Designing a good black and tan.

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NorJerseyHomebro

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Joined
Dec 19, 2009
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Location
Oslo,Norway
Hey brew bros! This is my first time posting on this forum but I have been using it as a main research tool since starting homebrewing which has been about 3 weeks ago. (My first batch just got racked to the secondary!)

Anyway getting to the point, I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on designing a black and tan. I'm going to brew 2 beers for my sister-in-law's wedding this april (they are on a shoestring budget and booze in norway costs a buttload of money, no joke) and I wanted to make a light beer for her fiancé and a stout for her. And then if the attendees want they could mix the two together as a symbol of the two coming together.

So any ideas on making two beers that will both mix together, and be excellent on there own? Any sage advice will be greatly appreciated. Also techniques for good seperation would be appreciated, this won't be a big factor but they look so friggin awesome when done right.

Thanks in advance!

Matt
 
I just finished an oatmeal stout, and used a pale ale for the tan.

The key is to have one beer finish at a higher FG than the other. My stout finished at 1.020, and the pale ale was 1.010, so the stout was the bottom and the pale was the top. I used the "bass turtle", like a spoon, to pour the lighter beer on top. Here's a picture:
DSCF2154.jpg

The pale ale looks darker in the picture- it was pretty light colored.
 
Yooper, that is really interesting. I have always done Black and Tans in reverse with the Stout on top. I am definitely using a lower gravity stout usually but that is a really interesting variation.

Matt, my advice would be to really focus on the two beers themselves. If you make a solid bitter or pale ale and a solid stout or porter, the black and tan will take care of itself.

Good idea by the way!
 
Definitely a nice pale ale for the black and tan. A local brewery has made me b&t's with all their lighter beers and the pale ale was real nice.
 
Thanks for the advice guys. That FG tidbit sounds key. I guess I'm just worried that one will overpower the other but if I keep the flavors simple yet good when the two tastes will meld really well-
That said can anyone point me in a direction of a tried and true stout(extract) and pale ale/bitter/calicommon? I checked out the recipe section but if you guys recommend me something that was tried out I would be a little more at ease.

Thanks again!
Matt
 
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