Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout

[rednekhippiemotrcyclfreak]

Brewed this from BYO 250 Classic Clones Recipe mag. Kegged today. Recipe OG and FG were 1.070 and 1.014. I measured 1.068 and 1.013. Not too far off. While I am not complaining, this was, I thought, a sweet stout. I took another FG reading while kegging to verify last measurement and it was still 1.013. Of course I tasted it. It was very obviously coffee and somewhat dry. I am sure it is going to be quite good after carbing, but it ain't a clone. If I had enough experience with recipes I might have expected this outcome from the reported FG and from the 9.5 oz of corn sugar. Again, not complaining, but if you use the recipe from this book, don't expect a clone. I bought two bottles of this to check against. One I tried before brewing, the other I have saved for a one on one comparison. Anyway, this is the recipe I used. Hops were rounded off slightly, grain bill and corn sugar were exactly followed.

10 lbs 1.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 70.2 %
1 lbs 12.5 oz White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 2 12.4 %
1 lbs 4.8 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 3 9.1 %
9.5 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 4 4.1 %
9.5 oz Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 5 4.1 %
0.67 oz Horizon [12.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 21.9 IBUs
0.36 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 7 4.1 IBUs
0.14 oz Williamette [5.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 8 1.6 IBUs
0.98 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min Hop 9 0.0 IBUs
0.98 oz Williamette [5.50 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [125.00 ml] Yeast 11 -
0.08 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Dry Hop 3.0 Days Hop 12 0.0 IBUs
0.07 oz Williamette [5.50 %] - Dry Hop 3.0 Days Hop 13 0.0 IBUs

 

[boist]

Well, I can offer you a couple of thoughts on how to make this better if the close (as provided) didn't quite get it right in your opinion.

1. 1056 is a fairly dry neutral strain. If you are looking to make it sweeter, you might try a more "English" strain like the 1098 or the 1968.
2. If you are going for a little more "creaminess" (cappuccino rather than coffee) you might want to try some oatmeal. There are plenty of good Oatmeal Stout recipes out there so you can figure out the exact ratio you want, but I think 1-2lb, slightly roasted (roast in oven until it smells like cookies) should do the trick.
3. Simple sugar dries a beer. Consider replacing it with a little more grain or possibly DME. Again, this depends on what you are going for here. I suspect that the sugar is there specifically for purposes of drying it out, so you got to play with it a bit and see what you like.
4. You didn't write mash temp, so I don't know what you did there, but if you are looking for a bit more mouthfeel, try mashing at 1-2 degrees higher.
5 If you really want Chocolate flavor, there's always the option of coco nibs or coco powder.
6. This should have probably been number 1, but whatever: Give it time. Beer needs to mature. This is especially true for stouts. Try it again in a month and in two, and then compare it to the original.
7. Finally: Clones are what one brewer thinks tastes like the original, when brewed on a particular system. Your results will almost always vary. But if you are determined to clone a particular beer, they are a good starting point. You just have to tweak it until you find something that works for you.

Cheers

 

[rednekhippiemotrcyclfreak]

The mash temp, cited in the recipe was 155. As far as giving it time, I will. The taste I referred to was just trying the FG sample prior to kegging. It's under gas right now and I won't pull the first glass for at least 10 days. After that I may let it sit some more or consider tweaking the recipe. It's not that I don't think I'll like the beer, I was just commenting on the accuracy of the BYO recipe.

 

[Kickass]

Here is what I’m struggling with: The bottle states an OG of 1.076 and an ABV of 9.2%. In order for this to be correct it means that whatever yeast strain was used achieved an apparent attenuation of 92% and finished at a FG of 1.006.


Does anyone know what strain of yeast they use and how the hell they get 92% attenuation from it?