Clone Beer Founder's Breakfast Stout Clone

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yes, during active fermentation the krausen was made up of large bubbles. after activity died down a thick later of "chocolate mousse" remained over the brew. shaking the bucket would break it up, but it would reassemble/reform very quickly. it's kinda freaky at first, but makes sense if you consider how much gunk goes into this recipe.
 
Would it be acceptable to ferment this for 2 months & then rack it to a keg for 3-4 months stored at room temp? (75F)
"acceptable" is whatever you want it to be :mug:

but yes, that plan sounds great. be very diligent about sanitizing the keg and remember to flush out the oxygen before putting it away for all those months. also, i might suggest being conservative when you rack from primary and don't try sucking up every last drop. there will be a lot of gunk at the bottom of the brew that you won't want to suck up into the keg. it'll just settle to the bottom there and end up in your glass when you serve. cold-crashing before racking will help.
 
if you follow the original recipe, it likely won't reach it full potential until it's 6 months old. imperial stouts like this one are like barleywines or big belgians - you brew them then you need to forget them for half a year (hence the importance of having a pipeline). the fact that it is so complex has so many things going on (coffee, chocolate, etc) further extends the amount of time needed for flavors to develop. you could start drinking at 2 months but don't be surprised if it tastes hot & alcoholic. it sorta defeats the purpose of making a big beer. if you need to drink something big in short order, consider an IIPA/DIPA.

alternately, you could try dialing down this recipe from it's projected 8+% ABV to something lower, like say 6%, by ramping down the malts & hops... but you're taking a risk there, since the recipe is balanced at its current levels. taking everything down by 25% will yield something close but the balance might be off but a 6% beer will be ready faster than an 8.5%.

but in a nutshell, if you want to drink something in 2 months you might want to consider a different recipe.

Agreed. This one needs time and if you rush you won't like it.

I tried to rush it, and I wasn't impressed with it.

However- Mine has been sitting in the keg for a while now. I poured a glass yesterday evening. It has really mellowed and come around for the better. It taste pretty good, although the initial sip still has a jolt to it from the booze, it mellows and has a nice complexity to it as well.

Brew this, and forgot about it for a while.
 
firefly765 said:
Would it be acceptable to ferment this for 2 months & then rack it to a keg for 3-4 months stored at room temp? (75F)

I'd get it off the yeast after 4 weeks max. Not an expert opinion just what I've learned, or thought I've learned;)
 
Usually will be fine much longer with the healthy yeast the companies produce now a days. A lot of people report letting their beer sit in a primary for 3-4-6 months even and it's fine. Depends on temp you store it at of course and how big of a beer supposedly I've heard also? Anyways, I've kept a couple of my beers in primary for over 2 months and they are always fine!
 
Matteo57 said:
Usually will be fine much longer with the healthy yeast the companies produce now a days. A lot of people report letting their beer sit in a primary for 3-4-6 months even and it's fine. Depends on temp you store it at of course and how big of a beer supposedly I've heard also? Anyways, I've kept a couple of my beers in primary for over 2 months and they are always fine!

Good to know;)
 
I'd get it off the yeast after 4 weeks max. Not an expert opinion just what I've learned, or thought I've learned;)



I have this in my primary as we speak. I typically do a long primary for all my beer 4 weeks or more. Im slightly concerned about getting this off the coffee grounds that slipped through the paint strainer bag. Has anyone had any issues from the coffee and a long primary? Or should I just plug away making good beer as I have been lately?
 
based on my one-time experience, no change required. proceed as normal, i.e. no prob with a long primary.

:off: what is your French Canadian Breakfast Stout like? you dry-hopped with hockey stick wood chips and some poutine?
 
based on my one-time experience, no change required. proceed as normal, i.e. no prob with a long primary.

:off: what is your French Canadian Breakfast Stout like? you dry-hopped with hockey stick wood chips and some poutine?

LOL..poutine beer :cringes:


Its the founders recipe with maple syrup and I used french roast.
 
