Critique my "Wheat Stout" recipe, please.

[rjstew]

Since there isn't really such a category as "wheat stout", I'll consider this an American Stout. I had a bunch of leftover wheat from other brews, so I figured I'd toss it into a stout to see what happens. I also have a 4 oz of Crystal 120. Should I add that or is that overkill with the roasted malts I already have?

Thoughts?

Fermentables

Amount Fermentable Maltster Use PPG Color
13.0 lb 73% Maris Otter Pale (UK) Any Mash 38 3 °L
3.0 lb 16% White Wheat (US) Any Boil 40 2 °L
9.0 oz 3% Midnight Wheat Malt (US) Any Boil 33 550 °L
9.0 oz 3% Roasted Barley (UK) Any Mash 29 550 °L
6.0 oz 2% Pale Chocolate (UK) Any Mash 33 207 °L
6.0 oz 2% Chocolate Wheat (DE) Any Mash 31 413 °L
Hops

Amount Hop Time Use Form AA
1.25 oz Columbus (US) 60 min Boil Pellet 15.0%
0.75 oz Chinook (US) 10 min Boil Pellet 12.0%
0.75 oz Willamette (US) 10 min Boil Pellet 5.0%
0.5 oz Chinook (US) 0 min Whirlpool Pellet 12.0%
0.5 oz Willamette (US) 0 min Whirlpool Pellet 5.0%
Yeasts

Name Lab/Product Attenuation
London Ale Wyeast 1028 75.0%
Stats

Batch & Boil

Batch Size
6.0 gal
Boil Time
60 min
Properties

OG
1.084
FG
1.021
IBU
52
ABV
8.3%
Color
46 SRM
Balance
Bitter

 

[xico]

That's a lot of roasted malts in my personal opinion. I usually find too much or too many varieties muddles the flavor of the beer, making it somehow busy and at the same time bland.

10% isn't uncommon at all which if why I said my opinion is just that. It's at the high end of my range (being 5-10%) If you feel committed to sticking with 10% dark malts can I recommend cold steeping some or all of them? So long as your water isn't super alkaline, the dark malts should pull the pH down, but you can always add acid to help. Cold brewing dark grains can be added to the mash at the end for color.

The yeast will darken the beer for you since it is a high flocculator. My brewing partner makes a black hefe and she pushes the cold brewed roasted malts up to counter the high wheat haze and suspended yeast. 16% will not make much of a noticeable difference for you but I mention it in case you refine the recipe and bump the wheat malt up.

 

[rjstew]

Thanks for the feedback xico. I should have mentioned that I'm planning on adding the dark grains at the last 10 minutes of the mash to prevent astringency extraction/bitterness. You just convinced me to cold steep instead.

 

[thehaze]

A wheat Stout should contain wheat. Or at least more than you are planning on using.

From the top of my head, a Wheat Stout should contain around 4 different grains: wheat ( 50%? ), pilsner/2-row/munich, a roasted wheat malt and a caramel wheat malt.

It would be interesting to hear about your experience and if the wheat came through in that %.