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CA-LT1 · 07-22-2010, 08:56 PM

Brewed this yesterday. Did 10 gal AG. I only had 1 lb of chocolate malt, but I hope it'll be close enough. Used WLP 004. Buckets seem to be happily bubbling away.

I know it was mentioned that this stout didn't age well. So, what's it's "Prime" age?

kingspidey · 07-23-2010, 12:40 AM

Finally tried my batch after about 3 weeks of bottle conditioning. It is outstanding!

This was my second all-grain batch and it turned out quite well. I added a bit of a vanilla bean in secondary and I really like the flavor. I will definitely be brewing this again!

Naked_Eskimo · 08-02-2010, 01:37 PM

Do the 0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt, Chocolate Malt and Roasted Barley need to be mashed and sparged, or can they just be steeped at 155?

**BigB** · 08-02-2010, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Naked_Eskimo

Do the 0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt, Chocolate Malt and Roasted Barley need to be mashed and sparged, or can they just be steeped at 155?

Nope, no mashing needed- just steep 'em. In an extract recipe with steeping grains you are just trying to get flavor or other quality out of the grains. With a mash you admittedly do get that but you are also striving for fermentable sugars. In an extract recipe, the fermentables are in the LME or DME.

**sfinger** · 08-02-2010, 02:31 PM

Just tried the Deception Stout--it came out really great! As an fyi, I brewed the exact extract recipe as suggested by NCBeernut, including using Denny's Fav yeast. I did not use a secondary and left the batch in the fermenter for 30 days before bottle conditioning for two weeks on the dot. The beer has a great head and is well carbonated. You get a definite coffee aroma with a hint of chocolate or caramel and the beer goes down smooth as silk with a really nice finish. I am interested to see how this one ages if I can hide a few from myself and my buddies. I am also going to do the all grain version and will let you know how it comes out. Here is a lame blackberry pic but you get the idea...

Thanks much for sharing the recipe and your advice NCBeernut, I really appreciate it...

NCBeernut · 08-02-2010, 05:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcpup

Hi, NCBeerNut -

This looks like just the ticket for a chocolate stout base. Did you ever try the cocoa and vanilla bean (an earlier post of yours indicated you wanted to try that)? If so, would you mind sharing the quantities and how long in secondary w vanilla beans, etc? Looking forward to brewing this up! Thanks

No I didn't. I have been going crazy brewing a bunch of new recipes.

NCBeernut · 08-02-2010, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CA-LT1

Brewed this yesterday. Did 10 gal AG. I only had 1 lb of chocolate malt, but I hope it'll be close enough. Used WLP 004. Buckets seem to be happily bubbling away.

I know it was mentioned that this stout didn't age well. So, what's it's "Prime" age?

I'm not sure. My batch lasted me about 3 months and it was great in that time frame. It really started getting good after about 6 weeks. I mentioned that it didn't age really well because I tried a bottle that I had given KingBrianI when it hit about a year, and I thought it had kind of lost its "touch." So I'm not sure where in between 3 and 12 months that it really hit its peak.

Speaking of that guy, we brewed a big batch of an all-grain RIS back in March that is still conditioning. It is finally really starting to get good. When the verdict is in I will probably post that recipe too.

On another note that is awesome that all of you have been enjoying this recipe. Hopefully I can break myself away from all the new stuff and brew this one again soon.

Prost!

tdoft · 08-13-2010, 02:02 AM

LHBS has no lactose. Anyone brewed wthout it? Maltodextrine for sub? I'd like to brew it this weekend if I could get around the lactose issue.

tdoft · 08-18-2010, 10:46 PM

Well, I solved my lack of lactose problem. Actually, I oversolved it. I greedily bought more than I needed and inadvertently added .75 lbs instead of .5. Soooo, i'm now concerned my stout will be too sweet and I'm thinkin about adding coffee in an attempt to balance the sweetness. Anyone who's added coffee to this recipe I'd love to hear how much. It's already fermenting so it would be an addition to the primary or secondary. Also, I'm entertaining the idea of adding vanilla bean as well. Anyone with thoughts on how I should proceed would be GREATLY appreciated.

NCBeernut · 08-18-2010, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdoft

Well, I solved my lack of lactose problem. Actually, I oversolved it. I greedily bought more than I needed and inadvertently added .75 lbs instead of .5. Soooo, i'm now concerned my stout will be too sweet and I'm thinkin about adding coffee in an attempt to balance the sweetness. Anyone who's added coffee to this recipe I'd love to hear how much. It's already fermenting so it would be an addition to the primary or secondary. Also, I'm entertaining the idea of adding vanilla bean as well. Anyone with thoughts on how I should proceed would be GREATLY appreciated.

I wouldn't worry about the little extra lactose at all. The lactose addition in this recipe is conservative - a whole pounds is pretty common for milk stouts. While lactose is not fermentable, it is not a very sweet sugar like table sugar. If you want to brew a regular cream stout like this one, I say just keep it the way it is. If you want to do a coffee stout, I think coffee would do phenomenally well in this beer. On the other hand, I would strongly recommend against adding vanilla. To me, it can add the perception of sweetness and can easily get cloying if not done just right, so I think you would make a better beer without it.