Stout advice needed

We brewed an Espresso Stout for the *ahem* Sam Adams Longshot contest....

All that aside, we were disappointed to find the beer much more watery than we had hoped, and as we thought about it, the porter we'd made earlier this year had the same problem.

The short question is, what's the ingredient that makes beers HEAVY? You know, a good imperial, hearty, thick-ass ale.

I'm familiar with Malto Dextrine - and we used it, and it didn't seem to do much - but there must be a way to do it naturally... Guiness did it, why can't I?

Anyone out there make some nice thick beers? What's the secret??

thx in advance.
kvh

Was it grain or extract? With grain, mash temp can change the fermentability to some extent. Lower mash temps lead to a dryer, thinner beer and higher temps lead to more long chain sugars that are less fermentable and thus add more 'body'. Some stouts like 'milk' stouts use lactose a largely unfermentable sugar that also lends body. If its extract.... well my beers were always 'more watery' when I did extract. I'm sure that there are things you can add too for body in extract brews but I don't do extracts anymore.

I'll let you know in three weeks; I brewed a mocha stout a little while back with a buttload of maltose (for sweetness and body) along with a pretty hefty grain (steeping) bill. I'm also thinking about going a little light on the priming sugar, don't think this brew wants to be over-carbed.

What was the recipe?

I use Cara Pils to "thicken up" my heavier beers. It's a dextrin malt, so adds body to the brew.


Never tried maltodextrine, but I do add lactose sugar to my cream stouts.

I use carapils as well, and you can get away with using decent amounts in darker beers.

The recepie was:

Espresso Stout


7lb Muntons Dark Malt
8oz Malto Dexetrine
8oz Chocolate Malt
8oz Carafall Roasted Malt
8oz Bries 90L Crystal
*8oz Espresso Grounds
2oz Northern Brewer's Hops
.5oz Fuggles
1 Wyeast Irish Ale Yeast
5oz priming sugar

We steeped the grains and espresso grounds for about an hour, added the extract, boil, NB Hops for 40 min, Fuggles for 10.

Or something like that.

Thanks for the advice folks...

k.

Flaked barley is common in Guinness clones, I've seen as much as two pounds for five gallons.

"Flaked unmalted barley is often used in Stouts to provide protein for head retention and body" Palmer

Wouldnt it be better to add your expresso at the end of the boil, or even to the secondary? Coffee never really gets boiled because it takes bad tastes from it, also it isnt in water for an hour because again it takes more bitter, harsh notes from the grounds. Not that you said this was a problem with it, just a bit of advice.

Also I read a thing about the longshot contest the other day and it says that all you get out of winning the contest is 5000 bucks that is the one time royality for your recipe. Personally that kinda feels like a ripoff consittering all of the time would be spent for Sam Adams to come up with a new beer and money they would make from marketing yours. Although, it would rock to get to brew on a 1000 gallon scale.

I never boiled my coffee, I added the grains at flameout and let them steep for ten or twelve minutes. Total PITA, by the way, straining them out - next time I'm absolutely getting a big-ass grain bag, or making one from cheesecloth, or something.

I sampled the mocha stout (I keep calling it a porter, it's a stout) when I racked yesterday, and at least initially I like it, and it has lots of body. I used 3/4# lactose for some sweetness and body, and my grain bill was pretty big; 2# Crystal 60L, 1/2# Chocolate, 1/2# roasted barley, and 1/4# black patent. I'm going to go a little light on the carbonation, maybe use 3/4 cup DME or a tiny bit more, to try and maintain the smooth feel that was evident yesterday. SWMBO liked it a lot, too - still a little bitter, probably could have cut back the bittering hops a tiny bit, but I was afraid of it not tasting beer-ry enough and it's likely to mellow regardless.