Anyone have a REAL lion's stout clone?

[NoIguanaForZ]

...so I was reading through this thread more than anything trying to figure out where to frickin' GET tropical stouts to compare the recipes I've been working on to, since none of the bottle shops in my area seem to have even HEARD of the style.

Sounds like Caribbean or perhaps Indian markets are my best bet?

 

[Revvy]

...so I was reading through this thread more than anything trying to figure out where to frickin' GET tropical stouts to compare the recipes I've been working on to, since none of the bottle shops in my area seem to have even HEARD of the style.

Sounds like Caribbean or perhaps Indian markets are my best bet?

Gee, come to think of it, I can't recall when I last saw or had a Lion's Stout.

Guiness Foreign Extra stout is pretty close, but I don't think it's done with lager yeast.

Doing some googling now...

Finland has one?!?!?!?!

Have you seen this? Flying Dog Tropical Stout?

Cigar city has a barrel aged tropical stout evidently.

Here's an article on them with more I never heard of.

"Sri Lanka's Lion Stout is probably the most well-known — and best — tropical stout, but you should also keep an eye out for Jamaica Stout, brewed by Big City Brewing in Kingston, or ABC Extra Stout, brewed in Singapore. Although technically not a tropical stout, Ethiopia's Hakim Stout fits the profile and is well-worth seeking out."

Now you got me thinking about doing one.

 

[NoIguanaForZ]

Gee, come to think of it, I can't recall when I last saw or had a Lion's Stout.

Guiness Foreign Extra stout is pretty close, but I don't think it's done with lager yeast.

Doing some googling now...

Finland has one?!?!?!?!

Have you seen this? Flying Dog Tropical Stout?

Cigar city has a barrel aged tropical stout evidently.

Here's an article on them with more I never heard of.

"Sri Lanka's Lion Stout is probably the most well-known — and best — tropical stout, but you should also keep an eye out for Jamaica Stout, brewed by Big City Brewing in Kingston, or ABC Extra Stout, brewed in Singapore. Although technically not a tropical stout, Ethiopia's Hakim Stout fits the profile and is well-worth seeking out."

Now you got me thinking about doing one.

My local bottle shops, thus far, do not carry Flying Dog's, Dragon Stout, ABC Extra Stout, Royal Extra Stout, Lion Stout, or Jamaica Stout (the last 5 being the BJCP 2015's example list for the style). Of the major retailers that have website inventories, Bevmo has never heard of any of them (even though it carries a plethora of other Flying Dog products) and Total Wine has one bottle of one in a store in Georgia, a couple bottles of another in a store in Washington, etc. (Just checked; neither has the Finnish one either). None of the smaller bottle shops that don't have online inventories that I've been in have had any of them, either, at least that I could find (organization tends to be pretty random and the people behind the counter tend to have "heard of tropical IPAs, but..."

Hakim Stout might be worth looking for; there's apparently enough demand for a couple of Ethopian restaurants in town...

 

[Revvy]

Hakim Stout might be worth looking for; there's apparently enough demand for a couple of Ethopian restaurants in town...

That's a good thought. I'll have to check the ones in Detroit. .

 

[BBBF]

Gee, come to think of it, I can't recall when I last saw or had a Lion's Stout.

I see it all the time in Chicago @ Binny's, but it appears to be "in store only"

http://www13.binnys.com//beer/Lion_Stout_821152.html


I thought the recipe I made had potential, but I used too much jaggery. However, it started out having the worst acetaldehyde I've ever tasted, like latex paint. I tried everything to clean it up. Aging it for a year didn't help. warming it up and bubbling co2 through it didn't do anything. Krausening seemed to help a little. Then when I make back to back stouts, I used the yeast cake of the first one, racked the lion stout on top of it and added a gallon of beer from the 2nd stout. It did the trick. The acetaldehyde was gone, but by this point I had oxidation issues and finally gave up.

 

[BreezyBrew]

There's a recipe in Gordon Strong's new book, Modern Homebrew Recipes.

 

[bolus14]

Looking at brewing this up after I knock out a NZ IPA and a Nugget Nectar clone.

The recipe I'm thinking of going with is:

Ingredients Amount Item Type % or IBU
11 lbs 2 oz Brewers Malt 6-Row (Briess) (1.8 SRM) Grain 78.94 %
11 oz Carafa III (525.0 SRM) Grain 4.93 %
11 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 4.93 %
2.31 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] (60 min) Hops 35.9 IBU
2 # 2oz Jaggery Sugar (2.0 SRM) Sugar 7.48 % (Two of the "cones" pictured below.)
8.4 oz Milk Sugar (Lactose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 3.72 %
3 oz Date Palm syrup or Date palm mollasses. [Boil for 15 min] (See picture below.)

