Recipe Critique - Bold American Stout

All comments and suggestions appreciated!

This is modeled from Ohiobrewtus's EF clone, but I wanted it amped up a little bit.

Ingredients:
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Amt Name Type # %/IBU
9 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 77.6 %
8.0 oz Black Barley (Stout) (500.0 SRM) Grain 2 4.1 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 3 4.1 %
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 4 4.1 %
8.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 5 4.1 %
4.0 oz Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 6 2.0 %
4.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 7 2.0 %
4.0 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 8 2.0 %
1.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 9 40.3 IBUs
0.75 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 10 5.5 IBUs
0.50 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 11 1.5 IBUs
1.0 pkg London Ale Yeast (Wyeast Labs #1028) [12 Yeast 12 -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 12 lbs 4.0 oz
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Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 15.31 qt of water at 168.2 F 156.0 F 45 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 6.12 gal water at 168.0 F

Bump for Beuller...

Any thoughts?

TIA!

9 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 77.6 %
8.0 oz Black Barley (Stout) (500.0 SRM) Grain 2 4.1 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 3 4.1 %
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 4 4.1 %
8.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 5 4.1 %
4.0 oz Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 6 2.0 %
4.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 7 2.0 %
4.0 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 8 2.0 %
1.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 9 40.3 IBUs
0.75 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 10 5.5 IBUs
0.50 oz Willamette [5.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 11 1.5 IBUs
1.0 pkg London Ale Yeast (Wyeast Labs #1028) [12 Yeast 12 -

The above would be my recommendation (only use the bold). Upping the 2-row if you need a higher OG.

I would cut the C-60 and Special B in half, and brew away. The bold-only version is certainly a viable option as well. If you offered me the beer in the top post, I would probably enjoy it.

If you drop the crystal 60 your grain bill looks very similar to a stout I brewed that turned out awesome (posted in my profile). I had a combo of pale chocolate and coffee malt instead of regular chocolate and used S-05 aiming for an American stout, but otherwise quite similar. I don't usually go for such a complicated grainbill but I was using up some ingredients as well as molding it after a commercial beer description. It turned out so well I'm brewing again soon as is.

So I guess I agree with halving the total crystal and brewing as is.

How is this an American stout? Where are the hops?!

Grains:
Progmac: Just trying to go with KISS? (actually curious, not trying to fight criticism)
Others: Only 2% Crystal? May as well just leave it out at that point, yah?

Hops:
47.3 IBUs as written...right in the middle of the BJCP guidelines for Am Stout...

More on the flavor/aroma adds?

I think your recipe looks great, except maybe add some of that centennial to the kettle additions for aroma / flavor and you are good to go. I love dark crystal malt, and lots of it in an american stout. You could possibly switch yeast strains to 1056 to help attenuate the beer...its the American way.

PtreeCreekBrew said:

Grains:
Progmac: Just trying to go with KISS? (actually curious, not trying to fight criticism)

Click to expand...

i should have worded my reply as, 'this is what i would do,' rather than 'my recommendation'

something about all the heavily roasted stuff makes me think bitter, but not in the good way.

https://byo.com/stories/article/indices/34-grains/2347-roasted-barley-tips-from-the-pros

PtreeCreekBrew said:

Others: Only 2% Crystal? May as well just leave it out at that point, yah?

Hops:
47.3 IBUs as written...right in the middle of the BJCP guidelines for Am Stout...

More on the flavor/aroma adds?

Click to expand...

Cutting the c-60 and Special B to 4oz each gives you 8oz of crystal malts in an 11.25lb grain bill, which is around 4.5%. You could just cut the Special B, which would give you 6.5%. With 8oz of flakes, you should still have plenty of mouthfeel, although you could easily go with a whole pound. I wouldn't use the centennial late, because citrus doesn't go well with roast on my tongue.

However, as progmac alluded to, this is your beer, so what we would enjoy drinking is irrelevant. Tell us what you want in terms of roast, sweetness, mouthfeel, bitterness, etc...

I was going for something like Great Lakes' Edmund Fitzgerald, only bigger.

I'm going for ~6% ABV (~1.062 OG given my yeast and fermentation profile...yes, I know the 1056 attenuates slightly better but I find I really like the flavor profile of the 1028 at ~65 deg).

I wanted something with a mouthfeel just shy of a Dry Irish, bold roast and coffee flavors, and enough hops to move it clearly away from the British/Irish stouts (as if 6% ABV didn't already do that...).

Thanks for all the comments so far....

Two ideas. One, use 1028 to brew http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2012/02/lets-brew-wednesday-1914-courage.html Granted, it's just over 10%, but it's awesome. Just awesome. Two, you could just brew a typical Dry Irish and adjust the base malt and IBUs to meet your desires. A higher OG will give you more residual sugars, even if you don't add any crystal. Adding a few ounces of dark crystal/Special B would certainly bring some tasty flavor complexity.

Man, that's a big stout. I'll barely be able to make 10 gal of that once I finish my 15 gal system!

Not a bad idea on the modified DIS. I have a DIS recipe that I make every year (actually just kegged it a few days ago) that I like a lot...I could definitely boost it up a bit and change the hop profile.

Hops:
47.3 IBUs as written...right in the middle of the BJCP guidelines for Am Stout...

More on the flavor/aroma adds?

Click to expand...

If you were shooting to brew to style, and submit it to a competition, it would be beneficial to up the late/finishing hops - typically, with more American/citrus varieties. IBUs aren't really hops and hoppy beers aren't necessarily bitter beers.

But if you are brewing to taste, do what you want! I'm just letting you know that when you put 'American' in front of a stout it denotes the beer having a more than noticeable hop presence (at least if you want to score well).