"Boondock" Irish Stout

Grains:
0.5 lbs. Caramel/Crystal Malt 80L
2.0 lbs. (Black) Roasted Barley 300 SRM
0.33 lbs. Flaked Barley 1.7 SRM

Extract:
4 lbs. Pale (Medium) Liquid Extract
1.75 lbs. Light DRY Extract

Hops:
1 oz. Target (Beginning)
1 oz. East Kent Goldings (Finishing)

Yeast:
Munton's Gold

Bring 4.5 quarts of water to just shy of a boil
Cut heat, add all grains and steep for 50 minutes
Add water to sparge and stir in malt extracts
return to boil and add beginning hops for 1 hour
40 minutes into the boil, add Goldings hops, stirring every once in a while
remove from heat, strain out hops, add to fermenter and add cold water
cool wort to 70 degrees and pitch yeast.

bottling: stir in 3/4 cup of corn sugar to boiling water and dissolve. add to beer before bottling.

primary fermentation for 1 week at 65 degrees
condition in bottles for 2 weeks at 60 degrees

I'm pretty sure this is as close to the actual recipe as I could get. The dark barley amount might be a little off, but its definitely very close.

Friends tell me its the best thing I've ever brewed, and some say its one of the best stouts they've ever had, so I'm very encouraged. It's "like" Guinness in some respects, but still very unique in its overall taste. - Very similar body, head, and texture for example.

Planning to brew again soon!

"And Shepherds we shall be, For thee my lord for thee, power hath descended forth from thy hand that our feet may swiftly carry out thy command. And we shall flow a river forth to thee, and teeming with souls shall it ever be. In Nomini Patri, et fili, et spiritus sancti."

Rent this:
Overnight (2003)

...it's quite an eye opener

definitely looking forward to this:
Boondock Saints 2 Production Diaries

finally... i hope its good.

A second Boon Dock Saints?

Wtf

I am brewing this recipe tomorrow.

I'm curious as to how this is. My friend and I are going to brew an Irish Stout real soon. Looking at something to try first, then experiment with our own ideas after.


Also, The Boondock Saints is awesome. #2 better not suck. Hopefully it's as good if not better than the first.

That's a hefty roasted barley addition. This one's gonna have some backbone for sure. For stouts, I've had good luck with Whitbread. 1099 from Wyeast in liquid, and S-04 from SafAle in dry. Never used Muttons, but you know what they say, if it ain't broke...

A good trick is using a "Candy Thermometer" available in pretty much any grocery store. Throw the grains (in grain bag) in the cold water and bring your temp to about 150-160*F. Let 'em steep for 30 minutes once the temperature is reached, then remove and sparge with 1-2 quarts hot water (don't squeeze). (Important to remove them before the boil.) This makes it so the recipe is more "repeatable," although there is of course a lot to be said for simplicity.

There are merits to extending the primary time to 3 weeks, so that the yeast can "clean up" after themselves and guarantee a full and clean fermentation. I've seen some benefits from letting the bottle conditioning go for 3 to even 8 weeks (first 3 @ room temp, remaining time at cellar temp), especially for a darker beer. 1-2 weeks in the fridge before sampling also seems to provide some tasteable improvement, by letting sediment settle out.

Just some tips from experience, not trying to be one of those forum Know-It-Alls

I'll probably try something like this down the line. Thanks for posting it.

Pelikan said:

That's a hefty roasted barley addition. This one's gonna have some backbone for sure.

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Thats what I was thinking as well, I thought that the average stout should be around 1/2 to 1 pound of roasted barley, but then I thought what the hell, the worst thing that could happen is I would make beer

So, I threw caution to the wind and gave this recipe a try tonight. Let me tell you I had my share of issues, not recipe related but my head up my backside kind of issues. In the end, I still think I made beer

I came in at 1.046 OG.

I plan to keg and force carb. I'll post my results in the end....

Anyone else tasted a finished product of this? Honestly, it's top of my to-do list, as it just sounds amazing.

Plus, you know, Boondock Saints. That's at least +3 cool points right there, minimum.

Man, I can't wait to try mine. The thing took off like a rocket! I had a healthy ferment within 8 hours, and blowoff by that afternoon

I will report back in a few weeks with the results, as I plan to keg this one.

so after 15 days in primary, this beer finished at 1.014. I racked to the keg this afternoon and there it will set until St. pattys day.

Do you think it would benefit by keg conditioning at room temp for a week or two, or straight to the fridge?

nevermind, I decided to leave it out till I get back home next weekend. I purged three times, left it hooked up at 12 pounds for awhile and back into the fermentation room.

I tasted the hydrometer sample, and it was definitely hefty in the roasted barley dept. I cant' wait till its done!

