cgravier

Recipes 

another suggestion...if you like the taste of mollasses, why not cut out the middle man so to speak and just add some mollasses? your putting in alot of brown sugar just to get the very little mollasses it has. A 1/2 C. -1 c. of mollasses will really give you the flavor. and if you need to 'help the yeast' which is the realm of mead makers, their is something inherently wrong with your recipe...(imho)

or you could prime with mollasses...

SheanW222

Recipes 

Thanks again, I have only been homebrewing for a few months and I am sure it shows - What little I know I have learned from a couple of classes and a book I am reading. Never did think there was a such thing as too many fermentables. Not that I am going for a rubbing alcohol taste, but I definately want to know I've been drinking. I'll write down these suggestions, and use them on later recipes. Guess I am going to have to start living by less is more. I heard that if you use to much Patent Malt that it gives an astringent taste to the beer, does anyone know if that is true?

Lounge Lizard

Recipes 

On www.howtobrew.com Palmer says a little black patent goes a long way. He says there is very little reason to ever use more than a pound of it. I don't know about astringency, but you don't want your brew tasting like charcoal.

alemonkey

Recipes 

The good thing about home brew is that if you let it sit long enough it tends to mellow and get better. I'm sure it will turn into a great tasting beer, it will probably just need to age a long time with all those adjuncts.

uglygoat

Recipes 

lotsa dark malts will increase your ph toward the acid side, which can give you those harsher flavors. i think it will also accentuate the hops sharply.

i don't think you used too much dark malts, just not enough base malt. with two lbs of roasted/dark malts, i'd aim for about ten lbs of pale malt. that way you are not above 20% adjuncts.

and definately give the stout a spell, even if only two weeks in the secondary.

the last stout we made was on xmas eve, it was as follows

ten lbs pale malt
one lb chocolate malt
one lb roast barely
two oz ekg full boil

we are just now cracking the bottles and it is a smooth, silky, malty stout. it takes a long time mate

__________________
A barrel of malt, a bushel of hops, you stir it around with a stick
The kind of lubrication to make your engine tick

never argue with an idiot, they'll just drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

SheanW222

Recipes 

Ok so at the end of everything Valentines night 52 12 ounce bottles of Conditioning Sludge exploded all over my kitchen and inside my wife's china cabinet... Yes I am still alive, and miraculously I escaped with both nuts still intact. The beautiful thing is I learned from my mistake and attacked an AG stout head on that Saturday and I won. Bottled it yesterday and its color, smell etc... is perfect. If it wasnt flat I would drink it now. The biggest mistake I made with the first one was not giving myself enough time, 2nd too much adjunct. The beer stalled on me, I didnt take a final reading and bottled it while it was half way through firmentation. (ALWAYS TAKE A READING). I will post some pics later of the stout I just bottled. I am going to let it sit for several months before I touch it. This weekend I am brewing a Belgian Strong Blonde Ale.