First American Stout

[lway4life]

Brewing my first american stout soon and wanted some feedback. Recipe is as follows:

11 lbs 2 row
12 oz coffee malt
8 oz chocolate stout
8 oz of munich malt
4 oz carafa malt
4 oz flaked barley

1 oz cascade at 90 min
1oz fuggle at 30 min

1 starter of US-05

Mash at 152 for 60-90 min

90 min boil.

Looking for american stout that is smooth drinking.

 

[bdeck02]

I'd add an ounce or two of Willamette at flame out to add to your aroma. I did this with great results.

 

[fitzgerw]

Do you really want the citrus flavor of cascade in a stout

 

[Golddiggie]

If you're really looking to have an American Stout, you'll need to increase the IBU's. Going with 2oz of the bittering hop (Cascade) would do the trick. You could, also, move the Fuggles to either 15 or 20 minutes, for flavor. You'll still be within the style range then.

I would question the use of the carafa and Munich malts... You could get the same results from either Crystal 60 or 80 (8-12oz total)... I would also be inclined to consider increasing the amount of flaked barley to either 6oz or 8oz (to give it more body)...

Also, with the amount of roasted barley (what you called coffee malt) it will have a most definite coffee flavor to it... I hope you realize that chocolate malt won't give you chocolate flavors... It will just be more nutty...

With a little tweaking, I can see a solid first American stout brew coming from it... Of course, the beauty of home brewing, is you can tweak the recipe however you want to get the final brew you want.

 

[cyraxx]

Do you really want the citrus flavor of cascade in a stout

In an American Stout, certainly. It can be really delicious.

And to the OP, I recently made an American Stout but made the mistake of using roasted barley that was wayyyy too light (325L). It ended up lighter in color and roast character than I wanted. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[fitzgerw]

Oh I always think of a lower alpha non aroma hop in stouts

 

[bdeck02]

If you're really looking to have an American Stout, you'll need to increase the IBU's. Going with 2oz of the bittering hop (Cascade) would do the trick. You could, also, move the Fuggles to either 15 or 20 minutes, for flavor. You'll still be within the style range then.

I would question the use of the carafa and Munich malts... You could get the same results from either Crystal 60 or 80 (8-12oz total)... I would also be inclined to consider increasing the amount of flaked barley to either 6oz or 8oz (to give it more body)...

Also, with the amount of roasted barley (what you called coffee malt) it will have a most definite coffee flavor to it... I hope you realize that chocolate malt won't give you chocolate flavors... It will just be more nutty...

With a little tweaking, I can see a solid first American stout brew coming from it... Of course, the beauty of home brewing, is you can tweak the recipe however you want to get the final brew you want.

Boy, I like yer style

 

[dcp27]

kinda sounds more like a bigger dry stout to me (not that thats a bad thing, or really any different from all the variations of american stout). what are you looking at for OG and IBUs?

Do you really want the citrus flavor of cascade in a stout

what flavor, its a bittering add

 

[android]

Also, with the amount of roasted barley (what you called coffee malt) it will have a most definite coffee flavor to it... I hope you realize that chocolate malt won't give you chocolate flavors... It will just be more nutty...

i'm not sure i agree with the chocolate malt statement. sure, it's more roasty than chocolaty, but i still think it throws hints of chocolate into the flavor and aroma. maybe that's the combination of caramel and chocolate malt, but i definitely think it adds some perception of chocolate.

agreed with the carafa, use a dark crystal malt or just ditch it. and i would keep the munich, i like to put munich in most beers to help the bready/nutty/biscuity flavor department.

 

[Golddiggie]

android, I've not used a lot of chocolate malt in a recipe yet... Or not enough to get the chocolate flavors to come through. Depending on the percentage range, different malts will give different flavors...

I would just make sure the flavors being added are understood... Going too far with nutty/roasty flavors, or using malts that have the same flavor profiles doesn't make much sense to me...

Personally, I'd rather start off with the concept of the brew, and then make the grist match that, than just toss a bunch of dark malts together in order to get something really dark.

That being said, the breakfast stout I'm working on (posted the recipe in another thread I started) doesn't have any chocolate malt in it. Instead, I'm opting for chocolate powder and cacao nibs. For the coffee flavor, I'm using roasted barley plus other coffee additions during the process (post boil, most after fermentation is finished). I'm even adding some maple syrup (or plan to) after 1-2 weeks in primary. This is one brew that I'll probably rack onto a flavor element, and maybe even rack again to get off of that one. It all depends on how it develops over time. I could be looking at a couple of months before it's done fermenting and all the flavors have been added. I'm even thinking about putting a vanilla bean (or two) into the batch for 2-4 weeks (maybe longer) before it's set to age. Trying to keep the ABV more modest too (under 6.5%) since it IS supposed to be a breakfast stout... Not one during the week mind you, more for weekends... I'll probably bottle some in 12oz bottles for a change, to make more single serving size. Of course, I'll still use either the 750ml Belgians or 500ml Grolsch bottles for most of the batch... You don't HAVE to drink it just at breakfast...