Obsidian Stout Clone

Anyone have a AG recipe for Obsidian Stout, I had one last night and it was oh so good, used to be my standby beer I forgot how good it was. By the way before you all tell me that I should have googled it I did, nothing caught my eye.

come one there has to be someone out there that knows what is in it, hmm I may have to formulate a recipe, could be interesting.

I would also like to see an all grain recipe for this fine beer. Anyone hook us up?

It it a really good beer. Let me check my notes and see what I can turn up for you.

You can add me to the Obsidian Stout recipe list also.
Deschutes Brewery, Bend, Oregon 6.4% ABV.
Around my area it's hard to find stores many being out of stock 90% of the time. Too darn good to quit drinking it besides four 6 packs a week is getting expensive. Their Black Butte Porter is another great bier you should try. Before enjoying Obsidian I enjoyed Old Rasputin, a little different and yet more expensive besides 8.8% ABV.
An Old Rasputin clone recipe is in the Beer Captured book.

The jamil show, Can you brew it on the brewing network.com they interview the brewmaster and then clone it with as much or as little information that was given. This stout was "cloned" and the recipe was given. Jamail Zaninasheff, the author of brewing classic stlyes said you could tear out his stout recipe in his book and replace it with this one. Let me know if you want me to post it.

jeepmarine71 said:

The jamil show, Can you brew it on the brewing network.com they interview the brewmaster and then clone it with as much or as little information that was given. This stout was "cloned" and the recipe was given. Jamail Zaninasheff, the author of brewing classic stlyes said you could tear out his stout recipe in his book and replace it with this one. Let me know if you want me to post it.

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Yep. I just listened to it. If you have iTunes on your computer, you can follow this link to the podcast. LINK

And if you hate iTunes as much as I do, you can download the podcast right from The Brewing Network's website.

The Brewing Network.com - Shows and Podcasts: The Jamil Show

Here's an extract recipe I found a while back. I haven't even had the Obsidian Stout yet, much less brewed this recipe. Here it is any way
Recipes Page 2

talk about bringing this thread back from the dead. I asked this question about a clone exactly a year to the day. Thanks for the help I will get the podcast.

I have an extract/EG recipe. Maybe you can convert.

Here's the recipe from Jamil's show on the brewing network:

Obsidian Stout

SG: 1.065 - 1.068
FG: 1.017 - 1.020
IBU 52 - 57
Boil: 90 min.
Mash: 150 for 60 min.

11.9 lb. Pale 2-Row
1.43 lb. Black Barley
1.1 lb. Crystal 80
.66 lb. Cara-pils
.66 lb. Munich Malt
.66 lb. Wheat Malt
.11 lb. Roasted Barley

1 oz. Galena or Nugget 90 min.
1 oz. Willamette 30 min.
1 oz. Northern Brewer 5 min.

White Labs English Ale Yeast (WLP002)
Ferment at 65 degrees

BUMP.

I made this. It's a great beer. Can't find the original Obsidian Stout to buy here, but it matches up with my memories of this beer from when I lived on the West Coast. I'll assume, based on the CYBI show that it's a clone, though. Even if it isn't, this beer is a winner.

Lenny2884 said:

Here's the recipe from Jamil's show on the brewing network:

Obsidian Stout

SG: 1.065 - 1.068
FG: 1.017 - 1.020
IBU 52 - 57
Boil: 90 min.
Mash: 150 for 60 min.

11.9 lb. Pale 2-Row
1.43 lb. Black Barley MALT (Patent)
1.1 lb. Crystal 80
.66 lb. Cara-pils
.66 lb. Munich Malt
.66 lb. Wheat Malt
.11 lb. Roasted Barley

1 oz. Galena or Nugget 90 min.
1 oz. Willamette 30 min.
1 oz. Northern Brewer 5 min.

White Labs English Ale Yeast (WLP002)
Ferment at 65 degrees

Click to expand...

The recipe posted above is not wholly correct. I hope whoever wants to make this reads this post and realize that the recipe called for Black patent and NOT black barley.

Good point. 1.43 lb Black Patent, .11 lb Roasted Barley.

will be brewing this tomorrow, my Friday the 13th Stout Thanks for the recipe!

Lenny2884 said:

Here's the recipe from Jamil's show on the brewing network:

Obsidian Stout

SG: 1.065 - 1.068
FG: 1.017 - 1.020
IBU 52 - 57
Boil: 90 min.
Mash: 150 for 60 min.

11.9 lb. Pale 2-Row
1.43 lb. Black Patent Malt
1.1 lb. Crystal 80
.66 lb. Cara-pils
.66 lb. Munich Malt
.66 lb. Wheat Malt
.11 lb. Roasted Barley

1 oz. Galena or Nugget 90 min.
1 oz. Willamette 30 min.
1 oz. Northern Brewer 5 min.

