Sweet Stout Deception Cream Stout

Just a quick update on my version of this. I turned it in to the Bell's 2012 Homebrew competition and it made it to the final round of 12 beers out of 126 total entries. It ended up being a runner up. For the Bells competition, they give you 5 gallons of Michigan pale malt that they brew up into wort. You take it home and do whatever you want to it before submitting. I used the steeping grains listed in this recipe and 10 oz of toasted coconut, using WLP 001. I just brewed up 10 gallons of it hoping I can re-create it. I'm sure it will be very close.

http://bellsbeer.com/blog/

How many volumes of CO2 are people carbonating at? I am going to bottle this on Sunday.

OP says 2 volumes. I plan to go a little higher as I like a carb-ier beer. So I am going to go 2.2.

So I forgot to take the OG when I brewed (my second brew and a few too many beers are my scapegoats). I assume that it was somewhere around 1.060 as that is what it came out to when I put the recipe in hopville. I added an extra 2 oz of lactose, but otherwise follow the op recipe. My fermentation seems to be stuck at 1.026 after 4 weeks, it is stable after two readings 3 days apart. I am wondering if I should try to add more yeast to kick start some more fermentation or if this is as good as it gets. I did not use a yeast starter, I used Denny's favorite and had one of the most violent fermentations I have had yet, which kicked off after about 12 hours. I was gonna bottle this weekend, but i have a witbier that i can bottle instead and leave it in the fermenter for another week. I would love any thoughts you have.

On a side note. It is really tasty. I love the toasty nose it has, and can't wait to get it into the bottle so it can start conditioning

Thanks all!

mike_in_ak said:

The OP says 1.02

Click to expand...

Fyi

It would seem that if the gravity was targeted for 1.058 and final at 1.020 you get .038 of gravity. From 1.062 to 1.026 is .036 gravity. The recipe mentions a 1 liter yeast starter which could account for the extra fermentation of .02. Sounds like it should be okay, but may have more sugar. Still a rookie in this. I need to check my gravity soon, it's now been 11 days so most of primary fermentation should be complete.

Darn good beer. Pretty, too.


I made this beer 11 days ago. OG 1.062, FG: 1.016, for an ABV of 6.1%. Really like this one.

edit: anyone know why a pic from dropbox wouldn't show up?

I saw some ppl adde cocoa nibs. How did that work out for you? I am planning on soaking 8 oz of nibs I picked up at whole foods in some vanilla rum I got from a distillery while I was on vacation in Mauritius, and then tossing them in the fermenter for a week before I bottle.

Edit: Figured it out. Brewing this tonight looks like.

I just made a trip to the LHBS and picked up all the ingredients... Gonna brew it soon, maybe this weekend. I decided to add a vanilla bean (maybe 2?) to secondary for about one week. Hope to get a somewhat-sessionable (almost "dessert-ish") beer. Really looking forward to trying this one!

DrummerBoySeth said:

I just made a trip to the LHBS and picked up all the ingredients... Gonna brew it soon, maybe this weekend. I decided to add a vanilla bean (maybe 2?) to secondary for about one week. Hope to get a somewhat-sessionable (almost "dessert-ish") beer. Really looking forward to trying this one!

Click to expand...

Vanilla sounds good! As for making this a session beer, it would have to be a very short session for me . My ABV is over 6%.

Dabbers said:

Vanilla sounds good! As for making this a session beer, it would have to be a very short session for me . My ABV is over 6%.

Click to expand...

Mine is targeted to finish at 5.8% (if it attenuates as far as expected!). The fermenter is bubbling right now. I guess that may be a little high to be truly "sessionable", but at least I will be able to have 2 or 3 at a time without falling out of my chair!

Just brewed the extract version of this today and followed the recipe exactly as written. My OG came out to 1.063. Anyone else getting slightly higher OGs than what the original recipe states (1.058)? I'm not really worried about it, just wondering.

bradford0113 said:

Just brewed the extract version of this today and followed the recipe exactly as written. My OG came out to 1.063. Anyone else getting slightly higher OGs than what the original recipe states (1.058)? I'm not really worried about it, just wondering.

Click to expand...

Just brewed this again and it finished around 1.063 as well.

bradford0113 said:

Just brewed the extract version of this today and followed the recipe exactly as written. My OG came out to 1.063. Anyone else getting slightly higher OGs than what the original recipe states (1.058)? I'm not really worried about it, just wondering.

Click to expand...

I actually forgot to check my OG. I will just have to trust that it is accurate. Since I brewed with extract, it is not likely that that I "missed" the OG.

Oh well, we will see how it tastes in a few weeks!

I had been drinking mine straight out of the refrigerator, however I had a New Glarus Brewing "Coffee Stout" the other night and the info on the label suggested drinking it at room temp. It was YUMMY...so I had a DCS the next night at a cool room temp...and it was YUMMIER! Amazing how temp changes taste!

glenn514

A few weeks might not be long enough. The first time I brewed this, the beer tasted the best at 3 months.

It will be hard not to drink it all at 2 weeks tho

If it tastes really good at 2 weeks, it probably will not make it to 3 months. I had a friend help me with the ingredients cost, so I have to give 1/2 away, right off the top. I guess I will see how far I can make 2.5 gallons go!

On the gravity issues mentioned above. I just added water until I hit the OG. More water usually means more beer in my opinion. Just don't get it too full since it has a pretty hardcore fermentation. Any issues with doing this?

I would think it might finish sweeter with a higher sugar content when it has a higher OG. Anyone else wanna chime in?

rideincircles said:

On the gravity issues mentioned above. I just added water until I hit the OG. More water usually means more beer in my opinion. Just don't get it too full since it has a pretty hardcore fermentation. Any issues with doing this?

