Brewing w/ Sorghum - Guinness Foreign Extra Stout

[Mike Bartodziej]

Hi All,

A friend of mine was reminiscing over a study abroad he completed in Africa a few years ago and he spoke highly of the Nigerian Guinness Foreign Extra Stout which he drank while there. The African version is apparently different from the Foreign Extra that is available in the US or other countries.

The Guinness Nigeria website states that it is brewed with heavily kilned, malted sorghum and or maize with roasted barley added during the boil. I was pretty interested to learn this and thought that trying my hand at brewing something similar might be a fun project. But there are a few questions that I thought some of the more experienced brewers here might be able to assist with as I've never worked with sorghum before and haven't been able to find much information as far as cloning this goes.

First, does anyone know of a source for malted sorghum? I'm not really interested in malting it myself. It seems that in most cases, everyone using sorghum is using extract, but I'm wondering if that would even get me close to the taste of what they're using and if not, if this is even worth attempting.

Second, with sorghum extract, would I use that just like malt extract pound for pound?

I'm loosely using a clone recipe for the "Western" version Foreign Extra Stout which I found posted here as a rough guide. I will scale this down to a 2 gallon batch but I figured I would sub sorghum for the 2-Row and steep roasted barley. I'll probably omit the flaked barley since I won't be mashing.

Guinness Foreign Extra Stout clone
5 gallons/19 L, all-grain; OG = 1.078; FG = 1.019; IBU = 40; SRM = 43; ABV = 7.5%

Ingredients:

13 lbs. (5.9 kg) 2-row pale ale malt
2 lbs. 2 oz. (0.96 kg) flaked barley
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) roasted barley (500 °L)
11.33 AAU Challenger hops (60 mins) (1.6 oz./46 g of 7% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1084

If anyone has any more information on this brew or have any additional suggestions that might make this successful, I'm all ears.

 

[offroadfanatic]

So. This post has had me create a account.

I have tried thrice to clone this wonderful Nigerian brew.

I've actually had the closest representation with this recipe: Beer Recipe Cloud by BeerSmith - Homebrew Beer Recipes (Actual FG of 1.018) My plan is to brew this same recipe again except with maybe half the black and roasted barley and 10lb of sorghum and some flaked oats. It was close. I was going to brew it a second time, but with sorghum. There's a lot of dark fruit in the beer. I think fermenting hot with a lager yeast really did well to push the dark fruit forward. But to answer your question I found sorghum that I'm planning on using as my base malt next time I make it. I haven't been able to create the dark fruit with barely and hops and yeast yet.

https://www.deercreekmalt.com/product/pale-sorghum-malt/
I think your recipe sounds good, but it's not gonna get you the biscuit and fruit that this beer delivers. Also don't leave out the flaked barley! You'll need it for body and mouthfeel. The flavor is plums and raisins and currants. Dark, complex, mildly sweet. I think 1.020-1.025 is a good target FG.

I would use sorghum instead of 2-row if you can get it. Or use sorghum LME. You should be able to plug it into your recipe just fine. EKG or Challenger should be fine. The foreign extra is hoppier, and more bitter than any style available in the US. It's even different than the Jamaican foreign extra stout.

Let me know if you end up making it and what the reaction was! I'll let you know how the sorghum batch turns out!

 

[offroadfanatic]

Oh yeah. I forgot I took a photo of the last bottle I drank a couple of weeks ago. I have a friend who goes back every couple of years and brings me a bottle since I don't travel that way much anymore. Here's this for FYI

 

[BanjoSavesTheDay]

This is a great thread! How did the attempt with sorghum turn out? I have a gluten free friend who spent a lot of time in Africa and he said he really enjoyed this brew. I am surprised it has some barley in it though according to the label.