2 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04) Yeast-Ale

Mash at 153 for 60 minutes.
Bitterness: 35.9 IBU
Est Original Gravity: 1.081
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 7.89 %

Would you say the taste is more coca/chocolate or more brown sugar like?

I'm also thinking of going with WY 1272, American Ale II, as it's been my go to for a little while now as it seems to be very reliable for me, I more or less get 76% attenuation out of it. Thoughts?

Would you say drop the date palm molasses for treacle? Would making some homemade candi syrup work?

 

[skibb]

zombie update:

Got a hold of a bottle since I found it randomly back in the US (hadn't seen it for close to a decade).
Degassed and measured -
FG - 1.009!
pH:4.09

Stated ABV on the bottle is 8.8% so OG is ~1.075-76. Lots of simple sugars used in brewing this beer, I would suspect.

 

[MaxStout]

I'm reviving this zombie thread, as I am planning a sort of Lion Stout clone. One of my favorite beers, though I haven't seen it in local stores in 10 years or so.

I am finally planning to brew this in the next day or two, a 5.5 gallon batch. My recipe will be Maris Otter with about 3% each of UK 80 and 150 crystal malt, Special B, roasted barley, and 2% Carafa III. I'll add 1.25 lbs. of jaggery in the boil, and 1/2 lb. lactose to boost body. Bittering additions of East Kent Goldings to about 40 IBU. Will pitch 3 packets of S-23 lager yeast. I plan to ferment at the top of the range, around 58F or so, do a D-rest, lager a month or so, then bottle and age a couple more months.

My recipe is based on elements borrowed from this article and a bit from this recipe, tailored to what grains I have on hand. I picked up a lot of ideas from this thread (thanks, @Revvy!). Don't know how close it will be to the original Lion Stout, but hopefully in the ballpark.

I'll provide brewing notes in a few days and keep you posted!

 

[DuncB]

Having read this thread wonder if they use something like wyeast 1007 a top fermenting German ale yeast. More tolerant of warm temps.
I am going to use it in tropical stout recipe.

 

[MaxStout]

I'm finding conflicting views between ale and lager yeasts for this. Many of the "clone" recipes I find online use ale yeast. I've seen others that use lager yeast. I think one could use either, and for ale yeast, the German ale yeast would be a good choice.

 

[MaxStout]

I brewed mine yesterday. Everything went fairly well, though my OG was 4 points under and volume 1/2 gal over. Boiloff wasn't as much as I had expected, probably due to the fact I had just over 7 gallons of wort pre-boil in an 8 gal kettle and I had to go slow on the boil for a while, even with Fermcap. Mashed at 156 for a 60 min rest, did the Gordon Strong method of adding roasted grains in the last 20 minutes of the mash. I want this beer to be smooth. Bittered with EKG, was able to chill to 57F, as my ground water in MN is still very cold! Direct-pitched 3 packets of S-23 and set in the ferm chamber at 57. I'll let it ferment, do a D-rest, then lager a month or so and bottle.

 

[MaxStout]

Just drew a sample from the Brew Bucket, it's been lagering a month at 38F. I'll bottle it tomorrow, and carb with some muscovado. FG was a bit high, 1.022, so only around 5.5%. Don't care, as the hydro sample smelled and tasted awesome. I was never shooting for the nearly 9% of the real deal. Just looking forward to that smooth, malty, roasty flavor.

It'll be tough waiting for them to condition.

 

[MaxStout]

Poured the first bottle, after 2 weeks conditioning. Very smooth roastiness, nice flavor and aroma. Not in-your-face roasty, not cloying, either. Decent hops balance. Head stuck around a while. It went down the hatch WAY too easily. It's been several years since I have had a Lion Stout, but this beer of mine isn't it. It lacks the rich, silky texture, and at 5.5% it's way below Lion's 8.8%. But I am not disappointed at all and I will enjoy this anyway.

Lion Cub Stout.

 

[day_trippr]

That looks very rich - the way I like my stouts

Cheers!

 

[DuncB]

Had my first test of the tropical stout 4.8% much more coffee and roast flavour than I've managed with previous stouts.

Never made such a dark beer before, can't wait to get it on the nitro tap but got to finish the preprohibition porter first.

Patience.