Making a stout for christmas

[bxtzd3]

ok i am putting together a stout for my HD dealership christmas party. trying to get this in early enough so if it doesnt come out like i want it i have time to switch.

here it goes:
marris otter
flaked barley
chrystal 40
chocolate malt

cascade 1.oz
safe ale s-04 had nice luck with this one

i will be adding some chocolate
mint and cherry in the secondary

what do ya think? it looks like a basic stout? im looking for a deep rich toffee coffee flavor that will accent the other ingredients. would you add anything else?

 

[bxtzd3]

ok, i guess it looks good

 

[GuldTuborg]

Well, I suppose part of the problem is it's not a full recipe yet. You have ingredients, but not how much, and no real process suggested yet.

Chocolate will add a bit of bitterness, so keep that in mind when deciding upon hop and dark malt amounts. Mint and cherry seem interesting, but I've never done additions like those, so I can offer advice except to say it's easier to add more than take something away. I'd suggest looking through established recipes and basing what you do on something that's worked out. That is, tweak something that's similar to what you want and known to be solid. Otherwise, it seems you're asking someone else to make a recipe for you. It happens from time to time, but you have to catch the right person at the right time for that to happen.

 

[bxtzd3]

I see what your saying. I went about it like I would with cooking. kinda like do these ingredients mix well first then proceed with amounts and process. I want to make it mine but not to copy a recipe and tweak. I am all about the whole process. thanks for the input. I will adjust my question a accordingly next. I see how that can be misunderstood

 

[JonM]

You probably want to add some roast there too. I've had great success with equal parts roasted barley, chocolate, and c-60, (each of those is about 6.5% of the total grain bill the way I've done it.)

 

[bxtzd3]

You probably want to add some roast there too. I've had great success with equal parts roasted barley, chocolate, and c-60, (each of those is about 6.5% of the total grain bill the way I've done it.)

ah cool. now can you roast the flaked barley or would you go for no flaked

 

[JonM]

I use roasted barley and flaked together. The flaked is about 10% of the grain I'll I think.

Have you ever had Motor Oil? It's a stout by Milwaukee's Lakefront Brewery, made for HD. I think they serve it exclusively at the HD Museum here in town. Lakefront has shared their recipes for a Pro Series through Northern Brewer - maybe if you called Lakefront and asked really nice they'd share the recipe with you?

 

[bxtzd3]

ok so here it is, first time with beer smith recipe maker.

9lb 1.3oz pale malt 2 row
1lb 5.8oz of roasted barley
1lb 13.1oz of choc malt
2lb 3.6 oz of chrystel 60
1.41 cascade
1 pkg safe ale s-04

addition- chocolate and mint in the boil

the recipe amounts were adjusted by beer smith. going for the baileys taste, minty chocolate coffee feel.
im also going to go with cask style serve on this to bring out the flavors

 

[bxtzd3]

I use roasted barley and flaked together. The flaked is about 10% of the grain I'll I think.

Have you ever had Motor Oil? It's a stout by Milwaukee's Lakefront Brewery, made for HD. I think they serve it exclusively at the HD Museum here in town. Lakefront has shared their recipes for a Pro Series through Northern Brewer - maybe if you called Lakefront and asked really nice they'd share the recipe with you?

im afraid of what additions they use. hahaha

 

[GuldTuborg]

OK, it's starting to come together. Here are a few thoughts:

-You have a lot of specialty malts in here. In excess of 30%. That might give you a really big beer with a really high FG. There's also a ton of roast. I find a good, roasty American stout is best balanced in the 10-12% roasted malt range, with half that again with a blend of crystal malts. That's not to say you need to change it, but I'm trying to give you an idea of what to expect based off what you suggested.

-What are the AAs on your hops, and what's the expected IBU level? You'll want something with a fair amount of hops to balance out the large amount of roasted grain.

-What kind of chocolate and mint are you using? Anything with much fat is going to kill your head. Have you looked into how mint fares through fermentation? Have you considered adding these post fermentation in addition to or instead of in the boil? There are techniques for that, too. How much are you using?

-Mash schedule? I'd maybe want to mash medium-low, to you get better attenuation given the large specialty malt percentage. Then again, you may need something beyond the crystal malt to balance the roast, in terms of sweetness or maltiness. It's tough to say.

I hope that helps, some. I know you want this to be your own, so I'm hoping asking the right questions will be better than just stating how I like my stouts. Keep the suggestions and questions coming, and good luck.

 

[bxtzd3]

OK, it's starting to come together. Here are a few thoughts:

-You have a lot of specialty malts in here. In excess of 30%. That might give you a really big beer with a really high FG. There's also a ton of roast. I find a good, roasty American stout is best balanced in the 10-12% roasted malt range, with half that again with a blend of crystal malts. That's not to say you need to change it, but I'm trying to give you an idea of what to expect based off what you suggested.

-What are the AAs on your hops, and what's the expected IBU level? You'll want something with a fair amount of hops to balance out the large amount of roasted grain.

-What kind of chocolate and mint are you using? Anything with much fat is going to kill your head. Have you looked into how mint fares through fermentation? Have you considered adding these post fermentation in addition to or instead of in the boil? There are techniques for that, too. How much are you using?

-Mash schedule? I'd maybe want to mash medium-low, to you get better attenuation given the large specialty malt percentage. Then again, you may need something beyond the crystal malt to balance the roast, in terms of sweetness or maltiness. It's tough to say.

I hope that helps, some. I know you want this to be your own, so I'm hoping asking the right questions will be better than just stating how I like my stouts. Keep the suggestions and questions coming, and good luck.

great stuff. i had the special grain at .75 in beer smith but it ended up with a 1.89% abv so i upped the sg and got that ratio.i will go lighter on that, prob take the advice and build of a recipe. still want that baileys taste. i am going to forgo the mint. for now

 

[bxtzd3]

ok i adjusted and got a low og 1.025

8lb pale malt 2 row
1lb crystal 60 10%
1lb roasted barley 10%

single mash no mash out med body

og1.025
fg1.006
abv 2.47
for a stout i was thinking a bit higher abv but not crazy. more pale malt? i know the roasted barley dont add to fermentables.

 

[GuldTuborg]

Either you're making a 10g batch, or you have beersmith set to a crazy low efficiency. 10 lbs of grain in a 5 gallon batch should get you way more than 1.025OG. The 80/10/10 is a great starting point, and would work well in general, but I have to ask...why the crazy low OG? You sure you want a 2.5% beer?

 

[bxtzd3]

bingo! u nailed it. must of been messing around and didn't reset to 5g batch.