White Labs English Ale Yeast (WLP002)
Ferment at 65 degrees

Click to expand...

just picked up this grain bill.
i have to sub hops though.

i was thinking magnum at 90, US fuggle at 30 and centennial or chinook or columbus at 5...

i have columbus, fuggle, chinook, amarillo and magnum hops.
any thoughts? i think centennial is probably too citrusy to sub for northern brewer...
using some WLP023 yeast.

well, brewed this last night.
boil ended with 6 gallons at 1.067
used magnum, US fuggle, columbus and a bit of centennial. also did a small FWH because it makes the runnings smell so nice.
pitched the WLP023 starter last night, so now on to the patience.

lol, gf called me to ask if the airlock was gonna blow out the lid. she said it was bubbling 3times a second or so and bubbles (starsan) were coming out of the airlock. :rockin:

+1 :rockin:

Well no good feed back on how this turned out. I know I can taste the Black Patent so I know there is quite a bit in there, just never have seen a recipe with so much of it. Usualy 1/4 lb is the most I have seen. Would love a good Obsidian Stout clone.

mine turned out well. i used a bit more hops than the recipe called for as i had to do hops subs anyway.
smells mostly malty with a bit of hoppiness.
the malt profile dominates, but it's smooth, not much bitterness from the roasted grains. a little bit sweet. mine finished at 1.024
i don't drink alot of stouts. i just don't like most. like the yeti imperial stout. too roasty.
this obsidian stout clone...i like it. very drinkable.

I listened to this podcast today and just entered the recipe into BeerSmith. However, the IBUs I get using the Rager formula do not match what Jamil lists on the show. I get only 58.9 compared to his 73.4

I'm using the default AA% for the hops - perhaps that's where the difference is?

JLem said:

I listened to this podcast today and just entered the recipe into BeerSmith. However, the IBUs I get using the Rager formula do not match what Jamil lists on the show. I get only 58.9 compared to his 73.4

I'm using the default AA% for the hops - perhaps that's where the difference is?

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Using whole or pellets? I try to input the actual AA% for each hop. I use whole hops almost exclusively and BeerTools defaults to pellets, so I have to go in and change to whole hop utilization. The IBU levels drop a bit using whole hops, and the Jamil show did not say the hops form as far as I remember. I am hopeful that as long as you followed the hops schedule, you will get the great results that Jamil and Tasty did on the podcast.

I just brewed this today,( I listened to the podcast, and put it all in BeerTools) I changed the utilization curve from "basic" which gave me 61.1 IBU, to Rager and got 71.4 IBU. Tinseth put me at 55 IBU, which is what the brewery quotes as the bitterness level. Hmmm, I never really thought about the wide range of the utilization curves before, and my numbers were sort of opposite yours? Weird that BeerSmith and BeerTools would give different numbers using the same curve. (I did sub Magnum (14%) for the Galena/Nugget(13%), so nothing odd there. Otherwise the Willamette(5.2 %) and NB(7.8%) were pretty much with the recipe.)

Well, the brew went perfect, hit 1.067 chilled to 65f and pitched a pint of Wyeast 1968 I got from a local brewpub this morning. Blowing off in 4 hours. Can't wait to try this one!

I was missing my IBUs by not accurately entering my boil volume early on. That changes the calcs drastically.

Martin2D said:

The recipe posted above is not wholly correct. I hope whoever wants to make this reads this post and realize that the recipe called for Black patent and NOT black barley.

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Listening to the interview with the brewer, he definitely emphasizes Black Barley - why is there a suggestion that this isn't accurate? I'm thinking of trying this, and just curious as to why this is suggested.
Thanks.

UPDATED - never mind, found Jamil's tip on the canyoubrewit thread clarifying the use of black patent.

It's supposed to be black barley malt (patent). Not just black barley.

Mine came out really nice, it scored a 40.5/50 in a homebrew competition here in Portland OR.

The only critical points were that it could be improved with a bit more roast character - which is my fault, I added the black patent with 20 minutes remaining in the mash (I have had issues with black patent adding too much astringency in the past) The judges thought the beer was great and balanced "no flaws" "I could drink a few pints of this" . Next time I will follow the CYBI instructions all the way.

Brewing this at this very second. Any thots on use of s-04 here. I'm going to do it anyway, but I don't know how much it actually varies from the recommended strain.

~M~

ftlstrings said:

Brewing this at this very second. Any thots on use of s-04 here. I'm going to do it anyway, but I don't know how much it actually varies from the recommended strain.

~M~

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It's more attenuative- similar if not identical to WLP007. Your beer will be a little less sweet, but I don't think that will be a problem. S-04 is a great yeast for stouts.

ftlstrings said:

Brewing this at this very second. Any thots on use of s-04 here. I'm going to do it anyway, but I don't know how much it actually varies from the recommended strain.

