Recipe Review: RIS

Dads up for the weekend so we are going to brew up something to celebrate his retirement in 6 months. I have patched this recipe together from a few RIS ones on this board.

Am I missing anything? Look balanced enough?

Thanks for the help

Recipe Specifics

Batch Size (Gal): 6.00 Wort Size
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Yeast: Nottingham

Grain/Extract/Sugar

14.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) Great Britain 1.03800 3
1.00 lbs. Carastan Malt Great Britian 1.03500 34
.75 lbs. Honey Malt Canada 1.03000 18
.50 lbs. Chocolate Malt America 1.02900 350
.50 lbs. Crystal 150L Great Britain 1.03300 150
0.25 lbs. Black Barley Malt America 1.02700 530
1.00 lbs Oats (Quaker)
1.00 lbs. Sugar



Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
1. oz. Magnum Pellet 14.00 55 60 min.
1.00 oz. Hallertauer Mittelfruh Pellet 4.50 5 10 min.
.50 oz. Hallertauer Mittelfruh Pellet 4.50 0 0 min.


Mash Schedule : 150 Time: 60

Think about adding some roasted barley...IMO stouts don't taste like a stout without it. Plus it looks like your recipe might not be dark enough as it stands now.

I would revise your batch for 6 gallons, to offset liquid losses due to evaporation and yeast slurry. When brewing a strong beer like this...too much is more often better than not enough.

Also, just a word of advice...Nottingham is a great yeast, but can sometimes be too good. In my past experience, it can ferment so thoroughly and aggressively that it actually ferments out more flavor than you want it to. Great for pale ales, but has the power to produce a thin stout, with a higher ABV. If you have your heart set on a traditional english yeast...try Windsor instead, made by the same people, but not as aggressive. Lots of great stouts are made with a nice neutral American ale yeast like 1056 or 001.

I personally would mash at a higher temperature...like 155. In the 150 range...you will produce alot of fermentable sugars...but not as many flavor/body/head retention sugars. So if you would rather have an extra 1% alcohol over more flavor...then keep it where you got it.

Also, if you want a really flavorful stout...take one gallon of your first mash runnings and boil them down in the brewpot until you have about 50%. This caramelizes some sugars thus making them unfermentable, and will enhance sweetness, flavors, mouthfeel, body, color, and head retention.

A pound of Roasted Barley?
This is my first stout so I am very open to reworking it.

Adding water... Check!

Thanks!

Use this link to give you an approximate expectation of the beer you designed, and then you can play with the different changes in your grain bill to hit your desired target color/gravity.

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/gravity.html

Or you can leave it alone, add a pound of roast barley, and end up with slightly less than 5 gallons. If you don't mind not having exactly 5 gallons of finished product.

As it stands right now, without the pound of roasted barley you're looking at a color of about 23 SRM @ 1.088 OG. With the roast you hit 37 and an original gravity of 1.092 @ 5.5 gallons in the fermenter @ 70% efficiency.

Either way, I would drain at least 7 gallons of runnings out of the mash and boil for at least 90 minutes. The longer boil helps you caramelize more sugars and bring out even more flavors, also, extra mash runnings result in higher mash efficiency, and a bigger beer. Heck, if your efficiency is near 75% you won't even need that pound of sugar, but keep it on hand because big mashes usually don't end up being that efficient.

What type of sparge are you going to run with this? Batch, fly, or other?

Excellent. I feel better about this brew already. Running on a little knowledge is fun, but... I like knowing I am at least on the right track.
I was a bit on the run when I read your first post, now with more time to read...

I certainly want this to be big on flavor. So I'll up the mashing to 152 and boil for the 90 mins. Though with my 10 gallon bp I tend to loose a good bit with evaporation so I may start off with 7.5 gallons. At worst I'll boil for a bit longer.

Yeast. Okay. I get what you mean. I will see what my LHBS has out of the yeast you are mentioning. I want to do a starter with this one.
Will 1 ltr starter be enough?

I batch sparge in a 10 gallon Rubbermaid.

I would think so...but more is almost always better when it comes to pitching rate and bigger beers.

As far as batch sparging goes...I do a modified batch sparge with overall efficiency rates fairly high. When I say modified I mean that I use my water in thirds, instead of even halves like a true batch sparge, and I fly sparge the last third. This gives me the flexibility to step my mash temperatures. Or even use decoctions if I so desire. I also use a 10 gallon rubbermaid.

PS - Think about mixing a pound of rice hulls into your grist...it will help your efficiency out with a batch sparge by helping the liquor to mingle & flow.

Rodenlager said:

Also, just a word of advice...Nottingham is a great yeast, but can sometimes be too good. In my past experience, it can ferment so thoroughly and aggressively that it actually ferments out more flavor than you want it to. Great for pale ales, but has the power to produce a thin stout, with a higher ABV. If you have your heart set on a traditional english yeast...try Windsor instead, made by the same people, but not as aggressive. Lots of great stouts are made with a nice neutral American ale yeast like 1056 or 001.

I personally would mash at a higher temperature...like 155. In the 150 range...you will produce alot of fermentable sugars...but not as many flavor/body/head retention sugars. So if you would rather have an extra 1% alcohol over more flavor...then keep it where you got it.

Also, if you want a really flavorful stout...take one gallon of your first mash runnings and boil them down in the brewpot until you have about 50%. This caramelizes some sugars thus making them unfermentable, and will enhance sweetness, flavors, mouthfeel, body, color, and head retention.

Click to expand...

Follow this advice to the letter and you will be back here in a week or 2 two asking why your fermentation is stuck. Windsor attenuates only to about 60 to 65%. If you mash high and caramelize some wort + a lot of specialty grains, you may end up with only about 50% attenuation. Mash low to mid 150s, and use an 'average' yeast. Suggest S-04 for a British yeast.

JasonTerry said:

Yeast. Okay. I get what you mean. I will see what my LHBS has out of the yeast you are mentioning. I want to do a starter with this one.
Will 1 ltr starter be enough?

I batch sparge in a 10 gallon Rubbermaid.

Click to expand...

Windsor is a dry yeast. You would be better using 2 packs rather than making a starter. Dry yeasts have high cell counts and contain their own nutrient, ready to go in a wort. Liquid yeasts need starters. Again, be sure you know what you are doing if you go with Windsor. It will leave a very sweet wort

Well it seems I will have a bit more time to plan this one out. The LHBS took the whole holiday off so I am grain free dammit.

I really do t care what yeast I use. Heart is only set on making a damn fine stout. So I am completely flexible. Thin or stuck are not goals for sure.

Thank you very much for your insite.