Stout help.

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Rivenin

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i can design the crap out of "golden beers" (blondes, IPAs, pales, SMaSH, etc) but never had my hand at trying a stout or porter before.. brewed them? yes, but never designed one.

so based off of a stout i've loved, this is the description on the site.

------------Black as the darkest night, rich as the most decadent dessert, Terminator is for the true stout lover. This is a full bodied and flavor packed ale which draws its robust complexity from kiln-baked specialty grains. Look for a wide array of toasted, chocolate, nutty and coffee-like flavors in every pint! The devoted swear by it, and it remains one of our top selling ales year after year.

Malts: Premium 2-row Malt, Munich Malt, 40L Crystal, Black Barley
Hops: Chinook, Cascades

Original Gravity: 1.065
Terminal Gravity: 1.015
--------------------------

so i've came up with this for a 3 gallon batch.

3.6lb 2row
1.6lb Munich
.7lb crystal 40l
.7lb black barley

should put it at 1.065 for me (i get normally in the 80s with my beers)

then for the hops i put it at 35 IBUs with chinook @60 and cascade @30.

this should put me right inline with theirs (1.015FG as well) and mash around 155-156.

Sound good??

Also, i'm wanting to put quite a bit of vanilla in this along with cacao nibs.
so in secondary

5-6 vanilla beans, cut in half and innards scraped, all tossed into some dark spiced rum overnight.
8oz of cacao nibs.

Something along the lines of an americanized version of Aphrodite.

:tank:
 
The recipe and process look pretty good, I would make a few modification though, I would reduce the percentage of crystal and black barley. Currently, you're over 10% black barley which is really high. 3-5% seems to work pretty well, I think 10% might be too much. I would reduce, or eliminate, the crystal to make room for chocolate malt which is listed in the description you provided, probably 8-13% chocolate malt. I hope this helps. Keep us update with what you brew and how it turns out.
 
I agree on the chocolate malt. Ditto on the crystal, and the black. And personal opinion? Hold off on the cacao and vanilla this time around... Decide whether the beer itself (and recipe) tastes good, then decide whether adding flavor would improve it. You might end up drowning an excellent tasting beer in unnecessary flavor. Alternately, get a few 1 gallon jugs, brew up the three gallons, then let a gallon alone, a second gallon age on cacao, and the third age in vanilla.
 
i was wondering about the chocolate malt as well, 'cuz it's listed in the description as "chocolatey" but it's not listed with the malts.
The reason i had went so high on the black barley was looking around at different recipes and for 5 gallons they were well over a lb for 5 gallons. BUT! you guys make a good point on scaling back a bit and upping it later on when i do another stout incase i want more roast.

So! with those things in mind. i'm thinking this.

3.6lb 2row
2lb Munich
.5lb crystal 40l
.4lb black barley
(this will keep with the original malts)

but if i were to take more onto the chocolate malt suggestion and skip the 40l

3.5lb 2row
2lb munich
1lb chocolate malt
.2lbs black barley
 
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