I'd get it off the yeast after 4 weeks max. Not an expert opinion just what I've learned, or thought I've learned;)

I was under the impression the longer you leave the beer on the yeast the better. It gives the yeast a chance to "clean up after themselves", is the quote i seem to remember hearing over and over.....no?


Thanks for the advice.
 
I was under the impression the longer you leave the beer on the yeast the better. It gives the yeast a chance to "clean up after themselves", is the quote i seem to remember hearing over and over.....no?


Thanks for the advice.

The fear of leaving it in too long is autolysis, where the yeast break down and give off bad flavors. In reality, in the homebrew setup, autolysis is very unlikely to happen unless you are leaving the beer on the yeast cake for VERY long times. The reason I wanted mine out of primary was more because of all the other junk in the trub from this brew. A month primary would be a good middle of the road target (assuming it ferments out normally).
 
I brewed the BYO version and was lucky enough to score a FBS from a buddy so I did a side by side last night after mine had time to properly carb.

Both had smaller head retention, perhaps as a result of the oils in the chocolate? The head color on mine was more khaki colored while the real thing was a fair amount darker. Color was spot on. Flavor was great, my wife actually thought mine was the real thing and was better :) I thought mine was a bit thin on body but aside from that was very, very close.

Really a terrific beer.
 
I just brewed this for the first time yesterday. I decided to push the limits of my BIAB setup. Planned to brew 5.3 gallons (figured I'd lose 3 to trub). My kettle is 8.5 gallons...I couldn't have brewed with any more grains than this.

Ended up with 75% efficience and added a bit of water prior to boil to achieve recipe OG. I was prepared for low efficiency since this is the first time I've brewed a big beer BIAB.

The next time I brew a big beer, I will probably scale down the batch to 3 or 4 gallons. I will also add a valve to my brew kettle. Sparging would have been a lot easier if I could have emptied the kettle without removing grains.

Overall, lots of trial and error (strike water volume, temps, etc.) and a messy kitchen, but I can't wait to drink my first breakfast stout in a couple months.

Thanks to all the previous posts and the OP. I learned a lot.
 
Had our first one on Friday. We will be doing our first side-by-side with bottle #2 tonight. I can say this, the head color and size is spot on. Tasted really great as well.
 
Bottled my fbs extract on Friday. 2 weeks primary, 3 wks secondary with 1 week of bourbon oak chips and about 5 oz of bourbon. Had a few oz left that I drank it it has so much potential. Coffee was a bit too forward but I expect that to be dialed back with conditioning. Didn't detect much chocolate but I did sample after a Firestone sucuba and old Rasputin so my taste buds may have been a bit off.

I hope it's ready by Christmas but I know that's an aggressive goal. I did brew up a winter saison so at least I will have that in time. Will report back with results.
 
Just bottled mine this morning. I used the all-grain version with 13 lb 2-row in place of the LME. I used Sumatran and Nicaraguan coffee from Thanksgiving Coffee Company in Fort Bragg, Ca (great coffee). Mashed at 155 F. Instead of chocolate, I used 2 oz. cground coffee and 2 oz. cocoa powder in a bag after flameout at 185 F.

OG: 1.065, missed by 20 points due to water calculation error, replaced 100 GU with DME at high krausen to replicate 1.085. Fermented at 60 F for 2 weeks, ended at 67 F, 1.025. Very hot with harsh alcohol, racked to secondary, sat for 1 week at 60 F.

Cold steeped 2 oz. coffee grounds in 1 qt of water over night, added with sucrose for 2.2 Co2 volumes. It tasted very smooth with none of the booziness of before. Not much chocolate, just a hint, so I would add another 1-2 oz of cocoa powder at secondary next time. But the coffee comes through very nice, no bitterness or anything. Looking forward to tasting it carbonated and conditioned.
 
I did extract version with 2 wks primary and 2 wks secondary. Bottled 11/13/2012 and only got 2 3/4 gallons from 5 gallon batch. Lost a lot in primary which makes for expensive brew!
 
I did extract version with 2 wks primary and 2 wks secondary. Bottled 11/13/2012 and only got 2 3/4 gallons from 5 gallon batch. Lost a lot in primary which makes for expensive brew!

