Stout recipe please

[masterosouffle]

You've got me thinking about adding some crystal now ....

If you like caramel/toffee notes in your stout, or want a more historically accurate recipe, you definitely should. Brewmaster's Choice.

It didn't appeal to me back when I was making kits and it's not really a recipe as such is it. Isn't it just making a Cooper's stout kit with DME, which is pretty standard, and then bulking it out with a cup of sugar? Kind of like me adding an Oxo cube to a pot noodle and calling it Underground Joe's noodles.

Sorry Joe, hadn't ever actually seen the recipe, the way everyone bangs on about it I thought it was something special! Haha never mind. You never know, Underground Joe's noodles could make you famous! Well on here anyway. (Not that you'd deserve it!)

Call it what you want, but that is another legitimate route to good stout. You're both right. Ditch Stout definitely IS something special, as it's a super-streamlined-sanitary method of making cheap, delicious stout which you can "got amongst" in only a few days. But it's more of a technique, or a philosophy for life, than a recipe per se. Ditch freely admits he doesn't know the grainbill and hop components of his Coopers kit, much less any statistical analysis of the recipe, and he doesn't care. It's not like he's selling it as something all new.

Besides, if your method of making Underground Joe's Noodles is this much transformatively better than the original package, feel free to start a thread!

Philosophy for life? You taking the mick?

[Underground Joe]

Anything added to a pot noodle would make it better.

[seymour]

...Philosophy for life? You taking the mick?

That was a joke. But yeah, maybe I am taking it a little bit. I'll admit we fancy-pants-all-grain-brewers can get a wee fastidious and precious at times. There's something to be said for Ditch's nuts-and-bolts repeatable process, disdain for expensive equipment, refrigeration, carbonation, etc. As I said, I like Guinness, and there are 50+ pages of Jim's members whose opinions I respect saying Ditch Stout is better than Guinness, 5 gallons of which is ready to drink in a few days. Who am I to disagree with that? I'm not going back to kits, but the Ditch Stout thread convinced me to buy a fish tank heater and a paint stirrer drill attachment. If I knew what "gauntlets" were, I might buy some of those too. Take the good and leave the bad, I say.

Anything added to a pot noodle would make it better.

Ha! Good point. Perhaps the same goes for Coopers Kits.

[Underground Joe]

Anything added to a pot noodle would make it better.

Ha! Good point. Perhaps the same goes for Coopers Kits.

That is certainly true of the Coopers Australian pale ale, one of the last kits I ever did. I regularly p1ss a more convincing pale ale colour. I'd rather drink a pint of dysentery.

[seymour]

...I regularly p1ss a more convincing pale ale colour. I'd rather drink a pint of dysentery.

Yikes!

[6470zzy]

If I knew what "gauntlets" were, I might buy some of those too.

A pair of long gloves


Cheers

[seymour]

A pair of long gloves.

Duly noted. I'll see what I can do.

Geez! No one's catching my sense of humour today!

[6470zzy]

A pair of long gloves.

Duly noted. I'll see what I can do.

Geez! No one's catching my sense of humour today!

You will find the gauntlets at your local grocery store a couple of aisles down from where they sell the "pints of dysentery"

Cheers

[seymour]

A pair of long gloves.

Duly noted. I'll see what I can do.

Geez! No one's catching my sense of humour today!

You will find the gauntlets at your local grocery store a couple of aisles down from where they sell the "pints of dysentery"

Ha, well played! That's what I'm talking about

[Underground Joe]

Isn't Gauntlet an eighties arcade game?

[DaveyT]

I'm enjoying the Hop Back Entire Stout I brewed using the recipe from Hop and Grain. I ought to provide a link but I'm crap and things like that.
It's bascially pale malt with about 6% each crystal malt, chocolate malt and raost barley. It's great.

David

What hops did you use ?

Challenger to bitter then EKG to flavour. 33 IBUs.

Gauntlet was ace! I lost many 20p pieces over that.

[Underground Joe]

Back on topic, probably about time. On the subject of making stout, how much do hops actually impart on the flavour of a stout or are they just there for bittering?

[6470zzy]

Bittering for me +1

Cheers

[Underground Joe]

So in that case, find a nice grain bill and use whatever hops need using up?

[seymour]

Back on topic, probably about time. On the subject of making stout, how much do hops actually impart on the flavour of a stout or are they just there for bittering?

If you only use one early addition, as some have suggested, they mainly add non-descript bitterness. If you add some more at 30 or 15 minutes remaining, or at the end, or dry-hopped, then you're intentionally increasing the hoppy flavors and aromas, which varies by type.