I came across a beer kit for Mikkeler's Beer Geek Breakfast Stout and the reviews were pretty good. This sent me down a rabbit hole and it appears people raving about it. So naturally, I found a recipe (see below) and brewed it this weekend. Against my better judgement I didn't tame the roasted malts because i wanted a sense of what the beer was supposed to taste like. I generally keep my roasted malts even lower than recommended but since I began brewing my own beer, my tastes for other beers has really expanded. After tasting this very green beer (fermentation is nearly done), I am beginning to think it's going to be way too much for me. I am going to let it do it's thing but this has me curious now about how processes all work with each other. However, there isn't much online beyond a few facts that aren't expanded upon. (see my grain bill, etc. below)
the questions I have been relentlessly googling because now I am just curious and want to learn:
Does ABV actually offset roastiness? If so, would adding some cane sugar at this point help to balance it given it didn't attenuate much?
Would using 1/2 of S-05 ( I have an open one taking up space in my fridge) attenuate it further and increase the alcohol enough to balance (no sugar added)
Does sweetness counter roastiness? Would the sugar option above do both, increase the ABV as well as adding some residual sweetness? I have some muscavado sugar I am needing an excuse to use.
I read vanilla beans can help. I have some high quality powder I can use.
Is there anything you can do in a secondary, like fruit, spices, cacao nibs, soaked bourbon oak chips I have burning a hole in the container, offset any upleasantries with the roastiness?
I originally wanted to add frozen cherries and toasted cacao nibs to 1 gallon to see what comes of it. Am I wasting expensive ingredients on this beer? (I have a Northern English mild that might work with these instead)
How is this beer so successful if it nearly doubles the percent of the roasted malt everyone seems to recommend. It is seems to surpass most recommendations on this site. (assuming my math is actually correct )
Will aging settle this down any? I can throw it in a keg for a while and let it do its thing.
My recipe is different than the one in this thread because of what I had on hand (so my keeping to the recipe wasn't really keeping to the recipe. I get it, but I was trying to stick to the roastiness part). I also scaled down to a half batch (2.5 gal). My BIAB efficiency also tends to be poor.
2.4 lbs 2 row
1.6 lbs pilsner
1.97 lbs oats
0.90 lbs munich
0.62 lbs weyerman german smoked (horrible crush)
0.98 lbs chocolate (~400 or 450 can't remember)*
0.16 lbs Black patent*
0.44 Roasted Barley
There is a bit of wheat dme from the partial starter i did.
* I oopsed weighing these I think so I didn't help my cause.
Amarillo 0.6 oz 45 min
Northern Brewer 0.1 oz 45 min
Cascade 0.33 oz 15 min
Amarillo 0.6 oz 8 min
Northern Brewer 0.1 oz 8 min
1/2 Windsor
I think the mash temp got high, I am having terrible luck with thermometers (just bought a digital one). The floating therm changed constantly and read anywhere from 148F to 159F.
OG 1.067 (Hydrometer)
Current: ~1.034 (Tilt) and fairly stable for 12 hours (I know this is not that long but in my experience with Windsor, which is one of my go to's, it won't change much from here, maybe 1 or 2 points)
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/beer-geek-breakfast-stout-clone.276756/
the questions I have been relentlessly googling because now I am just curious and want to learn:
Does ABV actually offset roastiness? If so, would adding some cane sugar at this point help to balance it given it didn't attenuate much?
Would using 1/2 of S-05 ( I have an open one taking up space in my fridge) attenuate it further and increase the alcohol enough to balance (no sugar added)
Does sweetness counter roastiness? Would the sugar option above do both, increase the ABV as well as adding some residual sweetness? I have some muscavado sugar I am needing an excuse to use.
I read vanilla beans can help. I have some high quality powder I can use.
Is there anything you can do in a secondary, like fruit, spices, cacao nibs, soaked bourbon oak chips I have burning a hole in the container, offset any upleasantries with the roastiness?
I originally wanted to add frozen cherries and toasted cacao nibs to 1 gallon to see what comes of it. Am I wasting expensive ingredients on this beer? (I have a Northern English mild that might work with these instead)
How is this beer so successful if it nearly doubles the percent of the roasted malt everyone seems to recommend. It is seems to surpass most recommendations on this site. (assuming my math is actually correct )
Will aging settle this down any? I can throw it in a keg for a while and let it do its thing.
My recipe is different than the one in this thread because of what I had on hand (so my keeping to the recipe wasn't really keeping to the recipe. I get it, but I was trying to stick to the roastiness part). I also scaled down to a half batch (2.5 gal). My BIAB efficiency also tends to be poor.
2.4 lbs 2 row
1.6 lbs pilsner
1.97 lbs oats
0.90 lbs munich
0.62 lbs weyerman german smoked (horrible crush)
0.98 lbs chocolate (~400 or 450 can't remember)*
0.16 lbs Black patent*
0.44 Roasted Barley
There is a bit of wheat dme from the partial starter i did.
* I oopsed weighing these I think so I didn't help my cause.
Amarillo 0.6 oz 45 min
Northern Brewer 0.1 oz 45 min
Cascade 0.33 oz 15 min
Amarillo 0.6 oz 8 min
Northern Brewer 0.1 oz 8 min
1/2 Windsor
I think the mash temp got high, I am having terrible luck with thermometers (just bought a digital one). The floating therm changed constantly and read anywhere from 148F to 159F.
OG 1.067 (Hydrometer)
Current: ~1.034 (Tilt) and fairly stable for 12 hours (I know this is not that long but in my experience with Windsor, which is one of my go to's, it won't change much from here, maybe 1 or 2 points)
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/beer-geek-breakfast-stout-clone.276756/
Last edited: