Is this crazy for a Stout?

10 lb pale malt
6 oz black malt
8 oz chcolate malt

1.5 oz kent golden 60 minutes

irish ale yeast.

Finished volume 6.0 gallons.

Maybe some flaked barley, but not sure yet.

Any comments?

Maybe throw in some Crystal 40 or 60, but looks fine.

For a dry stout I'd say bump the black to at least a half pound, even better sub it for roasted barley. Other than that, it's a pretty straight forward dry stout.

As far as the traditional style goes, Black Patent goes in Porter and Roasted Barley is for Dry Stout, but there is some wiggle room in there. A very simple Dry Stout recipe is 90% base malt and 10% roasted barley. You can even sub up to 20% Flaked Barley for base malt for extra creamy mouthfeel and head retention.

modenacart said:

10 lb pale malt
6 oz black malt
8 oz chcolate malt

1.5 oz kent golden 60 minutes

irish ale yeast.

Finished volume 6.0 gallons.

Maybe some flaked barley, but not sure yet.

Any comments?

Click to expand...

I would call it a porter, not a stout. To be a stout the grist would usually have roasted barley as the primary dark malt. Flaked barley wouldn't be a bad idea depending on what you are after here. It would add some smoothness to the body and some added texture. The color as is would be a the low end of the scale as would the IBUs. That is neither good or bad it's whatever you want.

Flaked barley is a good idea for adding mouth-feel. By black malt, are you meaning black patent? I've used that in mine, but make sure you don't use too much (I think I used a couple ounces).

I agree with the roasted barley. You could keep some black in there but you do need the RB. I would add some crystal 80 as well. It gives you some mouth feel but also a little bit of sweetness to balance the roasted flavour. If you really don't want the sweetness, add a couple pounds of flaked barley for mouthfeel. I am not experienced like some of the guys around here, but I think that your recipe as is would maybe end up being a little thin bodied for a stout.

As written, you've got about half a Robust Porter. If you add a half-pound or so of 50-60L Crystal malt to your grist, you'll be better off.

What you do not have is a Dry Stout. There is no room in Dry Stout for black patent malt or chocolate malt (or crystal malt, for that matter). There are three ingredients in a Dry Stout grist - pale malt, roasted barley, and flaked barley. Avoid crystal malt for body and mouthfeel; those characteristics should from the flaked barley.

Each specialty grain provides certain characteristics - flavor, color, and (possibly) fermentables. Those characteristics make them appropriate for certain styles. It is impossible to approximate the characteristics of a certain grain by substitution of others. You simply cannot hope to approximate roasted barley with a mixture of black chocolate malt; it just doesn't taste right. Try tasting the grains - crunch them up and eat them - separately, then in your proposed admixture. You'll soon agree with me.

In Dry Stout, not only does the roasted barley provide color, it provides flavor and a proportion of the balancing bitterness. You can approximate the color with a mix of black and chocolate malts, but not the bitterness and never the flavor.

Sorry to be so negative, but you did ask.

How about I dump the chocolate and added 8-16 oz of roasted barley and a lb of flaked barley? Where in the roasted barley range should I be?

Also, I have a crapload of bicarbonates in my water so I will acid malt until ph reaches 5.4.

I would keep the chocolate, but bump the roasted barley to 8oz and use some flaked barley if you don't want Crystal.

I ended up keeping the black patent, 1.5 lb roasted boarly and 1 lb flaked barley. I will see how it does.

That'll be one roasty beer!!!! Although....I like 'em roasty!

That's going to be very roasty. You will need to let that sit for a while for the bitter roastiness to settle out and mellow. You need about 10% by weight for a normal stout. Your percentage is significantly higher. You would have been better keeping the chocolate instead of the black patent. Taste it and find out for yourself what 2 lbs of highly roasted grains tastes like.

Its about 14% roasted malts. I have pale ale on tap so I have time to wait.

Last time i made a stout it was 9% roasted malt and I though it could use more. I might be adding acid malt to bring down my pH. Water here is not good. That will bring the % down some too.