Truman 1890 Export Stout (Kernel clone)

[madoIII]

Hi all,

I am a big fan of Kernel's Export Stout. After doing some research, it looks like it is based on this recipe:
http://barclayperkins.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/lets-brew-wednesday-1890-truman-export.html

I am still in my early days of homebrewing and never done a stout before. A couple of questions about the recipe:

1. Boil 180 min. Never seen such a long boil before. I suppose I will have to adjust water levels to account for the extra loss of water due to longer boil? Out of curiosity, why a longer boil?

2. Dry Hops. The recipe does not specify when to dry hop. 3 day, 4 day, 5 day? any advice?

3. I normally leave my wort in the FV for 2-3 weeks and I don't use a secondary FV. I bottle after that and leave the beer for at least 10 days. Should I change those times for this recipe? I have read that stronger (more complex) beers need longer conditioning times.

4. OG = 1.075. Is a yeast starter a must?

Thanks!

 

[naturals]

I've not brewed this stout before but do quite a lot of dark beers.

1. Yes, you'll need to have more water in the boil to prevent a super concentrated wort. Any calculator (Beersmith etc) should be able to figure out the boil off and suggest a starting volume of water for the mash / sparge.

2. I don't typically dry hop my stouts, but it shouldn't do any harm. I tend to avoid leaving dry hops in the FV for more than about 7 days (some say it can lead to grassy-ness). I'd suggest about half way through a 14 day fermentation.

3. A secondary is useful. I found it reduced the amount of yeast I was getting in my bottles. It's far from essential though. 10 days in the bottle will be far too short for a beer of this sort. Sure, it'll be perfectly drinkable after 10 days, but it won't be at its best. I'd suggest a minimum of a month in the bottle, and it should keep on improving for many months after that.

4. Yes! I always use a starter. Even 1.05 pale ales benefit from it. Alternatively you can rehydrate the yeast and use more than one packet which has a similar effect. Have a look at the Brewer's Friend Calculator for an idea of how much yeast you'll need.