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h4mmy86

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Hey guys,

I got a late start brewing an American stout for a competition and I need some tips and tricks to help me make this beer all that it can be in as quickly as possible!

I brewed on 3/21 and the comp is on 4/13.

I plan to leave it in primary for 2 weeks, cold crash over night, and then I'll transfer it to a keg to carb and age a little.

I can't exactly do a proper refrigerated cold crash so I'm just going to add a couple bags of ice to my swamp chiller and hopefully that'll help clear things up a little.

Also, I'm interested in possibly fining this brew with some knox gelatin, something I've never done before.
Do you think fining this beer is a good move? ...or wasted energy?

Any and all pointers are very much appreciated!

:mug:
 
Why worry about clarity in a stout? I would be more concerned with maturity. 24 days from grain to glass on a stout seems a little green. I would not mess with the finings or gelatin if you had a good hot/cold break. I would bottle your submissions and keg the rest. Let them carb in the bottle. Good luck.
 
Believe me, tasting very green is a concern, but best of my knowledge there is nothing I can do about it so I didn't bring it up, but trust the concern is there.

And 5 gallons is the entry, I'm just taking the whole keg to the event.

I suppose I'm worried about fining since I'll be shaking the keg to force carb the brew in time and then transporting the keg.

I don't guess I'm so worried about clarity as I am not stirring up sediment and yeast that could contribute undesired flavors.
 
Better hope Revvy doesn't see this thread, and for good reason. I would never recommend rushing a beer for competition. If you wanted to win so badly you should have made it earlier, plain and simple. Especially with a stout. I find that my stouts are best after several weeks in the keg. Maybe just do a nice hoppy pale and hope for the best?
 
Better hope Revvy doesn't see this thread, and for good reason. I would never recommend rushing a beer for competition. If you wanted to win so badly you should have made it earlier, plain and simple. Especially with a stout. I find that my stouts are best after several weeks in the keg. Maybe just do a nice hoppy pale and hope for the best?

Well, thanks... This isn't your standard comp tho, being rushed is kinda part of the challenge. Perhaps a stout wasn't the best choice, I see that now. My mistake, but starting an entirely new beer is not an option.
 
h4mmy86 said:
Well, thanks... This isn't your standard comp tho, being rushed is kinda part of the challenge. Perhaps a stout wasn't the best choice, I see that now. My mistake, but starting an entirely new beer is not an option.

cocoa and lactose. Kill them with sweetness. Chocolate milk stout.
 
HeavyKettle, I really like that idea but I can't add any more ingredients either!! lol

Let me explain a little, the hosts of the comp provided me with grains, hops, and yeast for what would probably make a sort of American pale ale type beer.

Off the top of my head I wanna say the kit was something like 8 lbs base malt, 1 lb specialty grain, .5 lb crystal, 2 oz hops, and US-05

With this kit you are allowed to swap one ingredient in it's entirety for the same amount of one other ingredient and you can also add however much of a secret ingredient of your own choosing.

Anything goes, all styles are accepted.

Really neat concept!
Instead of going crazy and making something super experimental I'm trying to stick to style and make something tried and true.

Looks like I'm just gonna have to put it out there hope for the best!
 
Sounds like tge one thing they did not give you was time. Good luck with the event. Let us know how it went.
 
Yeah, I'll be sure to let you know how I fair. All in all I feel like I have made a solid recipe. Only thing that might hold me back is the lack of aging.

That's part of why I chose to make an American Stout. The contest is open to any and all variations of style and the American Stout is rather open to interpretation and gives me some room to work with (I know, I know, BJCP says..!! ..but this style is a funny one)
 
Here are a few process tricks that may help but no substitute for time. A nice starter will speed things along but I guess it's too late for that. If you are truly done fermenting, carefully rack it to a carboy and leave behind as much as you can. The racking will act as a way to resuspend some yeast to help clean things up flavor wise. A few days before you need to keg, chill the carboy and then hit it with gelatin. While clarity isn't an issue, the gelatin will help pull out some thin that would take longer to settle out.

When you rack to the keg, don't even get close to the bottom as to not stir things up. When you fill the keg, don't get greedy and top it up but leave a few inches head space. This will help out when you carbonate.

To carbonate, you need to know the temp of the beer to have any hope of not over shooting it. You could use a keg carbonation cap (which there are some tricks to) or what I find works best is to roll the keg making sure you have the gas tube up. Check one of the charts online to get the pressure for your volumes CO2 and don't cheat by going over it and hoping to go faster.

One last trick if you are worried about sediment would be to make a liquid to liquid jumper and then transfer to another keg. I don't think you need to since this one won't have the time to settle anything out.

Good luck and keep us posted.
 
If anyone is still interested, the event came and went. I cold crashed before kegging and nothing more, just hoped for the best.

No medals were won, but I scored a 35.5 and I'm pretty happy with that!
:mug:
 
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