Help With A Belgian Stout

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beerandcoding

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I am about a week away from bottling my first batch of homebrew; a Belgian IPA. I am going to wash the yeast and use it to start my next beer. I want to do a Belgian Stout, something like Avery's Mephistopheles. They list the grain bill on their website, so I have something to work with. Finally, I haven't stepped up to a real system yet, so I will be doing a 2 gallon batch and fermenting in a Mr. Beer.

Here is what I am thinking:

Stats
OG 1.070
FG 1.018
IBU 59
ABV 6.7 %
SRM 50

Specifics
Boil Volume 2.0 gallons
Batch Size 2.13 gallons
Yeast 75% AA

3.00 Light Dry Malt Extract
0.50 Belgian Special B
0.50 American Roasted Barley
0.25 American Black Patent
0.25 Belgian Aromatic

0.50 Cascade @ 60
0.50 Cascade @ 30

Wyeast 1388 Belgian Strong Ale - washed from Belgian IPA

I plan steep the grains @ 150 for 45 minutes, then transfer them to a 170 pot for 10 minutes. I wasn't sure if this method is closer to mashing or steeping, so the calculations above are based on the "steeping" option of Tastybrew's calculator.

Any advice is appreciated.

Cheers!
Kevin
 
If you're going to do a mini-mash, you'll need a few pounds of base grains (pale malt or some such) to have the enzymes for conversion of the Special B and Aromatic malts. At least I'm pretty sure neither is already converted.
 
Thanks for the reply. I am pretty new to this, so I may not be understanding this right. According to the malt chart on this site's wiki, Special B is a Crystal Malt and can be steeped without adding extra protein. Aromatic does require a mash, but the wiki says that it has enough diastatic power to convert itself.

Is it still a better idea to add a couple pounds of Pale to the mash? I used DeathBrewer's partial mash directions for my last batch. Does anyone know what kind of efficiency I should expect? If I do need to add some Pale Malts, I'll need to recalculate my recipe and I'm not sure if I should calculate based on "steeped" values, or calculate "mashed" values and guess a low efficiency, like 50%?

Cheers!
Kevin
 
Looks like you're doing extract, but FWIW, here is a Belgian Imperial Stout that I came up with and brewed last January. I'm drinking it now and was very happy with the results. Dark and thick, it hits you right away with that Belgian fruitiness but finishes like an IS. Good luck!

9 lbs 2 row
2.5 lbs Belgian Munich
1 lb. German Wheat
mash 90 min. @ 153

during boil:
1 lb. DME
1 lb. turbinado sugar

1oz. 13.1 AA Yakima Magnum (60 min)
1oz. 3.6 AA Saaz (15 min)
1 oz. 2 AA Styrian Goldings (5 min)

wlp500 starter-ferment as warm as possible

OG: 1.076
FG: 1.014
 
BrewDey: Thanks for the recipe. Yes, I am doing an extract batch, but the calculator wants to know if the 1.5lbs of grains are steeped or mashed. It does make a few tenths of a percent difference in the ABV depending on which I pick. The recipe I listed about is calculated with the grains set to "steeped," but if I change them to "mashed" and set the efficiency down to 50%, the ABV jumps to 7.1.

Since I am using Deathbrewer's partial mash instructions for the grains, I was curious which numbers I should be using.

Cheers!
Kevin
 
BrewDey: I have another question for you. I just converted your recipe down to a 2.13 gallon batch. I'm hitting close to your gravity numbers, but the SRM is coming out at 6. Is there another ingredient that isn't listed? Also, I had to select cane sugar since the calculator doesn't have turbinado. I have some turbinado sugar in the kitchen and it doesn't seem like that would provide enough color to darken the beer.

Cheers!
Kevin
 
Sorry-there is some chocolate malt in there...don't have my notes with me, but I know I used chocolate (just not sure how much)...it is totally black.
 
You are not mashing. You're steeping. And that's okay.

The only malt in your grist that needs mashing is the Aromatic, and that's too small a proportion to make a big dent in the overall OG. Steeping will net you the flavor/aroma contributions you want just fine, but you need to mash it to get any sugar contribution.

All the others will have all of their goodness leached out by simple steeping. All dark-roasted grains - Black Patent, Roasted Barley, Chocolate Malt, Carafa, etc. - can simply be steeped. So can Crystal malts, and Special B is nothing more than a kind of Crystal malt.

Your proportions look good, though I question using that much Special B; you're at about 200% of what I normally recommend. But with those roasted malts it just might work.

Good luck! :mug:

Bob
 
Bob: I have never used Special B before. I have heard that it is similar to Crystal, but with a raison-ish flavor.

Is there a rule of thumb for ratio when using Special B instead of Crystal? I assumed 1:1 in my recipe above.

Cheers!
Kevin
 
Special B is really nothing more than a dark Crystal malt. As such, its flavors and colors are much more intense than lighter Lovibond Crystals, and a little goes a very long way. Where you'd use a half-pound of, say, 60L Crystal, a quarter-pound of Special B is quite sufficient. That's my rule of thumb, anyway.

Bob
 
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