A stab at Irish Stout...

[thefoole]

Hello all,
I'm very new to brewing (2 batches under my belt), but I couldn't wait to try to build my own recipe. I wanted to start with a beer dear to my heart...a stout. I love to cook and pull recipe ideas from a lot of different places. So that's what I did here. But, I did want some expert advice if there was anything horribly wrong with my recipe or any suggestions. I built it in BeerSmith hoping that would help. Would like to brew in the next couple of days...let me know everyone's thoughts.
Thanks,
thefoole

Type: Extract
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 5.72 gal
Boil Time: 60 min

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
7.00 lb Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 77.78 %
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 8.33 %
0.75 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 8.33 %
0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 2.78 %
0.25 lb Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 2.78 %
1.00 oz Fuggles [3.60 %] (60 min) Hops 12.9 IBU
1.00 oz Target [11.00 %] (30 min) Hops 30.3 IBU
0.25 oz Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Irish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1084) Yeast-Ale



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.052 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.014 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.02 %
Bitterness: 43.2 IBU
Est Color: 34.3 SRM

 

[jfowler1]

I have seen two schools of thought on dry stouts. The first, like your's, is to doctor the recipe up a bit with caramel and chocolate malts. The second (and I will default to Jamil's recipe) is to keep it more simple and traditional.

I opt for 1 lb of roasted barley, 2 lbs of flaked barley, and the balance of the malt bill is UK Pale. Your OG , 1.052, is a little higher than a typical Irish Dry Stout, because I believe that Guinness, Murphy's, and Beamish are all between 1.040 and 1.043. Once you get over 1.045, you really start to push the envelope of what a session beer is supposed to be. Your IBU's look perfect, calculating in the low 40's, and the color looks great as well. I am definately a hop head, so you do not hear me say to omit later hop additions too often, but in the case of a dry stout, I think the character from a 60 minute addition is all you really need. That is kind of over analyzing, as I am sure you will not get an abundance of aroma from that 30 minute addition (but you asked for input so it was worth pointing out). In other words, if it was my recipe, I would reformulate to get the entire 40-44 IBU's from my 60 minute addition, and drop the 30 all together.

Feel free to run with your recipe as given. I think it is an interesting idea to cut the pound of Roasted Barley with a % of chocolate, so that I kind of like. However, if you brew it your way and find you have too much crystal sweetness, maybe give the UK Pale/Flaked Barley/Roasted Barley a try next time.

Joe

EDIT - I missed an important detail. If you are doing extract with steeping grains, you will not be able to use flaked barley. Maybe my tips would be better received when you are ready to try all grain or at least a mini-mash.

 

[thefoole]

Thanks for the feedback. Yes I thought about the flaked barley, but I'm really not ready for the mini-mash or all grain. I do like the idea of getting all IBU's from the 60 minute boil. I might make some tweaks and see how it turns out...thanks!