Austin Homebrew Coffee Malt Stout

Greets, gang. I'm brewing my first stout, from a partial mash Austin Homebrew kit.

The brew day went really well. OG was 1.060 and I pitched right at 68F. I had good fermentation after 24 hours, but it stopped after 12 more hours. I waited a week at 66-68F to take a hydro sample and it's gone to 1.022.

The yeast in the kit was Munton's Premium Gold dry. The last AHS kit I did (ESB) used the same yeast and I had a similar problem.

So is this normal for a stout and I just need to wait?

Thanks!

-Joe

Brewhaus Calculator gives me 4.8% when I enter those numbers. AHS site says "Approximately 5% ABV". Sounds like the yeast did their job, though your SG was 1.060 and AHS said it should be around 1.050.

I was just looking at this kit to do my first AG with. If you can tell by my sig ... I love stouts.

chefchris said:

AHS said it should be around 1.050.

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The instructions with the kit said OG of 1.059 and FG of 1.013. I figured 1.060 was close enough.

I love stouts too and am really looking forward to this one. The grains smelled soooo good during the mash.

-Joe

Rack it to the secondary, leave it sit a few more weeks, I bet those yeast are quite done yet. Racking usually wakes up my yeast pretty well, YMMV.

bsay said:

Rack it to the secondary, leave it sit a few more weeks, I bet those yeast are quite done yet. Racking usually wakes up my yeast pretty well, YMMV.

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Well, I raised the temp in my ferment freezer from 65 to 68 and will give it a good swirl tonight. If it's still 1.022 by next Sunday I'm going to pitch some Safale US-05.

I switched to dry yeast based on a lot of good stories about it here and have been disappointed in this Munton's so far. As far as I can tell, my brewing procedures are correct but I'm not getting the results I'd expect. I guess I have to switch to some better yeast

The third kit I got from Austin at the same time came with Coopers Ale yeast (subbed for Notty), about which I've read a lot of unpleasant things. So I won't be using that, either.

-Cranky Joe

When I'm using dry yeast, I use US-05 and never have had a problem with it. S-04 also works well if you are looking for an English style. Of course that doesn't help you in your current situation.

I just checked the ESB referenced above, which used the same yeast. Pitched 8/17 with an OG of 1.055. A week later 1.019. Left it two more weeks in the primary and racked to secondary. Today (9/15) it's still at 1.019.

I was ready to keg it today. The sample is still a bit sweet, but nice. So now I don't know if I should re-pitch or just say screw it and keg.

So I appeal to the experience of the board. If you were in my shoes, what would you do with these two brews? I've got two packets of Safale US-05 in stock.

-Joe

No input? I guess I'll just keg the ESB and re-pitch the Stout.

-Joe

nostalgia said:

No input? I guess I'll just keg the ESB and re-pitch the Stout.

-Joe

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That's what I would do, I think. The stout might only go down a few more points, but I think 1.022 is just too high.

Sorry Nostalgia,

I think it's kinda your call. You seem to have the worst luck with beers not finishing. If you are ok with the ESB, I'd keg it. I don't like the 1.022 for the stout, I think that is too high. I wouldn't see any problems in re-pitching.

I would do a search on Munton's yeast. Everyone who uses it seems to have terrible luck with it.

Warped04 said:

You seem to have the worst luck with beers not finishing.

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heh, tell me about it. That's why I was wondering if it was me. But the Munton's poor track record has me thinking it's the yeast. At least this time

Yeah, the ESB tasted good, and I'm sure it'll be better after carbing up and aging a bit, so I'll keg that this week. I'm going to repitch the stout tonight.

I did get a reply back from AHS. Their advice was the same: keg the ESB, repitch the stout.

Thanks for the input, gang.

-Joe

Still no love. Repitched US-05 on 9/17, today 9/30 it's still at 1.022. It's been at 1.022 for almost 4 weeks now, so I just kegged it tonight.

It looks and tastes good. Just a hint of malty sweetness, but I think that's OK for a coffee malt stout.

-Joe

nostalgia said:

Still no love. Repitched US-05 on 9/17, today 9/30 it's still at 1.022. It's been at 1.022 for almost 4 weeks now, so I just kegged it tonight.

It looks and tastes good. Just a hint of malty sweetness, but I think that's OK for a coffee malt stout.

-Joe

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Well that's bootastic. I don't think you can blame the US-05 on that. How's that other one going that only got the US-05?

I know this isn't much help w/ what's gone on so far - but I won't use Muntons or Coopers yeast at all. It's Safale or nothin' for me. Sorry you're experiencing these troubles dude!

Warped04 said:

Well that's bootastic. I don't think you can blame the US-05 on that. How's that other one going that only got the US-05?

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Unless the yeast never woke up in the low-gravity wort, which I guess is always possible. *shrug*

The other one went from 1.050 to 1.008. Had good strong fermentation for 4+ days.

No worries. It tastes like beer, lessons learned. Thanks to all who offered their input!

-Joe

Put 'er on the gas a week ago and tapped it today. Does that look delicious or what?



I carbed it at 14psi, which is a little high I think. The flavor is nice. There's a CO2 smell at first, but that dissipated quickly. Then I'm getting good roasty flavor. Since it didn't attenuate all the way I was expecting sweet, but I'm getting the opposite. It's just a little dry.

Overall I'm very pleased

-Joe

nostalgia said:

Does that look delicious or what?

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I wish I was there to drink it. Congrats on that beer finisihing out!