
Kev

[Scotty]

I'll try and dig my copy out. It's around here somewhere!

[Scroogemonster]

70% Pale malt
20% Flaked barley
10% Roast barley

Target hops to 45 ibu's
SO4 yeast

Simple, and dead tasty

'nuff said.

[Scotty]

ain't got any flaked scrooge, replace with choc?

[coatesg]

OOh no - flaked is very pale, nothing like choc. I'd go half and half with pale and wheat to replace it - it's mostly there for mouthfeel/head.

You could add a bit of crystal (200g) and replace a quarter or so of the roast barley with choc for a bit of complexity?

Target is a fine choice though - single addition early.

[weiht]

My take

Maris Otter 67%
Flaked Oats 8%
Munich 5%
Victory 5%
Crystal 60 5%
Chocolate Malt 6%
Roasted Barley 4%

Fuggles 60mins

*Done with the moving house????? Thats fast lol

[Scotty]

Done with the moving house????? Thats fast lol

Nope, not yet . I've done everything I can at the moment except for the dividing wall for which I'm waiting for a new door.

Anyway, cheers for the recipes chaps. It turns out the wife has some jobs for me to do so the brew is delayed until next week.

[Scotty]

Just had a little play on Promash, tell me what you think.

40l brewlength

Pale - 5.5kg (80.9%)
Wheat - 0.5kg (7.4%)
Roasted Barley - 0.44kg (6.5%)
Choc - 0.18kg (2.6%)
Crystal - 0.18kg (2.6%)

Target (adjusted AA 8.4%) - 70g at 60 mins

OG - 1.040
IBU - 44
EBC - 68

Will probably mash at 66c as hopefully the maltbase will have enough mouthfeel. If not, I can increase the grainbill slightly and mash higher.

[boingy]

I'd probably drop the crystal, boost the roast barley and maybe boost the choc a tad.
But it's your recipe and it will undoubtedly make beer so go for it.

[Scroogemonster]

That's a low AA% for Target hops!

[dave-o]

If missing out the flaked B i'd probably try to get some oats in there instead. Depends if you're after the stout thickness though really.

[coatesg]

I think that looks OK to me. If you can get some flaked barley or oats (if you're looking for a thicker mouthfeel) then go for it - or mash higher at 68C.

180g of crystal in 40L is perfectly fine IMHO. Perhaps a little more choc malt wouldn't go astray, but it depends entirely on what balance you're after and how much roast - maybe up it to 250g? What yeast are you going to go with?

[Scotty]

That's a low AA% for Target hops!

That's taking into account how old they are and how I've stored them, hence the lower AA%

coatsg - I'm going to use S-04 which will leave some residual but I wanting it to taste 'bigger' than it actually is ABV-wise

[Barley Water]

I agree with the posters that advise adding flaked barley or absent that, flaked oats. What you want to achieve is the big mouthfeel from what is otherwise a pretty small beer. If you do it right, you will get almost a creamy effect, and that is what separates the good dry stouts from the great ones. Of course Guiness is pretty roasty and also pretty dry, I personally like just a bit less roast and a bit more (but not much) sweetness. You might check out the Four Shades of Stout recipe on these forums, it makes a very good pint, it is quite a bit less roasty than Guiness. The first thing I did was to jack up the amount of flaked barley when I did that recipe and I really liked the effect. I wouldn't start adding crystal to a dry stout because I think it will make the beer too sweet but you might try using a less attenuative yeast if you want to go the less dry route (last time, I used the Fuller's strain and I liked the way the beer came out plus it added just a touch of diacetyl which I thought was just great). You can also putz around with the amount of roasted barley and substitute in some Carafa III to taste, that will tend to dumb down the roast. One other thing I have read but not tried myself is to almost powder the roasted barley in the receipe (that per the Great Jamil Z). I would think that would add to the roast flavor and astringency, just something else to think about. I usually do my Irish stuff right after the first of the new year so that I have it on tap for St. Patrick's day in March. I have finally found a good formulation for Irish Red so I like to have both of those going and of course I can then make a Black and Tan if I want to.