Special B in a coffee stout?

[pig140]

I've been planning a nitro coffee stout for over 6 months. When Sam Adams came out with one I noticed they use Special B. Never thought of that for a coffee stout. What would 2-3 oz (1-1.6%) do in a 5 gallon batch?

Opinions?

 

[giraffe]

2-3% will give a burnt raisin note. Not unpleasant in a dark beer. Dont go crazy with it.

 

[Bosh]

Used 200g of caraaroma in a five liter batch of porter and that's pretty much the same thing as Special B. Was very nice, rich and a bit fruity without being sweet. Was a very popular beer.

 

[pig140]

I keep reading about the "fruity" or "fig" flavors of special B. I'm not sure that belongs in a coffee stout. Would 1% just be a color adjustment or still noticeable?

 

[giraffe]

I get more dark raisin/fruitcake, but i guess fig could be there too. 1% will be noticeable but barely. Its pretty potent.

 

[Bosh]

Think the bit of fruitiness works fine in a dark beer, chocolate covered raisins are pretty damn tasty.

Also about 1% is interesting in a pale beer as well.

But yeah really really potent.

 

[pig140]

We tasted the grain and then tasted the stout we were cloning. Once I was looking for it, I could tell it was there. We ended up going with 2%. We have about 8% English roasted barley and some dark crystal in it as well as flaked barley. Surprisingly we got 73% efficiency batch sparging and overshot by 4 points. We normally average 69%.

 

[SteveHeff]

We tasted the grain and then tasted the stout we were cloning. Once I was looking for it, I could tell it was there. We ended up going with 2%. We have about 8% English roasted barley and some dark crystal in it as well as flaked barley. Surprisingly we got 73% efficiency batch sparging and overshot by 4 points. We normally average 69%.

Keep us posted. I'm curious as to how this will work out too.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

This past years NHC gold RIS uses a bit of special b. I like it in my stouts as well. If your using a lot of chocolate and RB then you can get away with using more special b. But if your not going too heavy on the dark malts I probably wouldn't use more than 4oz. The flavor is definitely toffee and sugar covered raisins.

 

[pig140]

I used 4 oz. I didn't do any chocolate malt. I'm not a fan of the real chocolatey taste in a stout - strange, I know. But the roasted barley was around 9% and a half pound of english crystal 60/75. It falls under the "American Stout" category but we used mostly english malts. Normally I stay in guidelines but this one we planned to just do what we wanted.

OG ended up 1.054. We used White labs Irish ale yeast and it was going within 12 hours at 63 degrees. 32 IBU's and 38 SRM. I'm gonna do a 5 day cracked coffee bean "dry-hop". I also plan to have cold brewed coffee on standby for adjustment on keg day.

I'll definitely post a follow up!

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

I used 4 oz. I didn't do any chocolate malt. I'm not a fan of the real chocolatey taste in a stout - strange, I know. But the roasted barley was around 9% and a half pound of english crystal 60/75. It falls under the "American Stout" category but we used mostly english malts. Normally I stay in guidelines but this one we planned to just do what we wanted.

OG ended up 1.054. We used White labs Irish ale yeast and it was going within 12 hours at 63 degrees. 32 IBU's and 38 SRM. I'm gonna do a 5 day cracked coffee bean "dry-hop". I also plan to have cold brewed coffee on standby for adjustment on keg day.

I'll definitely post a follow up!

You ever consider dry hopping the keg with the beans? Its nice because you can just put the gas on for a second and take a little sample to see how its coming along. Then when its ready take out the beans and carb it up. 4oz for ~5 days is usually about the sweet spot for me as well.

 

[pig140]

I keg in sanke sixth barrel kegs so it's a little trickier. I've been toying with maybe even going 5 oz. I also thought about pushing it to 7 days, but I'm afraid the coffee beans would be to the point of unfavorable bitterness.

 

[pig140]

This is from the hydrometer sample. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1458952084.296868.jpg

 

[Bosh]

Just finished off my last of a batch with 200g of the stuff and damn does it work. Best beer I've ever made especially with a lot of late addition Northern Brewer lurking about. Rich and dark without being sweet or bitter.

 

[pig140]

I'm pretty excited about it. I followed my own outline blending a dry stout and an American stout. I did only bittering hops.

I've been tasting different coffees for 2 days trying to pick one. I want a strong coffee note. I was thinking dark roast at first but now I'm second guessing. Some taste like ash. Seems a lot of brewers do a low acid medium or medium-dark roast for less oils. But then I read that other people use espresso... 🤔

 

[pig140]

Update: Dropped 5oz of cracked coffee beans today after pulling a sample. OG: 1.054, FG 1.013

It's good, real good. I may even add special B to my standard Irish stout now.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

To paraphrase the ad for Frank's Red Hot...Special B, I put that sh@#t in everything. I cannot get enough of the flavor.

 

[BeardedBeerMan]

Special B is probably one of my favorite malts. Some of my first brews were Belgian quad/Trappist-style ales using B. I love the dark fruit and raisin flavor from this malt

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

To paraphrase the ad for Frank's Red Hot...Special B, I put that sh@#t in everything. I cannot get enough of the flavor.

I try and keep a minimum of 3lbs of special B on hand. But just like my bottles of franks red hot, I look a couple days after getting it and suddenly I am out.

I know it's not a replacement for 120L Crystal, but it is much more flavorful and complex so if I am looking at a recipe and they use 120 I just use special B instead. Sipping s milk stout right now with 4oz of special B (I think it's like 2-3% of the malt bill) that's quite enjoyable. I think you'd have to hit the 7-10% range for it to be very assertive in a stout(this doesn't include American/dry stouts).

 

[Onkel_Udo]

I try and keep a minimum of 3lbs of special B on hand. But just like my bottles of franks red hot, I look a couple days after getting it and suddenly I am out.

I know it's not a replacement for 120L Crystal, but it is much more flavorful and complex so if I am looking at a recipe and they use 120 I just use special B instead. Sipping s milk stout right now with 4oz of special B (I think it's like 2-3% of the malt bill) that's quite enjoyable. I think you'd have to hit the 7-10% range for it to be very assertive in a stout(this doesn't include American/dry stouts).

I bought a split of a 55# years ago (4?)...down to 2#'s now.

 

[pig140]

Almost carbed to perfection. Still needs a little more time on beer gas, but the taste is amazing already. It's creamy with only a little residual sweetness noted at 1.013. I'm glad I ditched the cocoa nibs and lactose from the recipe. The special B is really good, but it could easily handle a little more. It's black as night but with a nice ruby color when held up to the light. The coffee additions are perfect for what we were looking for.

This is probably the second best beer we have ever made. I'm trying to stay out of it until it's carbed up. I keep it on beer gas, but I've been doing several hours of straight CO2 while I'm home so I can monitor it. Next time, I'll carb it with straight CO2 until I hit 1.2 to 1.6 volumes and then switch it over.