Arabian MacGyver Stout

Here in Dubai there aren't any brew shops, hops, or malted barley, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from making my first beer. I've already made mead and apfelwein, but I needed a new challenge. With some inspiration from the GaP and gluten-free discussions, I developed a recipe based on ingredients available at an average U.A.E. supermarket.

The wort came out black, creamy, smoky and sweet and has been in primary fermentation for about 2 days now, I'm keeping it cool at around 24c and its bubbling as expected. I don't have a hydrometer so I'm playing it by ear, guessing 7-10 days will be good enough before moving to secondary. Pictures will come when they're available.

(1 Gallon experimental batch)

Grains (Steeped at 65c for 30 minutes)
150g dark roasted rolled oats
150g gold roasted bulgur wheat
150g dark roasted pearl barley

Fermentables
500g Rice Malt Syrup @60 min
100g Dark Belgian Candi Sugar (homemade) @60 min
100g Egyptian Blackstrap Molasses @60 min
50g Brown sugar @60 min

Hop replacements
50g alfalfa sprouts @60 min
1.5 tablespoon fenugreek @30 min
25g chopped bitter melon @ 15 min

adjuncts
40g fat free cocoa powder @ 15 min
1 cup cold brewed coffee@ 10 min

Yeast
DCL Active Dried Yeast (A French baker's yeast, but it has performed surprising well thus far. I could have cheated and harvested yeast from a proper ale, but I wanted to rough it.)

Awesome. I'm very interested to see how this works out for you. I especially have not heard of using bitter melon or alfalfa for hop replacements. Keep us posted!

Cheers

Update! : After a two week fermentation and a week in bottles here are my thoughts (no pics, broken camera )

- Everything worked like a charm, the alfalfa gave a nice body and the bitter melon gave sufficient bitterness. The Fenugreek was amazing. I later found out that fenugreek is used to give fake maple syrup it's distinctive flavor. Not only did I get some maple flavor in this beer, it also provided the bitterness that was originally intended.

- Not much head but plenty of fermentation, and some residual sweetness.

- A bit hot from the alcohol, but not hurting the flavor or drinkability. Some people say baker's yeast can't tolerate a high abv, but in my experience this french brand in Dubai packs quite a kick.

-This is not a stout. The coffee and cocoa settled out, leaving me a dark orange brew and not a real stout flavor.

-My advice is that this recipe works great, but skip the coffee and cocoa. The coffee flavor is fading with time, but it really overwhelmed the other flavors in the beginning. Also cut back on the molasses by half.

Tonight I'm brewing up a 2nd patch, this time adjusting it into a Belgian weisien with a bit of orange peel and coriander.