~M~

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Yes a good clean English Ale strain is best. Deschutes obviously has their own strain.

this is black as death. I'm liking this already!

~M~

Martin2D said:

The recipe posted above is not wholly correct. I hope whoever wants to make this reads this post and realize that the recipe called for Black patent and NOT black barley.

Click to expand...

I just picked up the grains for this brew today, plan on brewing tomorrow...one of my all-time favorites!

I inputed the recipe into Beer Tools and scaled the recipe to 11 gallons. My brewhouse efficiency is normally 80%. Beer Tools calculates the SG at 1.080- much higher than the original at 1.068...so I guess I'm brewing an Imperial Obsidian Stout now!

After scaling the recipe, the total grain bill is now 32.5 pounds. My MLT is a converted Sanke Keg and this will be the largest mash I have attempted. In fact, I'm not sure I can fit everything in...should I be worried?? Any thoughts from someone who has tried a 30# sanke-mash?? Thanks

You should be fine with 30 lbs in a 15 gallon mash tun. I have used 27 lbs in my 10 gallon cooler. Good luck!

TimBrewz said:

You should be fine with 30 lbs in a 15 gallon mash tun. I have used 27 lbs in my 10 gallon cooler. Good luck!

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Thanks for the info Tim. I realize now that I had the efficency settings wrong which is why my OG is so high. I'm still haven't mastered Beer Tools. In any case, I'm sure this will be a great beer as an imperial stout. Should be an interesting brew day, I'll let you know how it turns out. I think I'll call it BIOS: Bellingham Imperial Obsidian Stout!

Brewed this up yesterday, with typical "Two Cans Brewing" grain and hop subs, and it was happily bubbling away when I left for werk this morning. Checked it tonight after we took the kid trick or treating and she had blown the airlock completely off and had a tasty krausen billowing out of the carboy!

I brewed this but subbed the hops for some galaxy I had recently got. I also used safale 04, which actually attenuated less than 002 finishing at 1.020. Malt profile was dead on, despite hops being way off (still delicious).

I'm going to attempt this again but with some more noble hop subs. Thinking EKG, crystal, Apollo, or cluster in the aroma/flavor.

I'm using this grain bill + oats and using Hallertau for the second hop addition in place of the williamette. Fermenting with wyeast 1318 London Ale III. I really want to brew an oatmeal stout for the fall hence the oats. I wonder though, will the wheat and oats be overkill for mouthfeel? I'm guessing that's why the wheat is in there, to give it that creamy finish that makes Obsidian so velvety. The yeast and hop changes are just because I have some washed 1318 and I bought 1/2 lb of Hallertau awhile back. Suggestions on the oats?

JDFlow, I have made a few oatmeal stouts. I have used both instant flaked oats and golden naked oats with good success. Both add that silky/creamy mouthfeel you are looking for.

The golden naked oats are used like a crystal malt, and add a bit of sweetness and nutty flavor on top of the creamy mouthfeel. The grain is very small and you will need to adjust the grain mill to crack this malt. I made an oatmeal stout for a competition with naked oats that turned out really good and won me the trophy. This grain is not in every homebrew shop, though I am sure you could find in Seattle.

The instant flaked oats are very neutral and just give the creamy mouthfeel. With the instant flaked oats, I added to the top of the mash and just stirred them into the top couple of inches of the grain to help avoid a stuck runoff. You also want to use rice hulls with the flaked oats for sure-they get really gummy. I did a Rogue stout clone with flaked oats and it was very good, too. You can just use grocery store instant oats.

Either route, about 1/2 lb oats in a 5 gallon batch seems to have worked for me.

I think the Hallertau and 1318 will be great in an oatmeal stout.

Cheers, Tim

TimBrewz said:

JDFlow, I have made a few oatmeal stouts. I have used both instant flaked oats and golden naked oats with good success. Both add that silky/creamy mouthfeel you are looking for.

The golden naked oats are used like a crystal malt, and add a bit of sweetness and nutty flavor on top of the creamy mouthfeel. The grain is very small and you will need to adjust the grain mill to crack this malt. I made an oatmeal stout for a competition with naked oats that turned out really good and won me the trophy. This grain is not in every homebrew shop, though I am sure you could find in Seattle.

The instant flaked oats are very neutral and just give the creamy mouthfeel. With the instant flaked oats, I added to the top of the mash and just stirred them into the top couple of inches of the grain to help avoid a stuck runoff. You also want to use rice hulls with the flaked oats for sure-they get really gummy. I did a Rogue stout clone with flaked oats and it was very good, too. You can just use grocery store instant oats.

Either route, about 1/2 lb oats in a 5 gallon batch seems to have worked for me.

I think the Hallertau and 1318 will be great in an oatmeal stout.

Cheers, Tim

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Thanks for the reply. I should be more specific, my question is would the addition of oats be overkill considering the wheat malt is already there.