Thoughts on this Pastry Stout grain bill

[Lewis Hart]

Hello everyone,

New to the Forum, been brewing for about 5 years, but recently made the step up to All Grain and have 7 really solid AG Batches under my belt. AG has made me fall in love with brewing all over again!

Anyway, I'll cut to chase, I'm wanting to make a sweet, high ABV (between 12-13%), Pastry Stout. It's gonna be a Vanilla, Raspberry and Chocolate flavour. Want it to be super decadent, type of beer you can have one or two, but that's it.

Here is what I'm thinking for the Grain bill:

9KG/20lbs of Golden Promise Pale Malt - 62%
2KG/4.4lbs of Crystal Medium - 13.8%
1KG/2.2lbs of Carafa III - 6.9%
1KG/2.2lbs of Chocolate Malt - 6.9%
1KG/2.2lbs of - Golden Naked Oats - 6.9%
500g/1.1lbs of Dingemans Special B - 3.4%

Hops: 56g/2oz of Magnum @ 60 Min

Any thoughts of this? Do percentages look ok? And yes I realise, it's a whole ton of grain haha! Planning to add Fresh Vanilla at the start of the boil and then Raspberry flavourings near the end.

 

[Pennine]

That is a lot of grain, will it fit in your mash tun?

It's 17% crystal malts and 14% roasted malts, that might cause me some.concern. I usually like the to keep them between 8-10%.

Overall though it might be just fine, I am just being nitpicky.

 

[Lewis Hart]

That is a lot of grain, will it fit in your mash tun?

It's 17% crystal malts and 14% roasted malts, that might cause me some.concern. I usually like the to keep them between 8-10%.

Overall though it might be just fine, I am just being nitpicky.

Hopefully, I have a 42L mash tun, so I'm hoping it will fit, albeit with a very thick mash! The other option is to take away a few kilos of grain and maybe use some belgian candi sugar, but I worry about drying out the beer.

Do you think reducing them down to say 8-10% would still give that sweet, dessert like flavour I'm after?

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Brewnaldo]

You could always shove some lactose in

 

[An Ankoù]

I think you're overdoing the black malt a tad. You might end up overpowering everything with roast.
Golden Promise is a premium malt isn't it? You might as well use bog standard pale or Pilsner malt and save the GP for a SMaSH as you won't get the benefit of it in a stout.

 

[Lewis Hart]

I think you're overdoing the black malt a tad. You might end up overpowering everything with roast.
Golden Promise is a premium malt isn't it? You might as well use bog standard pale or Pilsner malt and save the GP for a SMaSH as you won't get the benefit of it in a stout.

250g or 500g? Maybe? Definitely don't have it being overly roasty.

Price difference between the GP and standard pale is minimal to be fair, talking maybe £2.50 (total for this recipe) more expensive for the GP, and I have plenty of GP to hand. But I appreciate the point. Could always order some Pilsner in, can never have enough Malt .

 

[Pennine]

Yeah I'd go with the GP and a two hour mash, it's gonna be a thick one. 10% roasted malts puts you in stout territory, maybe consider dropping the carafa 3 and chocolate to 600g each or so? But this depends on what you are going for, it looks like more of an imperial stout right now.

 

[Lewis Hart]

Yeah I'd go with the GP and a two hour mash, it's gonna be a thick one. 10% roasted malts puts you in stout territory, maybe consider dropping the carafa 3 and chocolate to 600g each or so? But this depends on what you are going for, it looks like more of an imperial stout right now.

Here is an updated recipe:

9KG/20lbs of Golden Promise Pale Malt - 62%
2KG/4.4lbs of Crystal Medium - 13.8%
300G/2.2lbs of Carafa III - 6.9%
600G/2.2lbs of Chocolate Malt - 6.9%
2KG/2.2lbs of - Golden Naked Oats - 6.9%
500g/1.1lbs of Dingemans Special B - 3.4%

Hops: 56g/2oz of Magnum @ 60 Min

I want that sweet dessert flavour and some roastyness in the background, but I don't want coffee or roast to be the first flavours you get. Also upped the Oats for a more velvety mouthfeel.

 

[An Ankoù]

NG oats are not like rolled oats, in fact they're more like the crystal malt of the oat world and as such they have a very distinctive flavour. In short, they'll give you more than just mouthfeel. But go for it anyway.