Now that it's sadly all gone, I have to say my only real criticism of this brew was that it was a little less malty than I had hoped, and also had the tiniest, most elusive taste of too much roasted-ness... but you really had to stretch to notice it.

I think next time I'll probably substitute some chocolate barley for some of the roasted, but not too much.

Any ideas on how to make it just a little maltier, with more body?

dangerbrew said:

Now that it's sadly all gone, I have to say my only real criticism of this brew was that it was a little less malty than I had hoped, and also had the tiniest, most elusive taste of too much roasted-ness... but you really had to stretch to notice it.

I think next time I'll probably substitute some chocolate barley for some of the roasted, but not too much.

Any ideas on how to make it just a little maltier, with more body?

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I'd look into a specifically malty yeast, such as WLP 002 or Wyeast British Ale II.

Regarding the grain bill, subtract the flaked barley. It doesn't do much of anything at all in an extract brew. Ditch the LME, and do 5 lb light DME, or thereabouts. Add some malto-dextrine to increase body, about 6 oz. Use only .5 lbs roasted Barley, 1 pound chocolate. Increase the 80L to 120L.

Let it sit in the primary for a full 3 weeks before bottling, then keep it in bottles for 4-6 weeks before drinking.

So after letting it secondary in the keg for week, and then into the fridge for a week and half (I have been too busy (lazy) to take care of it) I re-racked into a second corny to get it off of any thing that had settled out and force carbed this beer last night.

I tasted the sample from the hydrometer (still at 1.014) and man is this beer awesome! Very heavy coffee taste from all that roasted barley, which I love :rockin:

I can't wait to share this with the crew on St. Patty's day!

glad to hear you're enjoying the boondock

my friends have been bugging me like crazy to make a new batch soon, so it looks like that's probably going to be the next on my list.

have a great st. paddy's!

I'm gonna start brewing this recipe next weekend. I only have a 3 gal carboy open so I think I'm just gonna cut the recipe down to size. Any reason why it wouldn't work? I'm really excited about this beer.

Let us know how it turns out in a 3 gallon brew. I just finished the last of mine a two night ago

Brewed a 3 gal batch today. Its my first stout and I cant wait to taste it. Hope its as good as you say.

A friend and I brewed this one pretty much straight off the original recipe, but we're going to secondary it with bourbon soaked oak chips and vanilla beans. Our OG was 1.052, only issue so far is that the gravity got stuck at 1.030 after 10 days, so we ended up throwing in a packet of Nottingham and some yeast nutrient to try to get the gravity going. Holy crap it smells fantastic though.

Glad to hear people are enjoying this, I have been looking for a simple recipe so I went shopping for the ingredients for this one yesterday. I subbed in oatmeal for flake barley and replaced .2 lbs of the dark malt with chocolate malt because of limited supply, but I am psyched to put it to the pot. I'll let you know how it goes.

I just bottled my second batch of this today with some slight alterations.

I have to say... MY GOD! I just tasted the sample of it and I drank the whole thing in about 15 seconds - it was just about as good as a finished beer! The taste was spot on - mildly chocolaty and moreso coffee tasting with good body and a nice hoppy aroma. I cannot WAIT to taste this batch - it may be the best thing I've ever made.

I'll post back when its finished and give the full report.

What did you tune up? I'm probably going to do something along these lines soon.

I just have to say... Having *finally* tasted my second batch of Boondock Stout, complete with tune-ups, is that it is the greatest beer I've ever produced by far. Perfect taste, smooth as a baby's bottom, and a body that rival's Guiness's reputation in Ireland as a 'scoop' rather than a beer.

I won't go into great detail in regards to exactly what I tuned up for the beer, as I'd like to keep it more of a personal secret, but I will say that if you play around with it enough you can make it even better than it was before. And that's saying something.

We've already finished 2 german growlers of it at this point, and my friends that have joined me for its debut all agree - it's just about the best stout they've ever had.

Best luck to everyone else who's brewing this beer - it's a winner for sure and I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Personal secret? Hmph.

Yeah that's kind of silly to post that you have a secret. Don't you want my friends to enjoy drinking your delicious recipe?

All I'm saying is that I'd like everyone to continue experimentation with the recipe and to try adding things that will make it taste the way they want it to. Sure, I wouldn't necessarily mind posting on here exactly how I altered mine, but I believe there's a certain beauty in keeping a few things to oneself when it comes to brewing - something that makes it uniquely yours - that no one else can quite exactly copy.

What I'm really saying is - I hope you all can come out with some variations that might be even better than what I've got - and that the variation is yours and only yours - something to truly be proud of so that you can say "This is MY version" with a true sense of satisfaction. In a sense, it's all about you guys.

