Looking for feedback- american stout

[charliethebum]

I've never put together a stout recipe, but am planning a big RIS and thought I'd cut the recipe in half to build a yeast cake and get an idea of how it'll turn out. Let me know what y'all think. (Literally double everything except the oats for my RIS recipe)

Batch size 5.5gal
Brewhouse eff. 76%
Est. OG 1.057
Est. FG 1.014
ABV 5.7
IBU 44
SRM 32

8 lbs marris otter
1 lb flaked oats
8 oz black barley 500L
8 oz chocolate malt 350L
4 oz each crystal 60, 80, 120
8 oz light brown sugar

Hold @ 154f 60min, mash out @ 170f

.5 oz chinook FWH 60 min (29 ibu)
.5 oz chinook 10 min (5.7 ibu)
.5 oz simcoe 10 min (5.7 ibu)
.5 oz amarillo 10 min (3.7 ibu)

Any suggestions for yeast? I thought wlp002 would be appropriate, keeping temps on the low side to keep esters in check. Any and all feedback is much appreciated!

 

[andycook]

I'm interested in your thinking behind the crystal additions. Why 4 oz of each of the three?

 

[Lefou]

I'm interested in your thinking behind the crystal additions. Why 4 oz of each of the three?

I agree.
The chocolate malt and black barley will contribute quite enough color to darken the brew. Extra caramel crystals might be an added expense when only one - the 80L - could do.
Then again, it's your brew. I've seen English microbrew porter with over a dozen different grain combinations - like the Entire Butt. I think it uses 14.

 

[charliethebum]

[Duplicate]

 

[charliethebum]

I'm interested in your thinking behind the crystal additions. Why 4 oz of each of the three?

I've read that you get more depth and complexity using multiple crystal malts rather than just one. Thought I'd see how it all plays together before committing to a big RIS.

 

[Dcpcooks]

Consider adding a little biscuit malt. It lends a nice bit of body to the beer. You want that stuff sticking to the sides of the glass

3% Black patten malt is in my recipe.

I'd also suggest Nottingham as a yeast. It'll chew through that og and get you down to final gravity.

 

[andycook]

This is where I get in trouble with recipes no matter how hard I try to keep it simple. If I were to try this recipe I would try the three crystals, add some biscuit and maybe some black patent.

 

[charliethebum]

Consider adding a little biscuit malt. It lends a nice bit of body to the beer. You want that stuff sticking to the sides of the glass

3% Black patten malt is in my recipe.

I'd also suggest Nottingham as a yeast. It'll chew through that og and get you down to final gravity.

Thanks for the suggestions, couple questions:

Would you sub the oats for biscuit malt, or add it on top?

Does black patent lend a different kind of roastiness than plain black malt? I was under the impression that they were basically the same thing.

I've heard good things about Nottingham. Does it throw out any esters at slightly warmer temps? The reason I'm planning on 002 is I'd like to keep it on the low side for this smaller beer to keep it relatively neutral but notch it up a bit for some yeast character in the RIS. Again, thanks for the feedback.

 

[jrgtr42]

Personally, I like using the WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast for stouts. I seemed to get some extra flavors and aromas from the 002 that didn't work for me with the roastyness.
Per the White Labs site, the 004 can throw a touch of diacetyl, but I have never noticed it, and I seem to be pretty sensitive to it.

 

[Dcpcooks]

Thanks for the suggestions, couple questions:

Would you sub the oats for biscuit malt, or add it on top?

Does black patent lend a different kind of roastiness than plain black malt? I was under the impression that they were basically the same thing.

I've heard good things about Nottingham. Does it throw out any esters at slightly warmer temps? The reason I'm planning on 002 is I'd like to keep it on the low side for this smaller beer to keep it relatively neutral but notch it up a bit for some yeast character in the RIS. Again, thanks for the feedback.

I'd leave the oats and add the biscuit on top. You can add a little flaked wheat as well. If your main malt is roughly 75-80% of the grainbill you'll have some room for some specialty Malts. Carafa III, chocolate malt, special B and caramel malts and roasted barley all work really well in smaller percentages. I like 2-3% on all but the darkest malts then it's 1-1.75%

I find find patent malt offers a very nice dark color with a nice pleasant roasted flavor at around 1-3% of the grain bill. Some say it's the same but I find patent to offer a little less ash or char than black malt.

You can pull some fruit with warmer temps when using Nottingham. I usually pitch at 62 then let it rise to 64 during the first few days. Then I let it get up to 67 near the end of primary to help it finish up. Make sure you have head room in your fermentor. That yeast will really rip and a blow off is necessary.

If you want esters in the big beer you can add some wyeast Thames valley in addition to the Nottingham. I've done that to a few batches and it really plays nicely with nottingham.


Don't forget you'll see roughly a 10% drop in efficiency on the higher OG batch so make sure you adjust you efficiency downward. I mash for 1 1/2 hours. And if you want that viscous final product it's good to boil for longer than normal. A friend of a friend worked at goose island when they started making bourbon county stout and they were doing four hour boils. I find 3 hours is enough but I boil off about 2 gallons an hour in my 30 gallon kettle so I get a lot of reduction.

Here is my last version. It's the seventh batch and i won't be tweaking it anymore.

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[charliethebum]

Thanks much that's all really helpful. I think you have me convinced on the Nottingham :beer: