DaNewf
Well-Known Member
I'm basically a canned kit brewer that has moved into partial mashing to save money and make the process of cranking out beer more interesting.
In my neck of the woods LME is just as expensive as the kits themselves and DME costs even more. My LHBS started carrying grain so I after a little research on the internet I settled on partial mashing BIAB style to save money on extract and get some fresh ingredients into the brew while still being able to brew in the kitchen on my electric stovetop. I still use the canned kit as a base for the style.
Here's one I put down this weekend.
Cooper's OS Stout Kit
2.25kg Canadian 2 Row
200gr Crystal 120
300gr Chocolate
454gr Lactose
8oz Unsweetened Baker's Chocolate
(A quick question. Since this brew uses chocolate malt and chocolate, does that make it "double choclate"?)
You'll notice I didn't list any hops. I don't want any hop flavour or aroma, just the bitterness. The Cooper's stout is pre-hopped to a level I find acceptable (for now anyway). Another benefit is even if I mess up on the partial mash side of things the end product is still going to be a stout.
The 2 Row and Crystal are basically there to replace a 1.5kg can of amber LME (I bumped the weight up a little because I'm not sure about my efficiency).
This is what I did.
Mash the grains BIAB style for 90 minutes at a starting temperature of 155F (I lost a few degrees). I mashed using 12 litres of water. While waiting for the mash I grated up the Baker's chocolate really fine. After the mash was complete I sparged (rinsed) the grain with 2 litres of 170F water and then squeezed the holy living crap out of the bag.
Once the wort came up to a boil I slowly added the chocolate over the first 10 minutes. Eventhough I didn't do any hopping additions I opted for a one hour boil. At 10 minutes remaining I dumped in the lactose.
Immediately after turning off the heat I stirred in the stout extract. I filled and rinsed the can with just boiled water to make sure I got everything out of there and put my brew pot into an ice bath to chill.
Once the wort was chilled I poured it into the fermenter through a strainer. There was a surprising amount undissolved chocolate.
After topping up to 23 litres I pitched the Cooper's yeast that came with the kit. The fermenter is now sitting in my chest freezer with a heat belt on it. The belt and freezer are both plugged into a STC 1000 temp controller set to 18.5degreesC with a 0.5degreesC differential. Three weeks in primary at that temperature and then I bottle.
And that's it. I'm pretty much flying by the seat of my pants on this and I'm sure there lot's of improvements I could make to the process (suggestions welcome). But I'm enjoying this experiment so far and I've got 2 prior batches that turned out decently using this method.
I've never used chocolate or lactose in a beer before so I'm not sure how that is going to turn out. If I think about it I will update this thread once I sampled a few of these.
In my neck of the woods LME is just as expensive as the kits themselves and DME costs even more. My LHBS started carrying grain so I after a little research on the internet I settled on partial mashing BIAB style to save money on extract and get some fresh ingredients into the brew while still being able to brew in the kitchen on my electric stovetop. I still use the canned kit as a base for the style.
Here's one I put down this weekend.
Cooper's OS Stout Kit
2.25kg Canadian 2 Row
200gr Crystal 120
300gr Chocolate
454gr Lactose
8oz Unsweetened Baker's Chocolate
(A quick question. Since this brew uses chocolate malt and chocolate, does that make it "double choclate"?)
You'll notice I didn't list any hops. I don't want any hop flavour or aroma, just the bitterness. The Cooper's stout is pre-hopped to a level I find acceptable (for now anyway). Another benefit is even if I mess up on the partial mash side of things the end product is still going to be a stout.
The 2 Row and Crystal are basically there to replace a 1.5kg can of amber LME (I bumped the weight up a little because I'm not sure about my efficiency).
This is what I did.
Mash the grains BIAB style for 90 minutes at a starting temperature of 155F (I lost a few degrees). I mashed using 12 litres of water. While waiting for the mash I grated up the Baker's chocolate really fine. After the mash was complete I sparged (rinsed) the grain with 2 litres of 170F water and then squeezed the holy living crap out of the bag.
Once the wort came up to a boil I slowly added the chocolate over the first 10 minutes. Eventhough I didn't do any hopping additions I opted for a one hour boil. At 10 minutes remaining I dumped in the lactose.
Immediately after turning off the heat I stirred in the stout extract. I filled and rinsed the can with just boiled water to make sure I got everything out of there and put my brew pot into an ice bath to chill.
Once the wort was chilled I poured it into the fermenter through a strainer. There was a surprising amount undissolved chocolate.
After topping up to 23 litres I pitched the Cooper's yeast that came with the kit. The fermenter is now sitting in my chest freezer with a heat belt on it. The belt and freezer are both plugged into a STC 1000 temp controller set to 18.5degreesC with a 0.5degreesC differential. Three weeks in primary at that temperature and then I bottle.
And that's it. I'm pretty much flying by the seat of my pants on this and I'm sure there lot's of improvements I could make to the process (suggestions welcome). But I'm enjoying this experiment so far and I've got 2 prior batches that turned out decently using this method.
I've never used chocolate or lactose in a beer before so I'm not sure how that is going to turn out. If I think about it I will update this thread once I sampled a few of these.
