Excess Aromatic Malt

I pulled a stout recipe from Beer Smith and bought the ingredients today. The person who created the recipe was 2nd Place for Stout, Michigan State Fair, 2005 (43.5points).

It calls for a 15.75 pound grain bill, and four of those pounds were briess aromatic malt. I did add one extra pound of 2 row, though....so 16.75 lbs. I'm told that this is a LARGE amount for a recipe....but it must have been pretty good to win 2nd.

I already picked up my ingredients, and all the grain is mixed.

Grain Bill

5 lbs 2 row
4 lbs aromatic malt
1.5 lbs roasted barley
1 lbs chocolate malt
1 lbs crystal 80L
1 lbs Vienna Malt
12 oz flaked barley
4 oz black patent malt
4 oz dark crystal
1 lbs lactose

How is the 4 lbs of aromatic malt going to affect the recipe?

It adds a very large malt flavor and aroma. 25% of grist is pretty high for it, but I've never scored 43.5 so what do I know...

VTBrewer said:

It adds a very large malt flavor and aroma. 25% of grist is pretty high for it, but I've never scored 43.5 so what do I know...

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No 43.5 scores here either but . . . .

[FONT=Helvetica, Arial](Mildly Kilned)[/FONT][FONT=Helvetica, Arial]Used at rates of up to 10%, Aromatic malt will lend a distinct, almost exaggerated malt aroma and flavor to the finished Ales and Lagers. Aromatic malt also has a rich color and is high in diastatic power for aid in starch conversion. D/C Aromatic malt. As the name suggests, adds aromatics to a beer. [/FONT]

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And . . .

General brewing information:
Aromatic malt is high in diastatic power and can convert itself completely; however, because of the extremely strong aromatics it lends to the finished beer, most brewers avoid using more than 10% in a batch to maintain balance.

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Let us know how it turns out.

Maybe the hops have something to do with being able to use so much aromatic malt....i'm still pretty new to brewing, but;

.5 oz magnum 14% for 60 min
.5 oz goldings 4.10% for 30 min
.5 oz fuggle 4.75% for 5 min
.5 oz goldigns 4.10% 5 min
.5 oz fuggle 4.75% for 0 min (commencement of boil?)
.5 oz goldings 4.10% for 0 min (commencement of boil?)

Seems like he finished strong on the hops, maybe overwhelming the aromatic malt.

Any chance you copied it wrong?

It Smells like Coffee

Edit:
Missed the extra pound of 2-row you mentioned in the OP . . .

jjayzzone said:

.5 oz fuggle 4.75% for 0 min (commencement of boil?)
.5 oz goldings 4.10% for 0 min (commencement of boil?)

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0 min is when the boil is over. ie: when you shut off the burner. flameout.

VTBrewer said:

0 min is when the boil is over. ie: when you shut off the burner. flameout.

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so, how long do I leave those hops in at that point?

AnOldUR; maybe someone figured out how to use more that 10% aromatic malt....I guess we'll see when this brew is done.

I added the extra pound of 2-row because the recipe maker had 82% efficiency. I might get 70%. Man, I need to get my own grain mill. I batch sparge and I got like 64% efficiency on my last brew day. Hit my temps on the dot. Unacceptable. Off subject, but what % point increase can you expect from fly sparging as apposed to batch sparging?

This is also not a cheap recipe to make. Close to fifty bucks. The UK Goldings were close to $4/oz.

Fred's Beer Style Page

The guy who made that beer is no joke!

Midwest says up to 50% on their Aromatic, so I guess I was wrong.

You just chuck them in when you take the kettle off the heat. I don't use a hops bag, so they (and other hops) end up in my strainer as I pour into primary. Some people don't bother with that.

Fred didn't win all those. Fred compiled them.

Oh....lol.

And as for the 10% on the aromatic, i've seen the same thing.....the workers at the brewshop even commented that four pounds was a ton. I ignored them and trusted the 43.5 score.

Brewing today. Smells great. It also has great frothy goodness in the mash tun. "It smells like Coffee" is right! I'm really excited for this brew....

I've had ohiobrewtus' 100% Aromatic beer and it was surprisingly drinkable. Weird stuff 'dems malts is.

PseudoChef said:

Weird stuff 'dems malts is.

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Yes they are. Gunna have to try this recipe.

http://s564.photobucket.com/albums/ss88/jjayzzone/?action=view&current=100_6173.jpg

Black as night.

Details:

I went light on my sparge water because I didn't want to boil for three hours. I boil with two pots with natural gas on my stove. On a 15.75 lb grain bill, I mashed with 22 quarts, and I sparged with 20 quarts (way below). I boiled for 90 minutes, then when i transferred to the carboy, I had an extra gallon of wort, which I had to discard. OG 1.067. According to Beersmith, 81% efficiency, although I dumped out one gallon....not sure how to calculate with that. Seems like a good brew day. I expected efficiency in the 60's, so my OG ended much higher than I anticipated.

Made a starter yesterday.....the carboy overflowed.....1 1/2 hours after pitching. I had to replace the airlock with a blowoff tube into a bowl of sanitizer solution.

Not wise to primary in a 5 gal carboy and no blowoff. You are almost guaranteed to lose a bunch of beer in the resulting volcano even with the blowoff. Looks good otherwise.

+1 on carboy size. I've only had one go nuts like this before, but I thought that was because I shook the carboy (It didn't "seem" to be fermenting after a couple of days. Moral of the story....it was). Next carboys I buy will be 6-6.5 gallon for sure.

OG 1.067.....bubbled like crazy for about 48 hours, then slowed down quickly. I've not seen a bubble for a couple of days. The gravity reading is about 1.033. Is this a stuck fermentation, or is this the result of the lactose that was added, as well as other unfermentable sugars in the beer? Thanks.

EDIT: I also made a starter, but I brewed the next day after starting....about 24 hours. That starter was bubbling after an hour.