FIrst ever beer- problem with S.G.

[doug293cz]

UPDATE:
It's been 19 days since I bottled this brew, so I opened one. The carbonation level is about perfect. The flavors are still a bit "harsh" but definitely drinkable. I'm going to age it and test one/week to see what is optimal. The only comparison I have is making wine- and I know from experience that freshly bottled wine is "harsh" compared to letting it age, so I'm going to assume the same for the stout. I broke my low-scale alcohol meter so I don't know what the final ABV is, but based on the unscientific "buzz meter" in my head, it is close to 11.

You can't get accurate readings using an alcohol hydrometer (proof/tralle hydrometer) with beer. They are only accurate when testing mixtures containing only water and ethanol. Finished beer contains water, ethanol, proteins, dextrins, and multiple other components that cause higher SGs than mixtures with the same amount of water and ethanol but nothing else.

Brew on

 

[Abdul Muhamed]

You can't get accurate readings using an alcohol hydrometer (proof/tralle hydrometer) with beer. They are only accurate when testing mixtures containing only water and ethanol. Finished beer contains water, ethanol, proteins, dextrins, and multiple other components that cause higher SGs than mixtures with the same amount of water and ethanol but nothing else.

Brew on

Yeah, no big deal with beer...more important with distilled products.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

I would focus more on basic technique and less on science. You don't have to be completely on top of every detail to make beer. You are apparently building up a wealth of knowledge which may be distracting you from fundamentals.

I think you should do what I used to do for lab classes. Write out a numbered list of brewing steps, check it, and follow it.

Personally, I would keep this beer if I had room for it AND I liked it. Otherwise I would dump it. It looks pretty far from Guinness, and there are plenty of good stout recipes you could replace it with.

I wonder if you are confusing draft Guinness with bottled Extra Stout, which is heavier and gassed with CO2. Draught Guinness is a light beer which is low in alcohol, and it's dispensed with beer gas. The draught has an FG of about 1.011.

You will definitely want beer gas and a special faucet if you want the real, creamy draught stout experience. Can't get it with CO2. There is a way to fake it with a syringe.

Kegging is expensive at first, but it's much better than bottling, which requires much more work and may put beer on your ceiling.

You just need a 5-pound tank, a regulator, and a stout faucet.

 

[Abdul Muhamed]

I would focus more on basic technique and less on science. You don't have to be completely on top of every detail to make beer. You are apparently building up a wealth of knowledge which may be distracting you from fundamentals.

I think you should do what I used to do for lab classes. Write out a numbered list of brewing steps, check it, and follow it.

Personally, I would keep this beer if I had room for it AND I liked it. Otherwise I would dump it. It looks pretty far from Guinness, and there are plenty of good stout recipes you could replace it with.

I wonder if you are confusing draft Guinness with bottled Extra Stout, which is heavier and gassed with CO2. Draught Guinness is a light beer which is low in alcohol, and it's dispensed with beer gas. The draught has an FG of about 1.011.

You will definitely want beer gas and a special faucet if you want the real, creamy draught stout experience. Can't get it with CO2. There is a way to fake it with a syringe.

Kegging is expensive at first, but it's much better than bottling, which requires much more work and may put beer on your ceiling.

You just need a 5-pound tank, a regulator, and a stout faucet.

I understand, but I have a scientific mind so I always chase the science in a new project. I wasn't trying to clone a Guinness, after reading the recipes for Extra Stout with the expensive ingredients and having to have nitrogen, special equipment, etc. I didn't want to go down that rabbit hole. I just wanted a dark, full-bodied stout-like recipe b/c I'm not a huge fan of light, pale yellow beer.
I bought my grain with a limited knowledge of beermaking, so a fellow Homebrew member gave me a recipe that I could try using what I already had. As I said, the end product was drinkable. It has now been over a month so and I've begun drinking this. My observations are that it has adequate carbonation, and decent flavor, but is still a bit "harsh". I'm not sure what it is, but probably the fact that I put a whole ounce of hops into a half-recipe didn't help. I made a few mistakes in this first attempt and wrote everything down in a notebook for the next time. I do know that it was a lot of time and work for just 14 bottles, so I will do a 5gal. recipe next time b/c it isn't more work or time and you end up with more product. I just didn't want to end up with 35 bottles of undrinkable beer on my first attempt.

