Irish Stout tips

[JL1103]

Just tested an irish stout. It was in the bottle 2 weeks. Needs a third. When comparing to the big G, its much more carbonated and less silky.

What are some tips and tricks other brewers are doing to try and clone the big G.

I didn't do the souring of 2 cans prior. I did use gypsum in the boil.

 

[DaNewf]

Nitrogen has a lot to do with the mouthfeel and carbonation of Guiness.

However try this.

Go to a pharmacy and buy a small oral syringe, the kind used to administer medicine to babies. Pour your stout into the glass as gently as possible to minimize head formation. Use the syringe to suck up about 2ml of the stout. Hold the tip of the syringe just over the surface of the stout in the glass and then blast the 2ml back in.

You should get a cascade effect similar to how Guisness pours from a can with a nitro widget and the stout will be "flatter" once the cascade stops and the head is formed. You should get a good head from doing this but head retention will depend on the beer itself.

I suggest leaving at least an inch of headspace in the glass when you try this. Also I'd do it over the sink the first couple of times. I made huge mess on my first attempt (sucked up about 5ml instead of 2).

 

[JL1103]

That mouth feel is what I don't have. Its like silky. My stout has little bubbles throughout.

I'm not a big low gravity beer fan so I don't do simple stouts too often.

I wan to try souring 2 cans and adding it to the boil. I here that's the trick.

 

[peterj]

That mouth feel is what I don't have. Its like silky. My stout has little bubbles throughout.

I'm not a big low gravity beer fan so I don't do simple stouts too often.

I wan to try souring 2 cans and adding it to the boil. I here that's the trick.

Souring is not the trick to getting that silky mouthfeel. Guinness is served on draft with very low carbonation. Nitrogen is used for serving it to keep the carbonation so low. The low carbonation is why it's silky. Yours is just carbonated more. The technique that DaNewf suggested is a good way to mimic the lower carbonated draft Guinness.

And it's not really the same if you just undercarbonate the bottles. So the only other way would be to keg it and serve it with a nitrogen draft system.

 

[JL1103]

I just sampled some after a fast pour. It did do the guiness thing. It was a lot smoother.

 

[rocketsan]

Can't drink Guinness now that I'm brewing my own stouts...

 

[DaNewf]

I just sampled some after a fast pour. It did do the guiness thing. It was a lot smoother.

A fast pour works but in my experience the syringe trick works even better. I read somewhere once that six packs of bottled Guinness used to include a syringe.

Can't drink Guinness now that I'm brewing my own stouts...

I can still drink Guinness but I certainly won't buy it if I have any homebrewed stout ready to drink. It's definitely lost it's wow factor now that I know I can brew something just as good (IMO).