Kinda Mexican Cake-ish

[Rish]

Yesterday brewed the base for hopefully something similar to Mexican Cake. I took the ingredients from an NB chocolate milk stout, cut it back to 3 gallon with an additional 1# of Briess wheat dme, adjusted IBUs to 50. OG 1.104. 65°F
I guess I used the S-04 that was supposed to go in this on something else and the only beer yeast I had was W-34/70. I'm wondering how that may affect the character of this brew.
I'll make tinctures of the individual spices and habaneros to add at bottling so I can try to match the MC I'll be sipping while bottling.

 

[Rish]

^^ Fermenting away nicely. Lots of rotten egg smell! I'm guessing it's from the lager yeast. I'll leave it in the fermenter for at least a month anyway, so that should take care of it.

 

[jordanfrenzy]

W34/70 makes great dark beer. Don't think there's any problem using it when the recipe calls for ale yeast. I like to use a bunch of it because it is cheap and ferment it really low. I like my stouts smooth rather than roasty and the lager yeast really does the trick.

Birmingham, AL or UK?

 

[Rish]

Hey, @jordanfrenzy , thanks for the info. I'm in AL. Have you (or anyone else who runs across this) had any issues with W34/70 stalling? This beer started out at 1.102, now at 1.050 and not dropping. I've tried rousing and bumping up the temp with no improvement. Starting to worry. Any suggestions welcome!

 

[jordanfrenzy]

Cool, Birmingham is my hometown.

I've never had issues with it stalling, but I didn't really think about your gravity when I first read this thread. Most things I've fermented have been around 1.055 OG.

How many packets of 34/70 did you use?

 

[Rish]

1 pack rehydrated in a 3 gallon batch. Thinking about a starter with Nottingham to get it going again. Let me know if you're back in B'ham; maybe we can get beer.

 

[Rish]

Checked sg again, still 1.050, so rehydrated and pitched a package of Nottingham.

 

[Rish]

It dawned on me that I didn't account for the ppg of the lactose I put in so the fg was higher than I expected. On 02/04 it tasted great so I bottled it with a heaping 1/2 teaspoon table sugar per 12 oz bottle.