American Stout Recipe

EricCSU · 11-05-2009, 12:14 AM

Hello,
I'd like some feedback for this recipe based loosely on Jamil's American Stout. Thanks to Jeff967, I've acquired a lot of cascade pellets. I thought this would be a good use for them.

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Jamil's American Stout with all cascade MM
Brewer: Eric
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Stout
TYPE: Partial Mash
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.25 gal
Boil Size: 4.36 gal
Estimated OG: 1.071 SG
Estimated Color: 45.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 71.1 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
8.8 oz Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 4.48 %
7 lbs Extra Pale Liquid Extract [Boil for 10 minExtract 56.87 %
2 lbs 6.8 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 19.70 %
15.0 oz Black Barley (Stout) (500.0 SRM) Grain 7.61 %
11.2 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 5.68 %
11.1 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 5.66 %
3.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (60 min) Hops 39.2 IBU
2.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (5 min) Hops 5.2 IBU
1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [2000ml Starter]

Mini-mash with 2.5 gallons at 155 F
Sparge with 0.75 gallons at 170 F
Top up to 4.25 gallons

What do you think of using all Cascade hops?

Thanks for the input.

Eric

Suthrncomfrt1884 · 11-05-2009, 01:36 AM

Using all cascade is fine in an American Stout... using this much, however, is a bit extreme. I'd cut it down to less than 50 IBU's if I was brewing this. That's my taste buds speaking though, not yours.

Also, I'd drop the 8.8oz of Extra Light DME since it seems pretty useless. If you really want it, at least drop the .8oz. Measurements of this scale are a bit funny to me. No one would ever taste the difference if you dropped that .8oz. The Black Barley is way too high in my opinion. I'd stick to less than 8oz. Any reason why it's 2 lbs 6.8oz of 2-row and not 2 lbs 7oz.? Seems a bit odd.

Sorry to beat up on the recipe like that. I like it overall.

**mmb** · 11-05-2009, 01:59 AM

The 8.8oz looks to be his extract charge to support the late addition. Not sure if that is needed for a partial mash batch, but I'd leave it just for the fermentables it provides.

The black barley amount is right in line with what JZ put into the recipe. An American stout is supposed to be a big roasty, hoppy kick in the teeth. Only change I would make would be to spread the 2oz cascade addition between 15 and 5 minutes to get more hop flavor into the stout.

The "odd" fractions come, I assume, from the Beersmith conversion of an All Grain recipe to Partial Mash and it's attempts to keep percentages the same.

tlarham · 11-05-2009, 02:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suthrncomfrt1884

Any reason why it's 2 lbs 6.8oz of 2-row and not 2 lbs 7oz.? Seems a bit odd.

It looks to me like he used the Beersmith conversion utility -- like an all-grain to partial mash conversion. Every time I've used that I get weird measurements as well.

As far as the recipe, I agree that the hops seem strong, and I was wondering why 5 minutes instead of 15 or 2 -- is that second infusion for flavor or aroma?

-- T

EDIT: Bugger -- What MMB said.

EricCSU · 11-05-2009, 04:10 AM

I originally had all the grain in metric, because it is much easier to do percentages that way, but then I converted to US to make it easier to read here. Then I realized I forgot something, and it screwed everything up. I realize it is a great mass of hops, but cascade are pretty low AA. I just finished a Rogue Shakespeare Stout. It is 15 plato with 69 IBU...which is a much greater GU:IBU than I am planning. It was fantastic. I just hope the beersmith late extract addition calculations are accurate and I get the hop flavor I want.

Thanks for your help everyone. Looks like this might be a go unless anyone has any major objections. Of course, I will keep you updated as I brew it!

Eric

EricCSU · 11-05-2009, 10:44 PM

redundant post

EricCSU · 11-05-2009, 10:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mmb

The 8.8oz looks to be his extract charge to support the late addition. Not sure if that is needed for a partial mash batch, but I'd leave it just for the fermentables it provides.

The black barley amount is right in line with what JZ put into the recipe. An American stout is supposed to be a big roasty, hoppy kick in the teeth. Only change I would make would be to spread the 2oz cascade addition between 15 and 5 minutes to get more hop flavor into the stout.

The "odd" fractions come, I assume, from the Beersmith conversion of an All Grain recipe to Partial Mash and it's attempts to keep percentages the same.

That is exactly what the DME is for. I can get LME in 1/2 pound increments, but I can measure the DME to the gram, which can be used to hit my OG precisely and help me hit the percentages in the recipe conversion.

I like the idea of spreading out the late cascade addition. Thanks.

Eric

elproducto · 01-21-2011, 12:49 PM

I was just listening to the podcast. Sounds like a great recipe.. but I think I'm going to scale it down to a more sessionable beer. 7 % is a big beer!