My first stout

[Alside101]

So here i go to the dark side. I have some spare grains i need to use up. I'm hoping to get a stout out of it. Here is what i have in stock
Roasted barly 298g
Special b 204g
Chocolate ebc 900. 147g
Loads of pale malt, lager malt, mild ale malt and caramel 40
The hops im fine with its just the grain bill. Any help is greatly appreciated as always

 

[Arcs]

Pirate_Pete to the rescue!!

 

[Drunkula]

How do you want it? Dry, fruity, coffee, boozy? Wow, I've just wondered if you could make a beer like "Old Jamaica" chocolate or Grande Marnier.

 

[Arcs]

From the ingredients it's looking a bit christmassy with the choccy. So why not a chocolate stout? For me this really does go against my stout values. Why pimp a stout when a stout is a stout is a stout... If you are really going to mess with it so it's no longer a stout, then make a chocolate cappucino stout, well er...chocolate cappucino something that has a dark body and a stout like head :S I was toying with the idea of a vanilla cappucino stout but only on the premise that I split the original stout and put the rest of the ingredients in later - which will work if left long enough. So uhm, why not split it so you get both?

 

[Alside101]

It all sounds good to me i just want to keep inside what i have in stock. Also i have some toasted marshmallow syrup stuff to put in it so fire away with ideas because i have not got a scooby

 

[Sadfield]

I'd go quite simple, say Pale malt (88%), Crystal (4%), Roasted Barley (4%), Chocolate malt (4%).

There's always scope to make changes post fermentation by adding lactose, vanilla, dry hops, flavour extracts, oak, coffee, chilli, etc.

 

[PhilBrew]

Hi Alside

I'd go quite simple, say Pale malt (88%), Crystal (4%), Roasted Barley (4%), Chocolate malt (4%).

+1 to that ... though obviously you'd use the Special B you have in place of the Crystal in that list (gotta love the complexity that Special B brings to a dark beer ) ... and with the amounts you've got, you'd just chuck all the Roast, Special B and Choc in that you have and make the rest up to the OG you want with Pale Malt. You'll never be able to get such even percentages with only those small amounts you have (unless you go down to around 3.5% ABV, Skinny Stout maybe??) but up at a 5kg total grainbill, all of that lot will add up to around 12% of the grist

Cheers, PhilB

 

[Alside101]

Thanks i think il do just that throw lot in and top up with pale malt. So here it is
pale malt 5kg
Roasted barly 298g
Special b 204g
Chocolate 147g

Hops
30g challenger @60 mins
30g galaxy 20 min hop stand
20g challenger 20 min hop stand
Other
1l toasted marshmallow syrup @10 mins

 

[Sadfield]

You'll never be able to get such even percentages with only those small amounts you have (unless you go down to around 3.5% ABV, Skinny Stout maybe??) but up at a 5kg total grainbill, all of that lot will add up to around 12% of the grist

Cheers, PhilB

Good point Phil. I forget that people like to brew 5 gallon batches.

 

[PhilBrew]

I forget that people like to brew 5 gallon batches.

... yeah, and I forget that some people don't always brew to a 5 gal brew length ... my internal, rough and ready recipe calculator is scaled to 5 gals though, so I guess I just got lucky this time ... of course, presuming will make an ar$e of me in the future (and probably not too distant future)

Hi Alside

1l toasted marshmallow syrup @10 mins

... I have no experience with such syrup, but that seems like a lot to commit to, so early on ... 25ml per pint ... have you tried adding that much to a pint (or similar proportions to some other amount) of water/beer? ... or considered adding it in secondary (or at least at the secondary/dry-hop stage) after tasting some in the beer you'll be adding it into?

Cheers, PhilB

 

[The Baron]

Galaxy being expensive might be lost in a stout depends on what flavours you are looking for in it. If standard style any british aroma hops should do even some more challenger done in the last 5/10 mins. Its how you perceive it, your taste will determine which hops to use but I would save the galaxy for a IPA personally but the chuck it all in idea usually can produce good beers

 

[Alside101]

Its not a strong tasting syrup. I might drop the galaxy and use golding's

 

[PhilBrew]

Fair enough ... good luck with the brew :small

Cheers, PhilB

 

[Alside101]

Fair enough ... good luck with the brew :small

Cheers, PhilB

Thanks man

 

[Birkin]

The first stout that I made was a Guinness clone recipe, it didn't taste like Guinness because it wasn't soured, but it was a delicious dry stout.

I think it was:
500g roasted barley,
2.3kg pale
1.1kg Flaked Barley
(this is the conclusion I came to trying to recreate it)

I think the hop was a high acid hop, come to think of it I'm sure it was Bullion.

The hops only went in at the start of the boil for bittering if I remember right.

Either way, I'm sure it had 1.1kg of flaked Barley in it. I remember having to buy two packs for the 100g extra that I needed..

Sorry it's a bit of a garbled mess, im going to have a bash at another stout next, so will see how it goes!

 

[Alside101]

A bit of brew day p*rn

 

[An Ankoù]

The first stout that I made was a Guinness clone recipe, it didn't taste like Guinness because it wasn't soured, but it was a delicious dry stout.

Thanks Birkin. You've given me an idea. After 6 years of leaving my original brew garage, I've finally unpacked the last box of bits and pieces including some malts which were already out of date when I packed them. Included in which is half a kilo of acid malt. It tastes fine with no mustiness except that it's much more sour than fresh acid malt. I wonder if that could be used to sour a Guinness clone. What do you think?
I used some equally ancient dark crystal malt in a brown ale (10% of grain bill) which I bottled yesterday and it tastes wonderful.

 

[kimosabby]

gents,

if using syrup in brews like this when and where does it go in?

 

[Alside101]

Last 10 mins of the boil draw some of the boiling wort off into a pan and mix it in with that then add it back in this stops it sinking and scorching

 

[kimosabby]

cheers for that; what sort of quantities are you looking at for a 23l choc stout? I want to add some caramel to balance it out.

Also any particular syrups or can be just general baking/cooking ones