Stout Question

[KCBrew]

Or really a question about stouts, as the question itself is not all that stout...

I am about 12 days into an AHS oatmeal stout and am about to do a IPA. I'm thinking about moving the stout to secondary (5 gal) so I can use the primary (6.5 gal) for the IPA. If I do this I was thinking of taking maybe a gallon of the stout to dry hop with some palisades just for fun. What do you guys think? Is this something you have tried before?

If it sounds a little more trouble than it's worth then I would just do the IPA in the 5 gal and use a blowoff tube to be safe.

TIA!

 

[cvstrat]

There's no real reason not to try. Experimenting is part of the fun. I would probably recommend making sure you use a small carboy for the 1gal part to prevent excess oxidation. Just keep a very accurate log of what you are doing so in case it works you can recreate it.

 

[david_42]

Many people have tried turning stouts in to hoppy beers, doesn't work. I do not like the way most hops clash with the roast and coffee flavors of a good stout. The few dark hoppy beers I've liked have used de-husked barley or chocolate wheat.

No reason to not rack to the smaller carboy though.

 

[KayaBrew]

I'll bet Willamette hops would be nice to dry hop a stout with.

 

[cvstrat]

I don't really believe he couldn't dry hop a stout. The idea would be to avoid trying to make it a hopfest like an IIPA. However I do product an American stout which has more hop character than a traditional stout and It's IMO the best stout I've ever had of any type. I would say if you were to hold off on some of the aroma hops and do a SMALL dry hop you could probably achieve a pretty decent beer.

There are plenty of beer styles coming out that have never been done before. Just because it hasn't been done well yet doesn't mean it can't be. But like david said it might take significant experimentation and repeated failure.

 

[KCBrew]

Thanks all! So that brings me to my second question. I've never worked with Palisades before. And for dry hopping I've only once dry hopped an American Pale with Cascades (1oz). Should I just go ahead and do an equivalent step down (.2 oz for 1 gallon) or is it not a linear scale for hopping, or do you have any other more specific instructions for palisades (6.5-7.4%AA) (ie generally use more/less than other hops).

 

[mrbowenz]

By dry hopping, your not going to turn your stout into an IPA, you will get some aroma , but that's about it, dry hopping does not add any bitterness per se, try it, you can't go wrong. As far as the amount, since your adding dry hops, you could add as much or as little, your only getting aroma . I would try an once for your 1 gallon, if it's too much let it sit, and the hop aroma will fade in time, if you like it , drink it .

 

[kanzimonson]

Yeah, step down the amount of hops proportionally to the volume.

I think it's a great idea and I'd love to hear the results - I made an imperial stout (recently posted in my recipes) that has some huge hop flavor and aroma. No dry hopping, though, but I was tempted. Try a bottle of the Victory Storm King Stout - that's got some serious hopping that I can only assume includes some dry hopping due to the potency.

 

[DBbrewing]

I dry hopped my Oatmeal Stout and I thought it was great. I sent in to a homebrew competition and it did get a 3rd place but they said that the hop arroma and hop flavor is not to style, I used cascade.