My grain % list for my stout im making is
75% Pale ale malt, 10% roasted barley, 10% cara malt, 5% chocolate malt.
Ive been researching a bit and ive found columbus hops with 14% alpha acid to be one i might go for. Im looking for a smooth stout with hints of sweetness and it think about 33g of columbus would be sufficient.
I am sort of basing it off this beer
Irish Craft Stout - Rye River Brewing Company
Any other insights/opinions welcome - I am new to brewing
Some thoughts, but first, per the Rye River Brewing Company's website...
As a new brewer, do not fall into the more malts is better trap. The best beers in the world are often made with just 1 or 2, maybe three fermentables.
This is a confusing recipe for an Irish Dry Stout which is often made from just Pale Malt, Flaked Barley, and Roasted Barley or other dark malt. Milk stouts have lactose to sweeten them up. Never heard of Melanoidin 60-80 which I would guess is like a Brown Malt and is the backbone of English Porter. Amber Malt is an English biscuit type malt. Carafa II is a German malt and would provide similar flavor to dark chocolate malt (coffee and chocolate). Torrefied barley would be similar to flaked barley. Your recipe is different, and in my opinion that is a good thing as the Rye River Recipe is a little busy - although it may be really good.
My only thoughts on your recipe.
Regarding hops - 33 grams of 14% AA hops will provide about 45 IBU which is at the top end for a Dry Irish Stout. If you want bitter then go for it, but if you want something "smoother", like Murphy's or Beamish, relative to Guinness you may want to reduce the hop quantity to provide about 35 IBU. If you are only adding the hops for bittering (60 mins), then the hop type does not matter much.
Regarding grain bill - the roasted barley and chocolate malt account for 15% of your grain bill which will provide
quite a bit of roast. If that is what you are targeting, go for it, if not you may want to tone it down to about 10% of total. The 10% caramalt will definitively give you the sweetness (10% is a medium-high amount of crystal) you desire as well as caramel flavors depending on the lovibond - light, a little caramel; medium, more caramel; and if you go dark, you will start to get dark fruit flavors. One last thought, your recipe does not include any flaked or torrefied barley which provides body to Irish Stouts. You may want to add about 10%, just reduce your pale malt, and if you do, be weary of Maris Otter as it has very low diastatic power (50 Lintner) and may require a slightly lower mash temp (150ish) and/or longer mash time to convert the unmalted barely (flaked or torrefied).
Happy Brewing!
