Selecting a Stout for pops
 

Hey everyone, just thought i'd ask and see what your thoughts were. Any advice or criticism is welcome.

Even if you don't have a high post count. ;)

So i'm very new to home brewing, actually only 2 batches under my belt. But, I invited my dad over to brew with me, and he loves a good stout. (BJ's Tatonka Stout is his favorite) So i'm looking for anyone's input on picking up a kit, or an extract recipe that would be similar. I've been looking at AHS, Northern Brewer, and More Beer's kits, but i'm not sure what might fight the profile, or be similar to the Tatonka. Thanks

Ok, I'm not sure how this would turn out, but here's a quick recipe I gemmed up for a RIS:

7 lbs dark DME
3 lbs base malt
1/2 lbs chocalate malt
1/2 lbs roasted barley
1/2 lbs biscuit malt
(Calculated OG: 1.085, FG: 1.021, ABV: 8.2%)

2 oz Fuggles for bittering
1 oz Fuggles for flavor aroma
(Calculated IBU: 54 if done in a 1.01 SG side wort. Doing it in the full wort would get very little utilization.)

Calculated SRM: 53

Anyone feel free to let me know what you think of that recipe, but I feel it should at least be a good start.

Is the Tatonka just your standard RIS?

Anyone tried "Jamil's Chocolate Hazelnut Porter" from B3?

I have twice made the Oatmeal Stout kit from Midwest. It's a great stout IMHO and very easy to brew. I'm a new brewer too so this kit was a solid choice for me.

Thanks nukebrewer, for the recipe.

I'm not sure what "side wort" means. Are you referring to boiling 2 gallons of wort then topping off with water?

Oh, I made that kit a couple years ago. It's good! Very easy with good instructions.

i believe he means to use a late addition on the extracts, usually 15min left in boil.

Ok thanks eriktlupus.

By the way Todd Mclellan seems to be off to a good start. Go Sharks

I have not made any stout kits yet (a porter is my next batch and I will move up to a stout next), but I am very familiar with the BJ's Brewery stout you mentioned. It is a sweet stout IMO - not like a Guiness Stout. More of chocolate/coffee overtones and not a bitter bite.

Maybe someone out there familiar with the better stout kits can use this info to help track a similar kit down.

I've not had this beer but from the information contained in this thread if you're looking to replicate the flavor to a degree, you're going to have to modify a kit or make a recipe up:

The Northern Brewer Homebrew Forum :: View topic - BJ's Tatonka Stout Clone

From one of their public relations guys...
"The malt bill uses Roast, Black and Chocolate malts as well as some dark and some light crystal on top of the usual 2-Row base malt... No more than 7% of the roasted malts... we also use some oatmeal in the mash to give this beer its chewyness... hop it like an IPA, the sugar will mask the hops... we also use a small amount of brown sugar and molasses for some extra kick... be sure to pitch enough healthy yeast."

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There is an AG recipe that you can convert to extract w/ grains in that thread...