Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer Founder's Breakfast Stout clone (2011 HBT Competition Category 21 winner)

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Well the stuff I have for making wine are the fermenting buckets with spouts... It was essentially a beer making kit at first that my boss gave me. I have burners and pots I use for crawfish boils... I assume that would be good enough.
 
I'm fairly resilient when it comes to doing most things so I hope it's the same with brewing. Regardless I'm excited to start my first brew and looking forward to seeing how this recipe turns out out for me because I love this beer!
 
Truly a bold move indeed.

Anyways, seriously -- you need fermentation temperature control. This is a big beer, it's gonna ferment furiously once it takes off, and in the summer, the temp on that beast is gonna rise fast. I'd highly suggest figuring out some way to keep it in the 65-70F range if at all possible. And that's BEER temp, not ambient outside temp.

The biggest mistake people make on their first brew (other than perhaps sanitization and/or not following the directions) is to not control the fermentation temperature. I made my first beer (an IPA) in the middle of June, and I paid the price. We fermented in a closet that got to 80F in the Mississippi summer heat. The beer was pretty undrinkable.

Stouts are a little more forgiving, but do yourself a favor and dont repeat my mistakes.
 
Bought an extra fridge for fermenting today and have a thermostat controller on the way...pretty sure I got everything I need now. Thanks for the help guys I'll get back with how it turns out for me!
 
After having the true Breakfast Stout for the first time, I can say this recipe is quite on spot!

This, however, does not mean I liked the beer... Its way too toasted and lacks complexity. I prefer EvilTwin's Even More Jesus, North Coast's Old Rasputin and EvilTwin's Yin.
 
Can anyone tell me what the basic equipment I need for brewing this? I've had this beer a couple times and I'm obsessed enough with it I'm gonna attempt to make it for my first brew ever. I've made wine before so I do have a few things just wondering what else I'll need to acquire before I start. I purchased all the ingredients already and they'll be here next week. Thanks for any help

Good for you man!! While many might recommend a baby step method towards all grain, I geared up between batch #4 to batch #5 an went from extract kit with steeping grains to all grain and I havnt looked back.
To get any idea of the equipment you need, look at the kits that companyie like Norther Brewer or Midwest Brewing sell. For some, they like to buy that way, but for me, it gave me the list I needed and I scrounged around till I got it together. Oh, and talk to your LHBS folks too.
As for technique, I did alot of reading! The complete joy of homebrewing by Pappazian was a great resource. And this forum. Have fun!!


"Sometimes Im right half of the time ...."
 
Good for you man!! While many might recommend a baby step method towards all grain, I geared up between batch #4 to batch #5 an went from extract kit with steeping grains to all grain and I havnt looked back.
To get any idea of the equipment you need, look at the kits that companyie like Norther Brewer or Midwest Brewing sell. For some, they like to buy that way, but for me, it gave me the list I needed and I scrounged around till I got it together. Oh, and talk to your LHBS folks too.
As for technique, I did alot of reading! The complete joy of homebrewing by Pappazian was a great resource. And this forum. Have fun!!


"Sometimes Im right half of the time ...."

Thanks man I appreciate the advice!
 
After having the true Breakfast Stout for the first time, I can say this recipe is quite on spot!

This, however, does not mean I liked the beer... Its way too toasted and lacks complexity. I prefer EvilTwin's Even More Jesus, North Coast's Old Rasputin and EvilTwin's Yin.


Those are totally different beers than breakfast stout. IMO, old Rasputin is way more roasty than breakfast stout. Let the beer mellow for a few months. You can drop the roasted barley/black patent malts in half if you want next time, but I would add some chocolate malt in if you so that.


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Just racked this out of secondary into the keg. It will be a few more days till it's carbed, but holy hell it's good. I've had the real thing and this recipe is very close from what I remember. Lots of coffee up front, silky smooth texture from the oats and the alcohol is very well hidden. Will brew this one again without hesitation. Thanks!
 
Brewed a week ago Saturday and just finished fermenting today... I'm gonna be adding the 2nd 2oz of coffee after while. If I'm kegging instead if bottling is there really any need for priming sugar?
 
Just finished adding the 2nd addition of coffee and tasted going into the secondary. Tastes and smells great! I can't wait till it's kegged and aged a little! It was a little short on abv though cause I missed my OG (1.072) ... FG was 1.025. Never the less it's going to be a great beer! Thanks to the OP and to everyone for tips on my first brew!
 
I am making a similar recipe and was just wondering if there is any risk of infection from adding cocoa nibs or cold pressed coffee into secondary? I plan on sanitizing all the equipment that the coffee will touch but the actual cocoa nibs and coffee beans will just be out of the bag.

Also, I used a bar of bittersweet bakers chocolate at flameout yesterday and noticed the top of my primary looks like it may have a bit of oil in it. Hopefully that wont hurt head retention too much.
 
I used a secondary and added coffee then and mine was fine. I only used a secondary cause I'm not very good at racking yet without picking a lot of trash up.
 