I want the spirit of experimentation to live on with the Boondock.

i just brewed this yesterday but AHS was out of Target hops so i used ***** hops.

sorry, it's a trade secret now so i can't divulge that information to anyone.

i hear ***** hops are pretty bananas... any idea what aau?

oh wait.... yes... secrets....

IMG, I definitely agree that ***** hops are the necessary substitution for perfection of this brew. Also, I used to live in Burlington, and nobody out there understood when I was being sarcastic either. I think its something in the air... It smelled good but it made everyone sleepy.

On a more serious note, I have been enjoying my batch for a while. I substituted in oatmeal for the flaked barley and some chocolate malt for the dark roasted. The result was a thick, mild but tasty initial flavor, that does a complete 180 when you swallow it. It tastes like a typical stout at first but the after taste is smooth and delicious, with a light chocolaty oatmeal flavor that gets you ready for your next sip. I think my next move will be to add back in the flaked barley, and see how that changes things.

I definitely recommend the chocolate malt though. Just a little bit adds a lot of personality.

I am planning on making this next week as long as my brew shop has everything I need. Here is my list, tell me what you guys think.

.5 lbs crystal malt 120L
1.5 lbs roasted barley
.5 lbs chocolate malt

4lbs Pale liquid extract
1.5 lbs light dry extract

rest follows the OP. I also plan on using the same method as the OP. Does anyone else have suggestions on things to change? This will be my first extract brew so I am pretty excited. And just a couple questions to the OP, what temp did you boil at? And how much water did you add before the boil and after the boil?

Thanks:rockin:

I just called my brew shop and they don't have a couple things I was wanting to use. Could someone give me a good cross over hop for the target? And the yeast they recommend is nottingham..... has anyone used it that likes it? And last question for now is how much yeast would you use for a 5.5 gallon batch?

Thanks

i would try to get an english ale yeast (I used WLP 002) and i used a recipe similar to the ones with some changes. I subbed Fuggles for the Target hops.

5lbs Dark Dry Malt Extract
1lb Chocolate Malt
8oz. Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L
8oz. Roasted Barley

hops
60min 1.0oz Fuggles
20min 1.0oz East Kent Goldings

Just finished the keg of this stuff and i was very surprised at how good it was (messed up the PM and wasn't sure I would get the right flavors)

Bigred, I couldn't find the exact strain I used (bad note taking ) but I know I used the Wyeast Acivator smack pack, and I'm pretty sure it was the 1056 American Ale. Or you could use the London Ale, Either one should work just fine.

I am making this on Wednesday, but the best yeast I could find was nottingham. I have everything else, just need to make sure that this yeast will be ok. And also, do you think i will need a starter for it? Last question for now is would you guys suggest doing a full boil, or boiling part and adding the rest at the end? My brew pot is big enough, I just did a 6 gallon full boil today and it went fine.

Thanks for the help, it is much appreciated.

yeast should be fine, you can experiment on later brews.

I would always suggest a full boil, even on extract brews. As far as the starter, it never hurts but is probably not necessary. just make sure you aerate the wort really well.

So yesterday I brewed this up with a couple modifications.

1.5lbs of roasted barley
.5 chocolate malt
.5lb crystal 60, because they didn't have anything higher right now
nottingham yeast

it's been 14 hours since I put it in the carboy, and it is now flowing steady out the blow off.

I will report back when it's finished. I had a small sample right before I put it in the carboy, and it is the first green beer that I have liked at all. It has a strong roasted aroma, and at first, it has a hint of chocolate followed by a heavy coffee/roasted flavour. Time will reveal a bit more but I am already happy with it.

A big thanks goes out to everyone that helped with any questions I had.

Just an update on my brew. After just under 4 weeks in the primary I bottled it. Of course I had to have a sample. I am happy with the way it is so far, as expected, there is a very heavy roasted taste and aroma, I am thinking it will settle a bit with time in the bottles. I plan to try one next weekend(2 weeks after bottled), and I will report back when I try it.

Has anyone else brewed this in the last while? Hows everyone else liking it?

bigred said:

Has anyone else brewed this in the last while? Hows everyone else liking it?

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No.... I miss it

I need to brew this again, soon.

So I took opened up a bottle of this after 4 weeks in primary and 2 weeks bottled. I am very happy with it and will for sure be brewing this again. Mine finished at a bit higher FG than anticipated but regardless I am still happy with it. I also hit a higher OG than I thought I would. My OG was 1.060, and the FG was 1.022 or so. I would post review about it but I still don't have it figured out, and I think it may change a bit with a couple more weeks aging. I will post a review after that.

Again a big thanks to everyone who helped me out on my second brew

I'm just glad to see that everyone's enjoying the Boondock and coming up with their own variations...

To quote the movie (sort of):

"Homebrewtalk.com: We're sorta like 7-Eleven. We're not always doing business, but we're always open."

Keep em' comin!