Janx's Christmas Stout

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Janx

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Here's what I'm just about to start brewing. I'm after a big warming stout that'll be poured on the nitrogen tap. A good bit of alcohol. Mostly Roast barley character for the dark malt.

12 gallon recipe

16 lbs 2-row
2 lbs. Roast barley
1 lb. Oats toasted
1 lb. Flaked Barley
1 lb. Light Munich (10L)
2 lbs. Invert sugar
1 lb. Crystal (60L)
1 lb. Chocolate

2 oz Columbus (17% aa) - 90 minutes
2 oz. Fuggles (4.1% aa) - 60 minutes

It got a little busier than I had planned, but I wanted it nice and dark without going over 2 lbs. of roasted barley. So I ended up with kind of a lot of ingredients.

OK, off to mash. What do y'all think?

Cheers! :D
 
sounds great. glad you decided to use fuggles even though yoou said you mostly use columbus, amarillo, and chinook was it? wish i could take a draw of that off the nitro tap...wish i had a nitro tap...wish i had a tap. ive never used the flaked barley, so im not sure what character that would add. no black patent is surprising, but im sure the roasted barley will get the job done. have you ever tried those golden naked oats?those would probably be nice, but so is the toasted oats. im using the golden naked in a double nut brown, which ill botlle today, and i really like the character they give. also like the use of invert sugar, should be nice and alcoholic and warming. sounds like a good recipe. i might adda tiny bit more fuggles, or other goldings type hops. i like the sweet charcter they give in a dark beer.
 
Yeah I was thinking of going with 3 oz of Fuggles. I'll have to see what happens when the time comes. Mash water is heating right now.

I have always used Black Patent, so I wanted to do one without any. Just the roasted barley character...more "traditional" I suppose using the unmalted barley.

Flaked barley is awesome! You should give it a try. It gives this silky, creamy mouthfeel. Try making a really light English bitter style ale with 2-row and flaked barley, English hops (lightly hopped), English yeast. Poured on nitro tap it's so smooth and creamy. Wonderful stuff, flaked barley.

Never tried golden naked oats.

And you're right...life isn't all about Columbus, Amarillo, Centennial. But I mostly make hoppy pales and IPAs, and there are no better hops for that. It's definitely a good idea to have some Goldings style hops on hand for brews like this one. I'm not a big fan of Chinook personally...

Thanks for the thoughts! Cheers! :D
 
centennial...sorry, knew it was a 'c'. i made a apa with chinook and cascade recently and it was great at bottling time. why dont you like the chinook? the only thing i dont like about them is i havent been able to find whole leaf chinook hops. i think theyre decent for a bittering hop.
 
Sounds like a really great stout. You might want to try a couple grams of lactose in some of the bottles. It can really bring out the chocolate.

drengel - Freshops has whole chinook.
 
ORRELSE said:
Whaddya' get on the old hydrometer for that brew?
Uh huh...lemme just go pull a sample so I can test the gravity...

Invert sugar is indeed to bump up the ABV with no real effects in terms of flavor or body. So you can make a beer that tastes and feels like a stout but has the kick of a barley wine if you want to. It's fun!

david_42 said:
Sounds like a really great stout. You might want to try a couple grams of lactose in some of the bottles. It can really bring out the chocolate.
What are bottles? ;)

drengel said:
why dont you like the chinook?
I'm not sure...they sure are distinctive...to be honest, I really haven't used them much. I made a Pale Ale last summer with only Chinook all the way through to see what they were like. I've used them here and there a few other times. I just don't know. They weren't my favorite. They're very chinook-y. Unique. I should give them another go. I know people like them. But with all this Centennial in the world just begging to be used, and it being such an ultimately perfect tasting hop... ;)

Whew. Long day. Brew went well. I'm sure it's really more of a New Year's Stout by the time it's done...hmm...maybe Groundhog Day Stout. I think I'm going to call it The Most Noble and Ancient House of Black. I went with 3 oz of Fuggles for 60 minutes. More hops...what could be wrong with that?

Sweet wort tasted great...lots of malty layers. I especially thought the toasted oats tasted neat. I usually just toss em in raw.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend. Cheers! :D
 

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