Thick...Syrupy...sludgy...STOUT!!! How to get it!!

Ok, so i've been brewing a while now...a little over a year. I've made almost 20 batches. They are all starting to come out rather nice finally. They were all drinkable...but 3-4 that i expiramented with were not so much fun

Anyway. I want that sludgy stout. and I want it bad. I've made enough of these light stouts...I've made syrupy beer before but it happened when my yeast died and the beer didn't attenuate past 1028-1030. Anyway plenty of mistakes along the way..but I want that thick syrup that you find in say Many Imperial Stouts / Brooklyn Double Choclate Stout / Founders Backwoods bastard bourbon barrel stout / ect ect....

So far it seems like MALTODEXTRIN is a key ingrediant I have been missing out on to create the desired effect.

What I want to know is....is this really the key? I've done some minimashes with oatmeal...and yes it "increases body" but not the way I was thinking.

How can I make a thick dark stout...something that really feels like breakfast in a bottle? Obviously it means lots of unfermentables...but I just can't seem to find alot of information on this...

Who wants to help a brother out.

Thanks!

you're right on track. The goal is to increase the amount of unfermentable sugars in the final beer. Maltodextrin is great for this. Flaked oats, Flaked Barley, Carapils, and Crystal malts will add body as well. Be careful with the crystal, so that you don't end up too sweet.

Also make sure you are mashing a little higher and you can use a less attenuative yeast.

How sweet do you want it? How much alcohol?

Oats and a higher mash temp. I am not a huge fan of using a ton of caramel malts in a stout. I have been known to use up to 2 pounds of oats in a 6 gallon batch.

10 pound two row
2 pound oats
8 oz chocolate malt
6 oz crystal 120
4 oz roasted barley

this alone would get you a nice chewy stout.....mash this hummer at 155 and try out some less attenuative english yeast. I think a yeast like notty or US-05 is going to eat up more of the body of the beer than a yeast like S-04.

I thinken mine up by using 4oz of Carapils. If you want it sweet, 6 or 8oz of lactose will thicken it too.

And run your minimash around 155F. It creates more unfermentables, which also makes it thicker.

You say you've done some minimashes... You need to take the reigns and go all grain! You'll get more control of the body of the beer when doing full mashes. Remember - most extracts are made for a mid-level amount of body. And, I think you could go higher than 155 if you wanted. I usually stick between 148 and 154 myself, but I was just listening to CYBI last night and Lagunitas mashes their IPA at 160! crazy...

I did one, my masehd ended up at 158 - 159, and I just let it go. My OG was 1.065 I think, and FG at 1.019. Definitely a thick beer. Turned out pretty well. If you want to do a PM, I would get as much grain in it as possible, and mash close to that 160 mark, that could get you pretty close, also lots of dark crystal and chocolate helps.

Hey h4rdluck!

I am in the process of brewing one at the moment. A big stout (roughly12.5%) it's fermented down to 1.040 gravity and feels a bit like drinking syrup. Not a gram of maltodextrin in it at all but a kilo of honey and 9kg of malt! I mashed at 64 celciuis or around 148 F. I'll add the grain load in the morning but I used 1kg of oats which helps too!

T

+1 for oats and mashing high. Best stout I ever made was 10% toasted flaked oats and FG of 1.020 which seems high for a modest 1.05x OG. The oats seem to give body without the extra baggage you get from carapils or crystal. It also seems to get thicker with time - like drinking a milkshake, not syrupy though.

A large amount of aromatic, abbey or melanoidin malt with a judicious use of crystal.

As for mash temp if the SG is high (1.100+) then you should mash low.

I found oats to be disappointing, rye is great but very characterful, flaked barley is my go to.

Thick is easy to do with big stouts. If you are going for Imperial, then simply mash high, add lots of grain, maybe some crystal/maltodextrine, and let it go.

Adding honey, or sugar will thin it back down. Generally the higher the OG the thicker the beer, unless you add extra sugar. That stuff will ferment completely and leave you only alcohol, which thins the body.

Oh, and oats. Oats can really help too.

I recently asked a pro-brewer friend I know the same question. This was his response....take it FWIW.

"Lots of grain, 50% plus in specialties, first runnings only, boil for 3-5 hrs to get to 28-30 plato...then ferment. FG will be very high"

So the recipe I used is as follows (in kg and L sorry to the american folks)
I use a brew in a bag method with 2 pots, one for the brew bag and the other for a manual scoop and replace sparge type method

6kg Manuka smoked malt (can substitute for wood smoked grain also)
0.5kg Carafa 2
0.6kg Rye
0.6 Black malt
0.3 Roast Barley
1kg oats

total of about 20lbs of grain to 5gal of water
finally 1kg honey added during the boil

Also added 1L of Espresso made with 100 grams of good coffee after the boil.

all this for a 20L brew, mashed at 65 Celsius/147 F for 90 Minutes and boiled for the same.

Some centennial hops added for bittering and 20mins from end of boil.

The result is a starting gravity of 1.108 and is currently down to 1.030 after 3 days fermentation. Still massively think and syrupy

If your OG is up higher than say 1.090 you should end up with what you want with around a 150 -155 mash temp unless you add brett. Most yeast will attenuate at 80% on the high end. Adding oats would just be insurance.

I love thick sweet stouts. Lots of great advice here, let me give you a recipe that worked out really well for me.

4.5 gal
57% mash efficiency
O.G. = 1.132
F.G. = 1.040
ABV = 13.1%

15.7 lb Marris Otter
2.8 lb Munich
1.5 lb Flaked Oats
1.2 lb Roasted Barley
1.2 lb Chocoalte Malt
1.2 lb Carafa III
0.7 lb Crystal 40
0.7 lb Crystal 120
1.4 lb Maple Syrup (flameout)
0.8 lb DME

120 min boil
1.9 oz Columbus 90 min
0.9 oz Hallertauer 5 min

Wyeast Irish Ale (large starter)

I expected to get lower than 1.040 but I'm glad I didn't. I even mashed at 150, so I'm not sure I'd go any higher. It has the thick luxurious mouthfeel of Bourbon County. After 6 or 7 months on oak cubes, I added bourbon, vanilla bean and coffee. Sweet, but good balance of roast from the malts and coffee.

I brewed this a second time with 56% cherrywood smoked malt, no maple, and wy1968.