Picked up an Irish Sweet Stout kit....

goodbyebluesky82 · 10-28-2008, 05:22 PM

My brewstore packages up their own kits w/breiss dme, specialty grains and pellet hops. They are always cheaper than buying the ingredients "a la carte" and their "Irish Sweet Stout" was one of their rotating "15% off" specials this month and looked interesting to me. I've never been a fan of dry stout but if I could brew a sweeter/maltier version a little lower in bitterness I might become a stout convert. Its says its in the style of Mackeson's Stout.

Heres what I'm looking at:
6 lb. Dark DME
2 cups Choc Malt
2 cups Crystal Malt 120L
2 cups Roasted Barley
2 cups Flaked Barley
1 oz. Centennial @ 60 min
Dry Nottingham yeast

The target SG is 1.064+, and the FG 1.012-1.019
IBUs: 27

Unfortunately for me, they list their grains in "cups" and not by weight. For the sake of comparison I'm assuming that 2 cups= at least .5 lb or more, except for the lighter flaked barley. Altogether this big ol' bag of sealed grain weighs at least around 3-4 pounds.

Anybody have any opinions or criticisms? It appears it will be a very rick dark stout and moderate in bitterness being under 30 IBUs, am I correct?

**Reverend JC** · 10-28-2008, 05:40 PM

Is there any lactos? I think you might need some of that to make it a sweet stout.

**Brooklyn-Brewtality** · 10-28-2008, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reverend JC

Is there any lactos? I think you might need some of that to make it a sweet stout.

JC is right.

It is hard to really say what changes should be made to the recipe without knowing any of the weights of the grains. not to mention, it is all crushed and in a bag anyway.

So, adding a little lactose will sweeten it up

**mmb** · 10-28-2008, 05:50 PM

I'm having a hard time getting that OG from plugging ingredients into BeerSmith. With 6 lbs of Dark DME and 1 lb each of the other ingredients, I'm getting an OG Estimate of 1.056 for a extract w/ steeping grains.

That's sorta a lot of crystal 120L. Maybe the plan is to use the dark caramel sweet flavor from the crystal for the residual sweetness for the sweet stout.

This looks more like a combination of a Dry Stout and a RIS than a sweet stout. Looks interesting, but I wouldn't think it is a clone of Mackeson's XXX Stout. Lots of residual sweetness from the crystal malt along with raisin/plum flavors. Good amount of roast from the roasted barley and the chocolate malts. With 10% AA Centennial @ 60 minutes = 33 IBUs.

Let us know how it turns out.

goodbyebluesky82 · 10-28-2008, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mmb

This looks more like a combination of a Dry Stout and a RIS than a sweet stout. Looks interesting, but I wouldn't think it is a clone of Mackeson's XXX Stout. Lots of residual sweetness from the crystal malt along with raisin/plum flavors. Good amount of roast from the roasted barley and the chocolate malts. With 10% AA Centennial @ 60 minutes = 33 IBUs.

Let us know how it turns out.

These Centennials are 8.6%, so thats what probably why yo9ur software calculated the IBUs at 33 and not the 27 the kit states.

I've never tried Mackeson's (or even seen it available) so I won't be disapointed if this differs. What you just described sounds quite nice to me. From experience sometimes my LHBS's commercial examples they cite are a bit off, but its more of a comparison than claiming to be a clone.

For those that suggested it, lactose would make this technically a cream stout, correct? My impression is this is supposed to be irish in style with plenty of big roasty flavors and body, but with some residual sweetness and maltier finish and not "dry" like dry stout (i.e. guinness, beamish), which I don't particularly care for. And the IBUs are lower as well.

TeleTwanger · 10-28-2008, 06:32 PM

Tell them to weigh the grain next time jees, it's not that hard.

**mmb** · 10-28-2008, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by goodbyebluesky82

For those that suggested it, lactose would make this technically a cream stout, correct? My impression is this is supposed to be irish in style with plenty of big roasty flavors and body, but with some residual sweetness and maltier finish and not "dry" like dry stout (i.e. guinness, beamish), which I don't particularly care for. And the IBUs are lower as well.

The style would be "sweet stout." They are also called milk stout or cream stouts historically because of the milk sugar, or lactose, added to make the finish sweet. Lactose is a non-fermentable sugar and stays sweet to the finish.

It doesn't HAVE to have lactose to be a sweet stout but it does need something to provide that sweet finish to be a sweet stout.

Of course, it doesn't really matter what the style is if you don't plan on entering competitions with it.

goodbyebluesky82 · 11-05-2008, 04:52 PM

Hey again guys, I brewed this up and its almost reached its FG in well under a week.

The hydrometer sample I tasted today had a very strong roasted grain taste to it, very deep roasted. And I detected very little residual sweetness, not even the maltiness I was expecting. I'm not a real roasty bitter dry stout kind of guy. Some are, I'm just not.

So I am considering backsweeting this with lactose at bottling even though the kits recipe never called for it, what is an acceptable amount for a slight sweetness to hep bring out the malt? 4 oz.? 1/2 pound? I can just mix it with the priming sugar at bottling right?

**Reverend JC** · 11-05-2008, 05:17 PM

Yes, you can do it at bottling and i would say somewhere between 2 to 4 oz depending on how sweet you want it.

**mmb** · 11-05-2008, 05:21 PM

Also keep in mind that flavor can and usually will change during conditioning. I've had beers go from thin and disappointing to full bodied and tasty in a week or two.