w00tstout attempt

I decided to try brewing the w00tstout recipe on Northern Brewer's website. Since I was in a hurry to get grains, I bought everything from my LHBS instead. I had to make a lot of substitutions due to the recipe's malts not being available here (particularly Thomas Fawcett's Crystal Rye). That said, here's what I did.

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: 3 packets of US-05
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.123
Final Gravity: 1.027
IBU: 55
Boiling Time (Minutes): 90 min
Color: 41
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 2-4 weeks @ 67 F

12.50 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)
2.625 lbs White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM)
2 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
1.5 lbs Rye, Flaked (2.0 SRM)
1 lbs Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM)
0.75 lbs Black Patent Malt (500.0 SRM)
0.75 lbs Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)
0.50 lbs Cara 20 (Dingemans) (23.0 SRM)
0.25 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM)
0.25 lbs Rye Malt (4.7 SRM)
3.00 oz Toasted Pecans (Mash 1.5 hours)

1 lbs Candi Syrup, Golden (5.0 SRM) (Boil for 90 min)
2.00 oz Target hops (Boil for 90 min)
0.25 lbs Dark Brown Sugar (Boil for 15 min)
5.00 oz Toasted Pecans (Boil 0 min)
3.00 oz DeKuyper Creme De Cocoa (Boil 0 min)

1 cup Bourbon (Secondary 2 months)
2.00 oz American Medium Toast Oak Cubes (Secondary 2 months)

Mash at 152 for 90 min

Ferment at 65-67 degrees for 2-4 weeks
Secondary at 65-67 for 2 months

This beer is supposed to be 13% abv yet NB's recipe lists the OG at 1.108 which seems unlikely. When I punched it into Beersmith at 75% eff. I got 1.123. I was able to get 1.120 for my OG. I thought I might be running a tad low on my SG so that's why I decided to toss a bit of brown sugar at 15 min; the actual recipe does not call for it. I also decided to change the mash temp to get more body; the actual recipe calls for 148 for 2.5 hours.

Also, here's a few notes on the pecans. I bought the chopped bits from the baking aisle at Walmart. I toasted them for 15 min at 300 on a cookie sheet, put a paper towel over them, rolled with a rolling pin, then repeated 3 times. I still did not get all the oils out. I was also a bit squeamish to throw them in at flameout without proper sanitizing so I decided to put the 5 oz in a French press and top them off with bourbon. Again, it wasn't called for but it felt so right.

It's starting to bubble in the primary now. Hopefully it turns out pretty good.

After 3 days in primary. Still bubbling away.

After a week in the primary it's still bubbling a bit. I took a sample last night. The SG was down to 1.047. I'm hoping it can drop about 20 more points. More yeast might be in the forecast but we'll wait and see.

Not much activity from the yeast now. I pulled a sample and saw that the gravity is only down to 1.039. I've roused it a bit and raised the fermentation chamber's temp up to 68 from 65. I think I'll pick up some WLP099 tonight to make a (re)starter at some point and get the gravity down to the 1.027ish area. I'll probably keep checking the SG over the next few days to see if it lowers anymore but it doesn't look like much is happening.

Sample tastes good but boozy; it smells great. I've yet to add the oak and bourbon. I might still wait a few more weeks before I transfer to the secondary.

I added a 1 liter starter of WLP099 about a week ago. It got my gravity down to 1.032 where it's consistently been for the last few days. I guess that's as low as it's going to go. I'm thinking I'll rack to secondary soon since it's been 3 weeks since I brewed it.

Again the samples are tasting good. I'm not overly concerned with the high final gravity finish. It's currently sitting at 11.8% abv.

I've been meaning to update this for a while. I bottled this back on 11-18-15. The final gravity at bottling was 1.031 putting the ABV at 12% (not including the bourbon or chocolate liqueur additions). It's been in the bottle for 5 weeks and is still very thinly carbonated. I used the same method I use for every other beer I've made so I don't believe its due to a lack of priming sugar. I also pitched a packet of CBC-1 yeast into the bottling bucket to help promote a quicker carbonation. That obviously didn't happen. As for the taste, it's very good but without a little more carbonation it's definitely missing mouthfeel. I'm optimistic it will continue to carbonate in the coming weeks. It could become amazing with time. Its just taking forever.


Here's some pics:

It's finally carbed.

Looks great! Mine's been in a secondary on oak and bourbon for almost a month. Giving it until mid-March to bottle.

How's it compare now with more carbonation and another couple months under its belt?

Mine is really harsh. I think I might have put too much bourbon in it. I'm probably going to wait another month and see if things start to mellow. I was pretty excited to see it carbonated, then I drank it and went "whoooooa". It took me a while to finish off the bottle.

I think I could do a better job if I brewed it a 2nd time but overall it's been a pretty good experience. The next time I'd follow the mash on the recipe to promote a more fermentable wort, I'd use liquid yeast with as big of a starter as I can make, and I'd get rid of the oily nuts. Also, I'd only use enough bourbon to cover the oak.

It's been in the bottle for about 3 months. Who knows, maybe in 3 more months it'll be more mellow and easier to drink. I was able to trade for the real w00tstout but I want to wait to do a side by side. I've never had the real one before.

Any update on this brew PDM? I just brewed the extract version last night, rehydrated and pitched 2 packs of US05 at about 73, got it down to 65 overnight and it is now bubbling a little bit in the air lock and has a very small layer of krausen on it. wOOtstout was my favorite beer last year so when i saw this clone i was ecstatic! I also splurged and got fancy bourbon (knob creek) and it is already soaking with the cubes, 8oz of it. How is yours turning out?

I think it's starting to mellow a bit but it's still pretty hot/boozy. I had one last weekend and it was noticeably better than the last time I had it (a month earlier). There's still a big bourbon presence but it gives way to chocolate, roast, and dark fruits. It also has a body on it comparable to pudding. It certainly isn't a beer to be guzzled; it probably took me the better part of an hour to drink a 12 oz bottle of it.

Yeah the real one is one heck of a beast while also being a great adventure Hahaha. Personally I love warm to hot mouthfeel and a good boozy complexity. It's now fermenting at about 2 bubbles a second. I put a blow off tube on last night just in case! It surprisingly hasn't gotten a massive Krausen, which it seemed like it was going to last night. Regardless I'm glad someone has made this and it turned out well. Thanks for the update!

Hey no problem. Hopefully your's turns out great.

OdeCloner has one in the works as well. If you want to see what he did, here's a link to his brew:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=566293

Thanks! And seriously for the time invested in a huge RIS like this we can only always hope it turns out amazing.