I've made this recipe twice and have added coffee to several others and never had an infection from it.

Both coffee and chocolate will have some oils in them. I guess it does affect head retention some, but there is nothing you can do about it if you want those flavors.
 
Timely bump for this thread. I just brewed this up the weekend before last. I scaled the recipe to lower the original gravity to 1.066 so that the ABV is lower. Everything was fine like the first two times I brewed this, but the gravity is stuck at 1.026. My other attempts got down to 1.011 and 1.013. I'm assuming that scaling the recipe wouldn't cause that. BeerSmith predicts 1.018. I did use a yeast slurry from a previous batch of 1272, which is a little less attentive than the other yeasts I've used on this, but all my other beers with this exact yeast have gotten much better attenuation. So I'm thinking it's stuck. I gently stirred up the beer on Friday and it still didn't drop anymore 2 days later, so I will probably just try to pitch some S05 today and see if that drops it more.
 
I am making a similar recipe and was just wondering if there is any risk of infection from adding cocoa nibs or cold pressed coffee into secondary? I plan on sanitizing all the equipment that the coffee will touch but the actual cocoa nibs and coffee beans will just be out of the bag.



Also, I used a bar of bittersweet bakers chocolate at flameout yesterday and noticed the top of my primary looks like it may have a bit of oil in it. Hopefully that wont hurt head retention too much.


I think I picked up a sour infection from cocoa nibs so I either roast them or make an extract with vodka now. Very good results with the vodka method.


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Sour founders! Sweet! Save it for 18-20 months at 68 degrees.


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Left hand milk stout actually. I drank it quickly but have a couple of sours from after that (thought I could clean the plastic effectively. Guess not). Great beers though (sour wit with kumquats is my favorite).


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Ok, so I'm planning on brewing up this recipe sometime in the near future and I had just one question regarding the 2nd coffee addition.

I have a coffee press and I was planning on brewing the 2 oz of Kona in a liter of water in my French press and then adding the coffee at bottling. My question is, should I do a cold press of the coffee or should I brew a normal batch of coffee and then let it cool before adding it to my bottling bucket with my priming sugar?
 
Are you asking if you should use the french press with hot or cold water? Or does "brew a normal batch of coffee" mean with a different method?

I think most will agree that hot vs cold will give you different flavor profiles so you'll have to decide which you like better. The original BYO recipe calls for adding the second addition in secondary for a week. What I've been doing is adding it in primary for a week after fermentation is done. It's easier than preparing the coffee beforehand and you don't have to dilute your beer!
 
I was asking if I should brew the coffee using the French press hot vs. cold.

Thanks for your reply. It makes sense that brewing the coffee hot vs. cold will give me a different flavor profile. I was hesitant about adding the coffee straight to the secondary or primary because I don't want to have to deal with coffee grounds clogging up my siphon when I'm racking to my bottling bucket.

Since the recipe calls for adding the coffee to secondary, I think what I'm going to do is to let the coffee steep in a liter of water in my French press in the refrigerator for a day or so prior to racking the beer to my bottling bucket. And then when I rack the beer to my bottling bucket, I will add the coffee prior to racking if that makes sense?
 
I added the ground coffee straight to primary. I put a paint strainer bag on the inlet of the auto siphon and a hop bag (finer mesh) on the outlet of the hose on the auto auto siphon. The paint strainer bag caught most though. Kind of messy but it worked well.

But your method will work also.
 
Well I finally got around to brewing up a batch of this recipe yesterday and I must say, my hydrometer sample tasted amazing!

I used Starbucks Christmas Blend for my coffee addition at flameout. I used a hop sock to put the coffee grinds and chocolate in. I also decided to remove the hop sock once the wort was chilled as it had more than enough coffee flavor and I didn't want to overdo it by leaving the coffee in the primary.

Got some Kona that I'm planning on brewing with a cold press in my French press and adding it prior to racking to my bottling bucket! :mug:
 
Has anyone had or noticed too much of a coffee "bite" or astringency from adding the coffee at flameout? I've read on some other pages where people have had this problem? Thanks
 
Has anyone had or noticed too much of a coffee "bite" or astringency from adding the coffee at flameout? I've read on some other pages where people have had this problem? Thanks

Not for me personally. I've brewed this recipe 3 times now and it's been one of my favorite beers that I brew. I always use a hop sock when I add the coffee. I've also adapted the recipe so I add the chocolate and coffee together in the hop sock at 10 minutes of the boil and then I remove the hop sock when I'm ready to rack the beer to the fermenter. I also always use Starbucks whole bean coffee that I freshly grind (usually Italian Roast but over the holidays I use their Christmas Blend). I don't know if maybe the freshness or the quality of the coffee being used might have something to do with the astringency problems? I just know I've never had any issues myself...
 
*Bump*

This was one of these best beers I ever brewed. Picture is from 10/16/14 and was about the 2nd or 3rd time I had brewed it. IIRC, I didn't deviate from the OP's original recipe and it was terrific if not spot on at that time.

IMG_2205.jpg
 
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