Should I just sit on this stout for a while?

I just bottled my first beer. It was young and I was eager, but fermentation had stopped. I think it's been just over two weeks since mash, though I'm not sure. Anyway, I bottled it and helped myself to a small sample... And it was... Well it was kind of terrible haha. I mean maybe someone else might like it, maybe it's just a bad beer. As far as the nose goes, not much hops, maybe a little, but mostly like a roasted, malty smell, with a little coffee (coffee was added, so that's to be expected.) Then the taste was very upfront with the roasted flavors. Roasted barley and dark coffee all day. Like A LOT of roasted barley. Then I got some chocolate notes, with a strong coffee finish. The coffee and the chocolate, were alright, pretty good even. But it was just so... Powerful. Not very sweet at all mind you, and there was absolutely no "malt" flavor. I don't know, it was just very, very roasted, and strong. It was so strong I couldn't finish my half a sip of a sample haha. But I wanted some opinions, maybe I'm just not a sweet stout fan, maybe my tastes are crappy, maybe I made a bad beer. There's a lot of maybe's. I think I'll just leave it in the back of my closet and sit on it for a few months or something and see if it sort of calms down.I guess it is kind of hard to judge, as it was warm and uncarbed. But if anyone has any recommendations I'll be happy to hear. If there's any interest I'll post the recipe for you guys as well.
Thanks!

Id let it sit and carb up for a few weeks. My beer always tastes way better after aging and carbing. I have an imperial stout that is 2 years old now and it is delicious. Two weeks in the bottle just tasted like motor oil. I've also found that when drinking enough of one beer ill develop a taste for it.

throw up the recipe and what you did with it.

3.5 # pale DME
10 oz roasted barley
15 oz chocolate malt
20 oz Caramel 60L
7.5 oz lactose
maltodextrin... well it was supposed to be about 5 ounces of maltodextrin... But I found out after I put it in the boil my scale was broken so probably more like 10 ounces... Though I doubt this was my problem.
Mashed at 157
Boil for 60 minutes with 2 ounces of Fuggles for 60
I should also add that I forgot to add the lactose during the boil so I added lactose when I added the coffee.
1.054 OG
1.026 FG
Final Gravity was a little high but it was stable after like... 8 days so I figured it was done.
That's it I think. Anymore questions feel free to ask.

forgot to include I used WLP005.

angryyoungman said:

3.5 # pale DME
10 oz roasted barley
15 oz chocolate malt
20 oz Caramel 60L
7.5 oz lactose
maltodextrin... well it was supposed to be about 5 ounces of maltodextrin... But I found out after I put it in the boil my scale was broken so probably more like 10 ounces... Though I doubt this was my problem.
Mashed at 157
Boil for 60 minutes with 2 ounces of Fuggles for 60
I should also add that I forgot to add the lactose during the boil so I added lactose when I added the coffee.
1.054 OG
1.026 FG
Final Gravity was a little high but it was stable after like... 8 days so I figured it was done.
That's it I think. Anymore questions feel free to ask.

Click to expand...

That's alot of specialty grains with only 3.5 pounds of DME. You have the specialty grains for a 5 gallon batch, or even a 7 gallon batch, but only enough extract for for a 3 gallon batch. In other words, twice as much crystal (or more), roasted barley, and chocolate malt that should be in this beer. WAY too much of those grains. It should be very rough, and harsh, for quite a while. I'd bottle it, and put it somewhere to age for at least 8 months and then try it again.

The recipe is at fault.

8 months?! Dang, and here I thought I would have my first taste relatively soon haha. Oh well... I guess I'll just keep building my stock. I've got a brown porter that's coming along perfectly, probably be ready before my stout at least... Anyway, I just went All Grain so next time I'll use plenty of base malt. I think the stout has potential, just gotta get it right.

angryyoungman said:

8 months?! Dang, and here I thought I would have my first taste relatively soon haha. Oh well... I guess I'll just keep building my stock. I've got a brown porter that's coming along perfectly, probably be ready before my stout at least... Anyway, I just went All Grain so next time I'll use plenty of base malt. I think the stout has potential, just gotta get it right.

Click to expand...

In this case, specialty grains are around 50% of the recipe. Normally, even 20% is pushing it. Increasing the base grains and reducing the specialty grains appropriately will fix the recipe.

Even with much aging, I don't know if the above recipe will ever be "good". It just might not be as rough in a few months.

You can let it sit for a while while you go and make other beers for a few months. Then come back to it. If you still don't like it, you could actually blend it with another beer. It has a fairly high FG (probably a result of the high mash temperature as well as the specialty grains and unfermentables from lactose, maltodextrin, etc.). Plus it has an intense roasty flavor. So you've basically created some kind of "super-stout concentrate." If you diluted it in equal parts of something roughly like a brown ale, I bet you might wind up with a tasty, less harsh stout. But yeah, I think the thing to do, no matter what, is let it sit for a few months, then reevaluate. Don't worry! At least you seem to have technically executed everything right. It's just a slightly faulty recipe.

"Super- stout concentrate" sounds more fun than it really is. The only thing I can think is i must have misread the recipe, but it is certainly fitting to call it a "concentrate" as it's black as night... I might just have to blend it. Oh well, there are certainly worse things than brewing more.

quick update, never got around to blending this. Just bottled and forgot it. Had one just the other day and it was one of the best things I ever drank... Ever. Not even just among beers. This is all encompassing. I built up a pipe line and age did wonderful things.

The hardest part of brewing is being patient (and bottling but that's another story). It's posts like this that confirm how valuable patience can be...