Hello fellow home brewers!
After last winter's disappointing autumn in my kitchen -- I was wanting a lot of malt, but for one reason or another kept falling short -- I dove into the deep end this year. I started out brewing a Scotch Ale in mid-September, and I opened the first bottle mid-October. As soon as I opened the first of those bottles, I sampled a bottle of Founders Breakfast Stout and fell head over heels in love like I did with another dark-haired brunette when I was a teenager. I love beer -- it was beer. I love coffee -- it tasted strong of coffee. I love chocolate -- it had that, too. It was so malty, it make my tongue sticky. Plus, it had enough punch to keep me warm on a chilly Appalachian night.
So, I came home and did a quick Google search, finding BYO's clone recipe HERE. Looking it over, I knew of some changes I wanted to make. First off, I trust my local HBSS very much and told him if he needed to make any malt substitutions to just do it. He had to make one or two, which ones I can't recall. But he made several mentions at how much grain this was for a five-gallon batch. So much that I had to use two grain bags. I *almost* needed a third bag just for the flaked oats.
Next, I substituted the bittersweet chocolate with 100% unsweetened baker's chocolate. Why? Because I added a pound of lactose to this batch. I wanted this to resemble more of a creamy mocha stout than just a black coffee stout.
Lastly, because I mostly try to use what I've got, I used 100% Starbucks Pike's Place medium roast coffee instead of two different types of coffee. Whatever. I don't know if it really made that much of a difference.
The beer has been in the bottles for a week now, and last night I couldn't help myself and opened one up. It's got the most lovely khaki brown head on it, and it smells so strong of coffee that you can smell it across the room. Will this intensity go down once it has aged for a while? It completely overpowers the chocolate at this point.
Another question... This is my first time brewing with lactose. How does it affect your gravity readings? I started out with 1.066 and ended with 1.025. It should have been lower than that after 10 days in a primary and 10 days in a secondary. I was expecting it to finish at 1.017 or so. I mean, I understand why having lactose would cause the overall gravity readings to be higher, but shouldn't it still have ended up lower?
I'm still counting this as another successful brew, even if the coffee flavor doesn't die down. It's delicious -- even after only a week. I highly recommend it, though the ingredient list is a little pricey.
After last winter's disappointing autumn in my kitchen -- I was wanting a lot of malt, but for one reason or another kept falling short -- I dove into the deep end this year. I started out brewing a Scotch Ale in mid-September, and I opened the first bottle mid-October. As soon as I opened the first of those bottles, I sampled a bottle of Founders Breakfast Stout and fell head over heels in love like I did with another dark-haired brunette when I was a teenager. I love beer -- it was beer. I love coffee -- it tasted strong of coffee. I love chocolate -- it had that, too. It was so malty, it make my tongue sticky. Plus, it had enough punch to keep me warm on a chilly Appalachian night.
So, I came home and did a quick Google search, finding BYO's clone recipe HERE. Looking it over, I knew of some changes I wanted to make. First off, I trust my local HBSS very much and told him if he needed to make any malt substitutions to just do it. He had to make one or two, which ones I can't recall. But he made several mentions at how much grain this was for a five-gallon batch. So much that I had to use two grain bags. I *almost* needed a third bag just for the flaked oats.
Next, I substituted the bittersweet chocolate with 100% unsweetened baker's chocolate. Why? Because I added a pound of lactose to this batch. I wanted this to resemble more of a creamy mocha stout than just a black coffee stout.
Lastly, because I mostly try to use what I've got, I used 100% Starbucks Pike's Place medium roast coffee instead of two different types of coffee. Whatever. I don't know if it really made that much of a difference.
The beer has been in the bottles for a week now, and last night I couldn't help myself and opened one up. It's got the most lovely khaki brown head on it, and it smells so strong of coffee that you can smell it across the room. Will this intensity go down once it has aged for a while? It completely overpowers the chocolate at this point.
Another question... This is my first time brewing with lactose. How does it affect your gravity readings? I started out with 1.066 and ended with 1.025. It should have been lower than that after 10 days in a primary and 10 days in a secondary. I was expecting it to finish at 1.017 or so. I mean, I understand why having lactose would cause the overall gravity readings to be higher, but shouldn't it still have ended up lower?
I'm still counting this as another successful brew, even if the coffee flavor doesn't die down. It's delicious -- even after only a week. I highly recommend it, though the ingredient list is a little pricey.