Really creamy stout?

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Homercidal

Homercidal

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Hey all, I'm working on a stout for my wife and she really likes the very thick and creamy styles that we've tasted before. I've brewed an oatmeal stout, with like 2 lbs. of oats before and it's ok, but not really as smooth and creamy as I'd like.

What I might try next time is the oats again, and this time maybe up the mash temp to something like 158-160, and maybe some dextrine.

It's supposed to be a sweet stout, so I'm not terribly worried about it being too sweet. It's also going to have 1 lb. of lactose.

Here is the basic recipe:

6.5 lb. Pale Malt
2 lb. Oats
1 lb. Chocolate Malt
1 lb. Crystal 60L
12 oz. Roasted Barley
8 oz. Malto Dextrine
1 lb. Lactose
8 oz. cocoa powder 5 minutes

1/2 ounce Magnum
8 ounce cacao nibs secondary


What do you think?
 
The recipe looks pretty solid. For what it's worth, here's my experience:

I have brewed two sweet stouts with the same grain bill. One of which I followed the water advice listed here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/mashing-perfect-sweet-stout-173417/, although I used a Chloride to Sulfate ratio of 2. The other, I brewed with straight RO water. The sweet stout with the water additions was the better beer. It was smoother, maltier, and creamier than the straight RO version. You may also have luck adding salt additions post-mash to alter the flavor of the finished beer while avoiding potential mash pH issues.

Water profile for the adjusted beer (values in ppm):
Calcium = 90
Magnesium = 17
Sodium = 95
Chloride = 138
Sulfate =72
Chloride / Sulfate = 1.92


Of course, there's always nitrogren too.

Full Disclosure: I am not an expert on water chemistry.
 
Pie_Man said:
The recipe looks pretty solid. For what it's worth, here's my experience:

I have brewed two sweet stouts with the same grain bill. One of which I followed the water advice listed here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/mashing-perfect-sweet-stout-173417/, although I used a Chloride to Sulfate ratio of 2. The other, I brewed with straight RO water. The sweet stout with the water additions was the better beer. It was smoother, maltier, and creamier than the straight RO version. You may also have luck adding salt additions post-mash to alter the flavor of the finished beer while avoiding potential mash pH issues.

Water profile for the adjusted beer (values in ppm):
Calcium = 90
Magnesium = 17
Sodium = 95
Chloride = 138
Sulfate =72
Chloride / Sulfate = 1.92


Of course, there's always nitrogren too.

Full Disclosure: I am not an expert on water chemistry.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I wont' have any problems adjusting my water. And RO water is really not a good idea for AG brewing as the mash needs a specific pH range in order to perform well.

I'm mostly looking on input on the part about adding creaminess. I'm hoping I'm not off base by wanting to use dextrine along with lactose and crystal.
 
What I was trying to say in my initial post, is that I believe the salt additions, and particulary the high chloride to sulfate ratio, made the beer creamier. The stout without additions was astringent whereas the the first beer was maltier and creamier, with a much smoother roasted flavor. I mashed both recipes with the roasted grains by the way.

Also, you may consider increasing the lactose a touch and adding flaked unmalted barley.

As a side note, the mash conversion for the RO beer was fine and the beer finished with a lower FG than the adjusted beer, although I agree, it's not a best practice.
 

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