First Stout Recipe Critique - All Grain

So, I went to the Sierra Nevada brew pub today for lunch and had a Stout with my gumbo. Fantastic meal all around, but I was pleasantly surprised by the stout. I've never really been a fan before, but it was downright tasty...and it inspired me to make a stout. This will be my 4th all grain brew, and this is really my first attempt at a stout recipe. Please critique, and thank you!


Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU
11.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 75.86 %
2.00 lb Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 13.79 %
0.75 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 5.17 %
0.50 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 3.45 %
0.25 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 1.72 %
1.00 oz Magnum [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 38.5 IBU
0.50 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (10 min) Hops 2.7 IBU
1 Pkgs Irish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1084) Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.057 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.015 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.015 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.55 %
Bitterness: 41.2 IBU Calories: 256 cal/pint
Est Color: 32.6 SRM Color: Black

Looks like a recipe for SN Stout, except they use Pale, Munich, Crystal, & Black Patent.

Black patent!? Um...what?

Black patent has no place in stout, and I'd be very much surprised if Sierra Nevada used only black patent in theirs. Used in sufficient quantities to provide stout-appropriate color, the flavor would be undrinkable; as you know, Ed, black patent has a very astringent, medicinal flavor when overused. For all I know, SN Stout is like that. I've never had it.

Anyway, I go by a very simple rule: Black Patent is for porter, Roasted Barley is for stout. Guinness is, after all, pale malt and roasted barley (with just a bit of flaked barley).

In my opinion, the best non-Imperial stouts have a simple grist bill - pale malt, maybe a touch of a specialty grain for increased body and head retention, and roasted barley making 10% of the grist.

Thus:

8# Pale malt (I like Maris Otter a lot)
1# roasted barley
1# CaraPils or flaked barley

[soapbox]

Stout is one of the many styles we homebrewers overcomplicate. In fact, we have a general tendency to overthink and overcomplicate lots of different styles, from IPA to Mild to Stout. Complex grists are only appropriate when they're necessary; otherwise they're a waste of time and effort.

[/soapbox]

Try simplifying your recipe a bit. I think you'll be impressed with the result!

Cheers,

Bob

BobNQ3X said:

Black patent!? Um...what?

Click to expand...

I got that right from SN's web site.

I know that if you use roasted barley in a Porter it is not technically a Porter because Stouts use roasted barley and black patent. Not all stouts use chocolate but one of my best award winning stouts uses black patent, roasted barley and chocolate in equal amounts : 1/3 pound each.

Be careful stating absolute rules when talking about homebrew. I don't think that there are many.

Forrest

THB
When are ya gonna brew?? maybe I'll come down and share some of my stout w/ ya during your brew day. If I can invite myself

You might want to boost your ABV a bit on your stout. w/ an IBU of 41 using Magnum's I would push my OG to 65 or so.
Just a thought
(I bet Dawn knows you by name at this point!! dosen't she?)
Cheers
JJ

Thanks for the input all! And Jaybird, you're welcome down here any time...I'll let you know when I'm going to cook this one up! However, that doesn't mean you can't bring the stout down earlier :rockin:. It may be a couple weeks before I brew as I only have room in my fermenting fridge for one batch...and right now it's my Kolsch . I'd really like to up the OG, but I only have 5 gallon cooler for my MLT, which leaves me with a grain bill of up to about 14 lbs. That pretty much sums up my next two purchases right there; freezer for fermenting chiller and a bigger MLT.

And yes...Dawn does know me by name, mainly because I'm working on her website. She didn't have one up before and I put one up recently; Chico Home Brew Shop. It's a work in progress, and right now I'm working on importing all her inventory to an online database.

You know what? I just put my revised recipe in BeerSmith again, and it came out at 1.063...I must have had my boil volume wrong when I entered it the first time.

Thanks again for the input everyone...check out this revised recipe, and please advise:

Ingredients
11.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 78.63 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 7.15 %
1.00 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 7.15 %
0.33 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 2.36 %
0.33 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 2.36 %
0.33 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 2.36 %
1.00 oz Magnum [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 41.8 IBU
0.50 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (10 min) Hops 3.0 IBU
1 Pkgs Irish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1084) Yeast-Ale


Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.063 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.016 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.12 %
Bitterness: 44.8 IBU
Est Color: 31.6 SRM

Nice looking site. 1.063 MUCH BETTER IMO. I was going to suggest letting you use my mash tun for your stout, It can hold a bunch of grain, but if your @ 1.063.. Your golden.
Ya let me know when the brew day is I'll try to come down.


Cheers
Jay

Jaybird said:

Nice looking site. 1.063 MUCH BETTER IMO. I was going to suggest letting you use my mash tun for your stout, It can hold a bunch of grain, but if your @ 1.063.. Your golden.
Ya let me know when the brew day is I'll try to come down.


Cheers
Jay

Click to expand...

Hey, long time since we talked about this recipe...but I'm finally pulling the trigger on this one. Actually going to to a double brew day on Saturday...this Stout and either a Kolsch or IPA. Don't know yet what time I'll start, but probably do one in the morning, then eat lunch and take a break, then do another in the evening if/when it cools down. You're welcome to come down and ridicule and/or help me!