 

[worlddivides]

I just didn't want to end up with 35 bottles of undrinkable beer on my first attempt.

I think that was a smart decision. My first beer was pretty awful, mainly due to fermenting it too warm since I didn't have any way to control the temperature and the ambient temperature went from something like 70F to 90F in the day after I brewed it. But that's the great thing about the whole process. You learn and improve. Even if this batch is sub-par, you're sure to be making a stout or porter that you really like in no time.

 

[fluketamer]

stouts and porters in my opinion are much easier to make than pale beers because the roasts hide not just yeast off flavors but also hop utilization/oxidation problems and even general oxidation . if you have poor hop utilization or even under or over hopping, the roasts can hide that. and if you lose hop flavor from oxidation it isnt much of an issue cause imo stouts are the least hop forward (that dont sound right) beers.

oxidation can even help some stouts age. esp strong dark ones. old out of date expired extract can still be used to make decent stout .

i hate to disagree with clint but i def wouldnt dump it esp if its drinkable. that beer will be great with a lot of time like 6 months at least. put it away for a year . it will be really good.

also i disagree on the nitro tap. i would only go nitro if i first went regular co2. to jump into nitro requires a different reg, tank, and tap than other beers and what if you dont like to only drink stouts/porters. putting beers others than stouts/porters on nitro changes them too much.

 

[Abdul Muhamed]

Agree Fluketamer. Dark. strong beers (stouts) are powerful enough in flavor that they cover minor problems. It's like drinking a dark espresso vs. drinking a tea. The espresso covers various problems more than a light colored tea. I would say that commercial Guinness Extra Stout has a major flavor of "coffee". My "stout" tastes like "Starbucks" coffee, ie. slightly burned. It is all gone as of this evening, so was definitely drinkable. I wish it had a "caramel" note, and a tiny bit less "burned" or bitter note, but I'll adjust the next recipe and see...

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

Agree Fluketamer. Dark. strong beers (stouts) are powerful enough in flavor that they cover minor problems. It's like drinking a dark espresso vs. drinking a tea. The espresso covers various problems more than a light colored tea. I would say that commercial Guinness Extra Stout has a major flavor of "coffee". My "stout" tastes like "Starbucks" coffee, ie. slightly burned. It is all gone as of this evening, so was definitely drinkable. I wish it had a "caramel" note, and a tiny bit less "burned" or bitter note, but I'll adjust the next recipe and see...

A good stout (that isn't trying to clone Guiness) definitely needs some medium caramel/crystal malt in it. 5% is a good place to start. I've never used Sterling hops, but it looks like that is usually only used for adding a hoppy aroma, not bittering, so recommend you get some East Kent Golding or Willamette hops, and then use software (like Brewer's Friend) to tell you how much you need (for a full 60 minute boil), to reach a bu/gu of around 0.6, and don't even bother with late or dry hopping.

If you want more of a chocolate/mocha flavor (and less burnt coffee), a great "dark grains base" is about 5% chocolate 350L, 4% roast barley 300L, 2% pale chocolate.

 

[mashdar]

Sterling is basically super-saaz. It can be decent AA for bittering (sometimes over 10%). I like it a lot for lagers, but I never thought of it for stouts.

 

[Abdul Muhamed]

As I mentioned, I "blind bought" my grains/hops without much research thanks to a bit too much moonshine one night. I purchased two 1oz packs of Sterling Hops, and a pound of German Spalt Pellet Hops.
I plan to pick up some crystal malt when I get the opportunity. I have BeerSmith 2 as software, but have also tried Brewer's Friend.