My stout is brown

[GutFunk]

Hey guys just looking for a little help here.

I do small batch BIAB all grain recipes and I made my second peanut butter stout. The first one turned out good just no head retention so I decided to add a bit of oats this time.

I subtracted some maris otter from the original recipe for the oats so not sure why but this time the beer has become brown whereas last time the brew was a nice dark brew.

This is the new recipe:


1 lbs 12.0 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 65.1 %
3.8 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 2 8.9 %
3.2 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 3 7.4 %
2.4 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 4 5.6 %
5.6 oz Milk Sugar (Lactose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 5 13.0 %
0.15 oz Nugget [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 37.6 IBUs
74.00 g Reece Puffs (Boil 0.0 mins) Flavor 7 -
1.0 pkg SafBrew Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-33) [23.66 ml] Yeast 8 -
1.00 Items Vanilla Bean (Secondary 10.0 days) Flavor 9 -
1.60 g Cocoa Nibs (Secondary 7.0 days) Flavor 10 -
6.50 oz PB2 Powder (Secondary 0.0 mins) Spice 11 -

Any help would be great

Cheers

 

[Biscuits]

How many gallons is this recipe?

 

[IslandLizard]

1 gallon batch perhaps?

Plug it into Brewer's Friend, or any other brew calculator, and see what your SRM comes out to be. 7.4% of 350L Chocolate malt may not be quite enough color. Or maybe you didn't get the right kind this time or last time, hence the difference.

Most stouts include a small % of roasted barley or dehusked Carafa II or III to make it black. Or instead, use Black Prinz or Midnight Wheat. You need something with 600-800L.

If you haven't bottled it yet, you can boil up a small bit of the black potion and add to your bottling vessel.

 

[Gavin C]

No roasted barley puts it more into a brown or a porter type beer I would think.

Also oats are not associated with improving head retention, at least not as the primary reason for their inclusion in a recipe. They deliver a different type of mouthfeel often described as slick or creamy.

In a stout flaked barley and crystal malts are often use to augment head retention.

 

[bransona]

I have some concerns about brewing with the Reese's Puffs (preservatives?), but I would agree with the general idea in this thread. More chocolate malt or darker malts in your mix. For now, I say call it a porter and ride it out. I don't think the flavor profile will change too dramatically in making that cosmetic correction, so why bother?

 

[Biscuits]

If this was a 1 gallon recipe...and the final volume out of the kettle was 1 gallon total...this is coming in at/around 33 SRM...a mid-to-dark brown color, but not quite dark enough for a stout IMHO...pretty low OG too. I would increase the MO to 1.5 lbs. and the chocolate malt to 4 Oz...which would bringyour SRM to 37-38 and OG to @ 1.060.

 

[GutFunk]

Thanks for the repies. Yeah the recipe is 1 gallon. Beer smith said I should be at 35 SRM which is I guess why I was surprised when it came out so light compared to last time. I'll probably just let this one be and see how it tastes and chalk it up to learning.

 

[Biscuits]

Thanks for the repies. Yeah the recipe is 1 gallon. Beer smith said I should be at 35 SRM which is I guess why I was surprised when it came out so light compared to last time. I'll probably just let this one be and see how it tastes and chalk it up to learning.

I actually miscalculated because I didn't see the "12 Oz." after the 1 lb. of MO..so yes, it should have been 33.5 SRM. That case, I would have just upped the Chocolate Malt to 4 Oz.