my first high gravity beer

[grrtt78]

OK so this will be my fifth beer and by far the highest gravity. i want to make an irish style dry stout (i prefer sweet but this is for saint patricks day) and i want to keep the alcohol somewhere around 7% and keep the gravity fairly high and make it a dry stout but not too dry. here is my recipe so far but there are some holes i need filled in:

Steep grains at 175 for one hour:
Roasted Barley-1lb
40l crystal malt-.25 lbs(i want to keep it from being too dry. good idea or lose it?)
Black Patent malt-i think i want this but i dotn kno how much
Chocolate malt-this would make it too sweet right?

Malt extract:
8-9 lbs pale lme-(too much?)

hops:
East kent goldings-2 oz-60 mins
East kent goldings-.5oz 20 mins

Yeast:
Not sure, any ale yeast that can easily hit 7% abv

Basically i need some holes filled and i want to know if iwill hit 7% abv and have a good tasting dry stout. Thanks in advance!

 

[jcarson83]

I've made the mistake of using too much black patent before so be easy with it, maybe a 1/4 to 1/8 lb. Its mainly for color.

 

[grrtt78]

doesnt black patent add a bitter taste as well?

 

[Torchiest]

doesnt black patent add a bitter taste as well?

That's what I've heard, but amazingly, I used 1/2lb in my oatmeal stout and it came out pretty well.

I'd say go maybe 1/4lb black patent, and 1/2lb chocolate, and use the darkest crystal you can get. 8-9lbs of LME should get you pretty close to 7% alcohol.

You could also use Target hops for bittering.

As for yeast, you could use Nottingham dry or White Labs #WLP013 London Ale. The Nottingham has better attenuation, which means lower FG and higher alcohol content, but the London Ale adds a lot of complexity to the flavor.

 

[grrtt78]

thanks. anyone elses wanna help fill in some holes?

 

[the_bird]

Drop your steep temp to 160; you're getting too close to tannin-extraction range at 175.

 

[the_bird]

Oh, and chocolate malt won't add any sweetness at all. Be careful of the total amount of chocolate, roasted barley, and black patent you use, though; a pound of roasted barley is quite a bit.