Where did the rest go? I usually shoot for at least 5.5 gallons going into primary on any recipe to help for trub loss.
 
I did extract version with 2 wks primary and 2 wks secondary. Bottled 11/13/2012 and only got 2 3/4 gallons from 5 gallon batch. Lost a lot in primary which makes for expensive brew!
that seems like a way too much trub loss. i would have done longer than 2 weeks in primary, and cold-crashed before transferring to secondary. a few days in a fridge or swamp cooler helps to compact down the trub.
 
The trub in the primary was too thick to transfer to secondary. I'll definitely let it set longer next time.
 
Should I have shook it up periodically in the primary to help break stuff down? I usually let the yeast do all the work. I never have this happen with my imperial nut brown which is a high gravity beer also. Must be all the adjuncts.
 
Should I have shook it up periodically in the primary to help break stuff down? I usually let the yeast do all the work. I never have this happen with my imperial nut brown which is a high gravity beer also. Must be all the adjuncts.

No. It should clear out mostly on its own. How long did you let it ferment?
 
2 wks primary, 2 wks secondary. Maybe part of the trouble was the oatmeal. I used rolled oats. I didn't know instant was the same as flakes. I cooked the oats and added before steeping grains.
 
2 wks primary, 2 wks secondary. Maybe part of the trouble was the oatmeal. I used rolled oats. I didn't know instant was the same as flakes. I cooked the oats and added before steeping grains.

Yea, I would imagine that a sludgy oatmeal would be undesirable for the beer. I use the flaked oats that the LHBS stocks, and don't mill them. Did you have that option?
 
2 wks primary, 2 wks secondary. Maybe part of the trouble was the oatmeal. I used rolled oats. I didn't know instant was the same as flakes. I cooked the oats and added before steeping grains.

That could be.. You want to use flaked, and you don't mill them.

You made a huge starchy mess I bet! Sounds like a PITA to work with.
 
Yea, I would imagine that a sludgy oatmeal would be undesirable for the beer. I use the flaked oats that the LHBS stocks, and don't mill them. Did you have that option?

My local natural foods store carries bulk instant oats for less than what the LHBS sells them for. Might look around for a whole foods or a co-op or something.
 
sweetcell said:
quaker oats from the grocery store are cheaper, too.

Can u them for this recipe? What's the difference between flaked and reg oats? I made this recipe and bought flaked. I probably over paid.
 
heya DD, good to see you're still checking out this thread. congrats on your baby :)

do you have any updates to the recipe? any tricks you've been using to make this stout even more amazing than it already was?

based on my experience, and that of a few others, seems like the coffee flavor comes in a bit strong. when i re-brew, i'll be cutting the coffee additions back to 1.5 oz (each) instead of the original 2 oz. could be due to using fancy high-end (i.e. more intense) coffee.

maybe a more pertinent question: when was the last time you brewed this?!? :mug:
 
Haven't really made it since, but I'm feeling inspired all of a sudden!

Glad you guys like it. BYO started the clone. I just tinkered. And you guys took it to whole new levels.

Cheers!
 
Well curiosity got the best of me.... I tried a bottle after just one week. I know I know... A wasted beer but I didn't have much else in the house.

Real pod carbonation. Nice 2 finger head. But it smelled like my morning cup of coffee. And it tasted like coffee that was put down an oak luge.

Body was nice. Not thin. Color is great.

I was hoping beyond hope that it would be ready for Christmas but hey, who wouldn't want a breakfast stout in June, right?
 
Well curiosity got the best of me.... I tried a bottle after just one week. I know I know... A wasted beer but I didn't have much else in the house.

Real pod carbonation. Nice 2 finger head. But it smelled like my morning cup of coffee. And it tasted like coffee that was put down an oak luge.

Body was nice. Not thin. Color is great.

I was hoping beyond hope that it would be ready for Christmas but hey, who wouldn't want a breakfast stout in June, right?

Ours was ready to drink after four weeks in the bottle and tastes like a proper breakfast stout. You shouldn't need to wait until after Christmas.
 
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