My son’s first “from scratch” brew - some sort of stout

[TasunkaWitko]

My #2 son Mike has been doing a little brewing, using pre-packaged mixes from Brooklyn Brew Shop. They have come out pretty darn well, even with the usual learning curves.

Recently, I went to Billings, which has an LHBS, and Mike asked me to pick up some ingredients for a recipe that he had put together, using elements of a few other recipes that he had studied. I picked them up, helped him come up with a hop schedule, and he is ready to go. It's meant to be pretty straightforward, but it looks to me like it should also be pretty good.

I plugged it into Brewers Friend, and it comes back as a “sweet stout,” so I am assuming he is on the right track. It seems to be right on the money with the ingredients etc. for that style, but I am neither a very experienced brewer nor a very experienced user of Brewers Friend. So, I figured that I would run it in front of the Knights of the Round Table here, just in case there were any obvious pitfalls. Here it is -

Mike’s Oxtail Brew

Batch size - 1 gallon (all-grain)

OG - 1.054
FG - 1.016
ABV - 5.08%
IBU - 29.29
SRM 40.0

Ingredients

Pale 2-row malt - 1.2 pound
Flaked barley - 0.4 pound
Chocolate malt - 0.2 pound
Black Barley - 0.1 pound
Crystal Malt 120 - 0.2 pound


60-minute mash in the range of 144-152 degrees.

60-minute boil

East Kent Golding - .15 oz - 60 minutes
East Kent Golding - .15 oz - 30 minutes
East Kent Golding - .15 oz - 5 minutes

Yeast

Safbrew S-33

The grains are milled together, so nothing can really be taken out; however, we have a few things that could be added, such as a couple of varieties of aroma hops and/or some specialty grains. Our nearest LHBS is 250 miles away, so this is most likely the final recipe anyway, but I was hoping that a little feedback might let us know if he is on the right track.

Thanks in advance -

Ron

(Original recipe edited to reflect suggestions)

 

[Aristotelian]

I would not add more specialty grains but the gravity is a little low. You might add another .2 pound or so of base malt. I usually aim for about 2 lbs of grain for a 1 G batch.

 

[ong]

I would tend to mash in the 152-156 range, to get a little more body. I'd call this a porter because it doesn't have any roasted barley, but that's just splitting hairs!

Next time I'd use a little less flaked barley, but I'm sure this will turn out fine!

 

[dstockwell]

I'd call this a porter because it doesn't have any roasted barley, but that's just splitting hairs!

Doesn't the black barley = roasted..

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Hey, guys -

Thanks for the lightning-quick feedback. I appreciate it.

We do have some crystal malt (40 and 120). Shall we add a little of one or both?

I can also advise him to keep the mash at the higher end of the range; we mash in an enameled cast-iron Dutch oven, so a lot of times our problem is a little too much heat, rather than not enough. Shooting for 152-156 should be pretty easy.

Thanks again, and keep it coming - these "development sessions" are always pretty cool - lots of great ideas ~

 

[jjeffers09]

I would have offered up midnight wheat vs black. but you said it is all milled up. Next time try the midnight wheat, you, or your son, won't regret it.

 

[jjeffers09]

Do you want sweet caramel or dark toffee? 40 or 120? I would say 1 or the other not both. also get your pH to the 5.5-5.6 range for that smooth sweet stout.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Thanks for the feedback, jjeffers09 - I will present the options to him and see what he wants to do with it. Myself, I would lean toward the 40, to balance out the darks that are already there, but either one would be a great option, it seems.

I will also keep the midnight wheat in mind - I like the sound of it!

Ron

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Alright, Mike elected to go with Crystal 120; I have edited the opening post to reflect this.

We're set to begin brewing - wish us luck!

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Well, this stout seems to be plugging along - I think we'll be bottling it this weekend.

Also, Mike decided to call it "Oxtail Brew," which I think is a good name. I've edited the OP to reflect this.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Last night, 8 June, we bottled this beer. The procedure went quite smoothly, thanks to our auto-siphon and our spring-tip bottle filler, and nary a drop was spilled. We were going for a low-to-medium amount of carbonation, so we used 1.5 tablespoons of maple syrup as a priming sugar.

We were able to get 9 bottles out of this 1-gallon batch, which is not bad at all; I am sometimes able to squeeze enough for 10 bottles, but it usually involves a little extra sediment going into the bottling bucket. In this case, it was pretty much sediment-free, so no worries there. I really liked the look of the beer in the bottling bucket. It looked nice and dark, and also had a thick, almost viscous appearance whenever it was moving around - almost like an oil slick, but in a good way.

There was enough left over for us each to try a small sample. I've got to say, I think this beer is going to be pretty good - really good, in fact. I caught the dark chocolate and toffee notes, and there seemed to be a bit of coffee in there, as well. The young, un-carbonated beer also showed promise with a muted, mellow bitterness and aroma from the hops that will come forward a bit in the bottle, I am sure, to bring in a really nice balance.

Al-in-all, I think we're going to end up with a smooth-drinking, almost creamy stout that will be a winner. The only thing I would do differently next time is to be sure to have a little more base malt, as Aristotelian suggested; we weren't able to do that this time, but It makes good sense to do so in the future.

In 3 weeks or so, I'll let you know how this turned out, but I think it's going to be awesome ~

 

[TasunkaWitko]

I've edited the original recipe to reflect the addition of 0.2 pounds of base malt, as suggested.

This is, as far as I can tell, the final version of the recipe. The only other possibility might be the addition of Irish Moss, if one deems it necessary. It doesn't appear to need it, from what I have seen so far, but we'll know more after some time in the bottle and the refrigerator - and then seeing it in the mug!

If anyone would like to try this, I'd be interested in feedback. I think Mike did pretty well, for a first attempt, but there's almost always room for improvement, of course.