I would think it might finish sweeter with a higher sugar content when it has a higher OG. Anyone else wanna chime in?

Click to expand...

My club did an experiment comparing a full boil and partial boil beer. The difference was striking. So much so that I haven't topped off my fermentor since.

5 gallons of this is not enough!!! Tasted amazing green, can't wait to try it.

Just popped open a bottle after a week of bottle conditioning. Definitely needs to carbonate more, but tastes amazing.

Just brewed this last night for the first time (my first stout). everything looks good so far. I forgot to talk an intial OG measurement, but I just took one about 18 hrs later and its at 1.040. Does anyone know if that sounds about right?

Had to try one after ten days in the bottle, Amazing! Really good stuff, smooth, well carbed, can no doubt taste chocolate.

cbren723 said:

Just brewed this last night for the first time (my first stout). everything looks good so far. I forgot to talk an intial OG measurement, but I just took one about 18 hrs later and its at 1.040. Does anyone know if that sounds about right?

Click to expand...

Probably too many variables to say. I would imagine yeast could chew through .02 in no time, but would depend on pitch rate, viability, whether it started immediately, etc.

But as long as you followed the recipe, your OG should be in the ballpark. Since it's an extract recipe, there not too much you could do to affect your OG that much.

Thanks for help. Greatly appreciated

So this is definitely the best thing i've ever brewed. I love this beer. It turned out just how I wanted it to. I was Gona give these out for Xmas gifts but screw that. Now I'm giving away my sub par cider and hoarding the stout for myself. It's the thought that counts right? I'm planning to do another batch with a secondary useing vanilla beans soaked in makers mark. Can't wait till finals are over to brew this again. Prost!

So this is my first time following a recipe from here, and I'm a bit clueless about the notation conventions. So, stupid question: the roasted Barley should be malted, right? I mean, it wouldn't do much without being malted...

ohthehugemanatee said:

So this is my first time following a recipe from here, and I'm a bit clueless about the notation conventions. So, stupid question: the roasted Barley should be malted, right? I mean, it wouldn't do much without being malted...

Click to expand...

I mashed it. Sample tastes good for me. It'll be done in couple weeks. Anxious to try it out.

Brewed up and fermenting! I made a mistake with unit conversion, and didn't get quite enough wheat DME... 500g instead of 680g. Also, my assistant killed all the wyeast when he tried to make a starter without cooling the water first, so I had to substitute dried mauribrew ale 514 yeast. That's advertised as a good stout yeast (strong up to 9.2% alcohol), so we'll see. Definitely plan on doing this recipe again, right, and comparing the flavor difference!

Starters have been churning on the stir plates! Gonna kick off this brew tonight after work. :rockin:

Opened up two bottles over the weekend at 2 weeks in. Hopefully I can make them last a while, because this beer is awesome already.

Cracked a bottle last night to celebrate the PATS dismantling the Texans. 2 weeks bottle conditioning and it tastes awesome!
I added some bakers chocolate at flame out to get more chocolate finish this time. Yum!

I made the extract version of this with minimal variation. The one variation I made was doing 3/4 lb lactose. I figured this would sweeten it up a bit, but it is outrageously sweet. I'm 2 weeks into bottle condition. Do y'all think another couple weeks in the bottle will help the other flavors come out and balance it out a bit?

meck1842 said:

I made the extract version of this with minimal variation. The one variation I made was doing 3/4 lb lactose. I figured this would sweeten it up a bit, but it is outrageously sweet. I'm 2 weeks into bottle condition. Do y'all think another couple weeks in the bottle will help the other flavors come out and balance it out a bit?

Click to expand...

Doubtful, but you could probably cold brew some coffee or use a coffee liquor to mix it with if unbearably sweet.

Love to hear some feedback from anyone that has racked on nibs or added powder at flame out. Anyone brew both ways and habeas some feedback on how it tastes with and without?
Really looking forward to this brew! Brewed the extract version yesterday. Only 60 days till I try one!

meck1842 said:

I made the extract version of this with minimal variation. The one variation I made was doing 3/4 lb lactose. I figured this would sweeten it up a bit, but it is outrageously sweet. I'm 2 weeks into bottle condition. Do y'all think another couple weeks in the bottle will help the other flavors come out and balance it out a bit?

Click to expand...

I have a hard time believing the extra .25 lbs of lactose would make that much of a difference. I wonder if something else was off. What was your gravity when you bottled? Maybe it wasn't done yet?

If all went well, my money would be that it gets a lot better with age. Forget about it for a month. I didn't ration very well, but my 6 month bottles were great.

stevefarns said:

Love to hear some feedback from anyone Thayer has racked on nibs or added powder at flame out. Anyone brew both ways and habeas some feedback on how it tastes with and without?
Really looking forward to this brew! Brewed the extract version yesterday. Only 60 days till I try one!

Click to expand...

I soaked 8 oz of cocoa nibs in a cup of vanilla rum overnight and threw them into the primary for a week. Added a really awesome chocolate flavor to the beer.

mike_in_ak said:

I have a hard time believing the extra .25 lbs of lactose would make that much of a difference. I wonder if something else was off. What was your gravity when you bottled? Maybe it wasn't done yet?

If all went well, my money would be that it gets a lot better with age. Forget about it for a month. I didn't ration very well, but my 6 month bottles were great.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure what the FG was... I brewed it with a friend while teaching him to brew on his equipment and he didn't check when he bottled. I hit the OG on the dot and I know my buddies process was spot on, since after all it was my process

We will give it another few weeks and hopefully it balances out.

It fermented for 2 weeks in the primary and 2 in the secondary at 70 degrees so there is no way it wasn't finished...

I mean I really didn't think of mine as "sweet" at all.