AG#7 Black Goat Stout

[The Goatreich]

This is basically a variation of Aleman's Effin Oatmeal stout with a couple of minor changes due to stock levels and that I wanted a lower ABV.

2.56kg maris otter (crisp) 7.9EBC
0.76kg maris otter (thomas fawcett) 5.9EBC
0.61kg toasted porridge oats
0.27kg brown malt 150EBC
0.28kg crystal malt 150EBC
0.23kg roasted barley 1300EBC
0.20kg flaked barley 3.3EBC
0.16kg chocolate malt 1000EBC

45g bramling cross 6.29% AA 90 mins
15g bramling cross 6.29% AA 15 mins

0.5 protofloc tablet 15 mins
Danstar Windsor yeast

Est OG 1.054
Bitterness: 32 IBU
Colour: 66.8 EBC
Est ABV 5.6%

My first balls up was that I added hot water to the toasted rolled oats and pale malt for the glucan rest, meaning it was sitting at around 45C for the first ten minutes before I added it to the glucan rest coolbox for the final 20 minutes. Hopefully this won't be too much of a dramatic error.

Strike water is just coming up to temperature now.

 

[The Goatreich]

Oats ready to be toasted

Lots of grains

Golden brown, texture like sun

Doughing in

Bringing the oats back up to mash temperature before adding them

 

[friedaweed]

That looks cool as feck
I'm itching to have a go at AG but i better learn to walk first :)

 

[The Goatreich]

It's great fun honestly, I'm so glad I made the decision. I've only been brewing a year in total and went AG about 6 months ago but I've really enjoyed the learning curve and this site is full of great people always willing to help. You're in good hands if you want to learn.

Just about to sparge, more pics to come.

 

[EskiBrew]

Looking good Goatreich :thumb:

 

[The Goatreich]

First runnings - BLACK!

My second ever fly sparge

Annoyingly I lost a whole 7 degrees over 90 minutes in the mash! This must be down to the addition of the oats from the glucan rest. I warmed them up to 66C, but maybe should've gone for 70C. Oh well. I hope this doesn't make it turn out stronger than I'd hoped.

 

[The Goatreich]

Coming up to boil...slowly

The boiler was too full so have some on the hob to add in later

Bramling cross and half a protofloc tablet

 

[The Goatreich]

Hot break and rolling boil

and his little brother

 

[friedaweed]

It's great fun honestly, I'm so glad I made the decision. I've only been brewing a year in total and went AG about 6 months ago but I've really enjoyed the learning curve and this site is full of great people always willing to help. You're in good hands if you want to learn.

Just about to sparge, more pics to come.

I think it's more a question of when rather than if :grin: I must admit I'm loving this forum. I was directed here from another board (urban75) and I'm so glad I found you all. It seems to be a really positive community and lots of shared knowledge. Not unlike my allotment colony (Plenty of old gits who'll put you right in the early days)

Thanks for the encouragement

 

[The Goatreich]

Chiller in, set to stun

Yeast ready to be rehydrated

Collecting the lovely black wort

I make that around 1.050, around 5 points less than planned, probably due to that dodgy mash losing 7 degrees.

 

[The Goatreich]

22.5l instead of the 23l planned, but that's not too much to worry about. It's like a massive Guinness!

Going to go off to the gym while it cools the final 5 degrees to pitching temperature then I'm done for the day.

:

 

[The Goatreich]

I stopped running the chiller at around 37C because it takes ages from that point to get down to pitching temperature and it felt like a waste of water. I figured I could seal the FV up and leave it for an hour or two while I go off and do other things, then pitch the yeast this evening. However, the wort is still at 31C!! Insane! At this rate I won't be able to pitch the yeast until tomorrow. If only I'd kept that chiller on for another 15 mins or so.

 

[graysalchemy]

Don't compare it to Guinness Goat :nono: in my decent ale wilderness of the last two weeks I had a sip of SWMBO's Guinness and it was a poorer relative of what you have brewed.

Enjoy :thumb:

 

[The Goatreich]

Holy sh!t! This has been my first escapee. I forgot to take a photo before cleaning it up, but when I walked into the kitchen this morning I was greated with a malty lava spread across the top of the FV. I'm pretty chuffed as I often read about how you guys get this with stouts.

 

[graysalchemy]

:thumb:

I have got 3 bottles of it out for tonight. Looking forward to it. As a point of interesti use it as a base for an elderberry stout. I up the abv to around 7% and add the juice from a pound of elders per gallon and add it to the boil in the last 15minutes. It tastes great.

 

[The Goatreich]

Great, cheers. I think I'll try this one as it is a few times to nail the glucan rest etc, but I'll definitely give the elder version a go too.

 

[EskiBrew]

That looks great :clap:

 

[Vossy1]

Great post and pics T :clap: G

Holy sh!t! This has been my first escapee. I forgot to take a photo before cleaning it up, but when I walked into the kitchen this morning I was greated with a malty lava spread across the top of the FV.

:lol: ...gotta watch those stouts/dark beers

 

[The Goatreich]

Just took a gravity reading ready for potential bottling on Saturday morning, but it seems to have stopped at 1017. Bugger. I've given the yeast a bit of a rouse and will check again tomorrow.

 

[The Goatreich]

I've just taken another reading and it's still at 1.017. Is that a normal stopping point for Windsor yeast? Is it worth hanging on another week before bottling? It's been in the FV for two weeks today and I was planning on bottling it tomorrow morning.