My Super Stout Creation. What did I do?

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rhorwitz

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I was playing with beersmith 2.x and thought it might be neat to create a super stout beer using the thickest recipe I could conjure up. My recipe was for 12 gallons. I included 1 lb of black patent and 1 lb carafa III. Although the basic recipe was for an Oatmeal stout, I wanted it to be slightly dryer and as such I reduced the amount of oatmeal. I hit my expected original gravity of .054 and pitched some Nottingham English dry yeast which I had prepared a day before. I was expecting a final gravity of ~.02, but it stopped at .032. I stirred the trub and wort attempting to rouse the yeast, but it completely stopped at .03, which according to beer smith would give me ~3.2%. I gave it a taste and it was really rich and dry. I am contemplating on fortifying it with some light malt to get it up to 4.5%. In the meantime, I am curious as to why this brew is so dry at .03. It's so rich it stains everything that contacts it. Anyway, the recipe is below- Comments and recommendations are appreciated.
Hellbent's Oatmeal Stout
7 lbs​
Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM)​
Grain​
1​
29.8 %​
3 lbs​
Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)​
Grain​
2​
12.8 %​
3 lbs​
Chocolate Wheat Malt (400.0 SRM)​
Grain​
3​
12.8 %​
2 lbs 8.0 oz​
Oats, Flaked (1.3 SRM)​
Grain​
4​
10.6 %​
2 lbs​
Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM)​
Grain​
5​
8.5 %​
2 lbs​
Munich Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM)​
Grain​
6​
8.5 %​
2 lbs​
Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)​
Grain​
7​
8.5 %​
1 lbs​
Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM)​
Grain​
8​
4.3 %​
1 lbs​
Carafa III (525.0 SRM)​
Grain​
9​
4.3 %​
1.50 oz​
Nugget [13.00 %] - Boil 45.0 min​
Hop​
10​
28.4 IBUs​
4.00 oz​
Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min​
Hop​
11​
14.2 IBUs​
1.0 pkg​
Nottingham English Ale Dry yeast​
Yeast​
12​
-​
4.00 oz​
Fuggles [4.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days​
Hop​
13​
0.0 IBUs​
 
Oh, I forgot to also mentioned that the PH was down to ~3.9. It's really hard to read, as the litmus paper turns black. If I have to throw it out, I'm going to use it for a wood stain!!!!
 
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For giggles I could mix some baking soda?


For giggles, you can do anything, although, with that much roasted grain, it do not feel that there will be much improvement in taste.



usually, there not much that can be done to "fix" a bad recipe once it has been brewed, just call it a "learning experience"
 
I gave it a taste and it was really rich and dry.

You asked for feedback...
  • 9 fermentables - muddy mess
  • You have ~45 percent roasted malts which is crazy, crazy, high. This quantity of roasted malts would probably create a very harsh beer. Guinness is only about 10% roasted barley. I am surprise it is even drinkable.
  • Given the acidity of the roasted malts, no surprise the PH was that low.
  • Diastatic power is low - conversion may be have been slow so you ended up with less fermentable wort. You essentially have 35% oats that the 65% 2-row needs to convert. Also, most of the fermentables from the roasted malts are probably not very fermentable to start.
  • It probably taste dry because of all the harshness from the roasted malts dominating the sweetness.
Sorry if a bit harsh (pun intended), but the recipe is a mess from my perspective. But if that is what you enjoy, kudos to you for being so bold.
 
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For giggles, you can do anything, although, with that much roasted grain, it do not feel that there will be much improvement in taste.



usually, there not much that can be done to "fix" a bad recipe once it has been brewed, just call it a "learning experience"
What? I still have a good wood stain! ;-)
 
Thank you everyone for your help and honest opinion. As I mentioned, this was an experiment that got out of hand. I had fun with it and learned a lot about toasted grains and PH at the same time.
 
Definitely a lot of roasted grain. I would shoot for 3 - 4% in the future . That's learning though . I did the same thing when I first started . Are you saying your mash pH was 3.9? What was your water profile ?
 
If it’s tough to choke down, you could always blend it with another, lighter beer.


Then another beer might get ruined, that's just a crapshoot.
Early on, I tried to blend a batch or two that I felt "wasn't right", tried various ratios of blending, made notes, blended according to the notes to get the ratio correct, the beer still sucked, so it was a waste of the better beer in my situation. Like I said previously, usually, there's not much that can be done to "fix" a bad recipe once it has been brewed, in my experience, although, I'm sure it works sometimes for some people. I suppose that it takes a great deal of experience to get blending right.


Really the wood stain, might be best.
I made some wood stain from vinegar and steel wool, to give some wood an antuque look. While doing the research, I ran across recipes for stain made from both tea and coffee. So if you were to start a bar build, you could stain the wood and know that the stain came from a batch of beer and make a win out of it.
 
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