Just curious what was your SG? And what was the final recipe you went with?
I tried to preserve and leave your recipe intact as much as possible. I mean that's the whole point of this thread is to come up with the perfect recipe for a S'More Stout. The only changes were:
- I could not get the WLP-007 so I went with it's dry yeast equivalent, SafAle English Ale Yeast, S-04
- In order to achieve your recommended perceived bitterness ratio of 0.5 to 0.6 while still having an estimated IBU of 43.9 I had to bump up the base malt quantity by 2 pounds. All of the other specialty grains and ingredients remained the same.
- I know what my boil off rate is for 60 minute boils. So I didn't want to take a chance with a 90 minute boil until I can experiment with a 90 minute boil sometime in the future and gather data for BeerSmith
BTW . . .
After reading your comment about how the graham crackers contributed to a higher than expected OG, I did a little research to try and find out what the potential SG of graham crackers might be. I found a recommendation of 1.006. After seeing that my actual OG came in higher than estimated, I'm not sure if that was due to the graham crackers or the fact that I am still working on getting my estimated brew house efficiency numbers in BeerSmith to be more accurate (I only recently starting using this software). A contribution value of 1.006 SG still might be a little low, but it's a start.
The brew was just transferred to the secondary after 8 days and had less than 5 bubbles / minute in the airlock. I will post a follow up after I achieve FG and do a taste test to see if it needs more of something to be added prior to bottling.
S'More Stout Recipe
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Total Grain Weight: 17 lbs
Est Original Gravity: 1.069 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.023 SG
Est Color: 50.4 SRM
Est ABV: 6.1 %
Est Bitterness: 43.0 IBUs
Desired IBU/SG ratio: 0.5 to 0.6
Boil Time: 60 min
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage
Measured Original Gravity: 1.074 SG
Measured IBU/SG ratio: 0.6
Ingredients
1 lbs Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM)
8 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)
1 lbs 12.0 oz Graham Crackers (70.0 SRM) (estimated SG potential is 1.006)
12.0 oz Barley, Flaked (1.4 SRM)
12.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)
12.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)
12.0 oz Victory Malt (25.0 SRM)
8.0 oz Mesquite Smoked Malt (5.0 SRM)
8.0 oz Midnight Wheat Malt (550.0 SRM)
8.0 oz Roasted Black Barley (515.0 SRM)
4.0 oz Honey Malt (17.5 SRM)
2.00 oz East Kent Goldings [5.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min, 31 IBUs
1.00 oz East Kent Goldings [5.60 %] - Boil 30.0 min, 13 IBUs
1 lbs Milk Sugar (Lactose) [Boil for 15 min](0.0 SRM)
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10.0 mins)
6.00 oz Cocoa Powder (unsweetened) (Boil 10.0 mins)
1.0 pkg SafAle English Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-04)
2.00 Items Vodka, Marshmallow, 50ml Airplane Size (Secondary 2+ weeks)
2.00 Items Vanilla Bean (pre-sanitized in vodka) (Secondary 2+ weeks)
Mash Profile
Mash at 151.0 F for 90 min
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F
Carbonation
Volumes of CO2: 2.3
Carbonation Used: Bottle 5.0 gal with 3.93 oz Corn Sugar
Age for: 30.00 days
Storage Temperature: 65.0 F
Notes
Make a slit down the center of the vanilla beans and scrape out the filling. Soak / sanitize the filling and the outer shells in marshmallow flavored vodka for 1 week before adding to secondary.