Never Brewed a Stout Before

[SouthBay]

Hey all, I've brewed a handful of beers (probably 1 a month for the last 2-3 years), but realized I'd never brewed a stout or porter before. Since I've been on a kick for Quilter's Irish Death from Iron Horse Brewery in Ellensberg, WA lately, I figured I'd give it a try.

I'm not trying to clone their beer, first off. I'd really appreciate if you experts took a look at this recipe and gave me some pointers on how to brew the style and critiqued the recipe. Any and all recommendations are welcome, from mash temp to BU:GU to type of base malt.

Anyways, here goes at an Imperial Sweet Stout !

Grains:
2.5# light DME (I have a hard time fitting more grains/liquor in the MLT)
5# Marris Otter (either this or Golden Promise?)
2# Munich 10L
1# Crystal 80
1# Cara-pils
1# Flaked Barley
8oz Flaked Oats
8oz Carafa 2 Special
4oz Chocolate Malt
4oz Roast Barley

estimated gravity w/ Beersmith: 1.081 @ 72% efficiency (

Hops:
Styrian Goldings 3.0aa @ 60 min
Fuggles 4.5aa @ 60 min

estimated IBUs w/ Beersmith: 37.2

Mash @ 156, 1:1 grains:water ratio for 60 minutes
Boil 90 minutes

Water is from the old Olympia Brewing artesian well, which is a soft water, basically devoid of minerals. Ferment at 68 degrees, two weeks in the primary, two weeks in the secondary.

Pitching a pre-doubled starter of White Labs English Ale (doing a starter, then pitching it into another starter, before pitching into the wort)

Final tweaks:
6oz of fat free cocoa powder added to the final 10 minutes of the boil, and 4oz lactose added to pre-bottling.

I call it a Chocolate Milk Stout

 

[WolvinMaine]

A few things I would suggest. First off, with all the roasted malts, your base malt flavors is going to get kinda lost, so I don't think you necessarily need to use MO or Golden Promise. If you got it, fine, if not, a basic 2 row will do for a little cheaper. Secondly, with the flaked barley, crystal malt, oats, and mash temps, I don't think you need the cara pils, you will get plenty of body and head retention. Just add another pound of base malt instead. The last bit is your roasted malts, and this is all your preference. I like big, roasty, coffeeish stouts with a bit of a bite, so I tend to use more roasted barley. The carafa is going to give you a rounder, not as sharp roasty flavor. I personally don't care for chocolate malt all that much, I tend to get an unpleasant astringent taste from it that I don't particularly enjoy, but that is all subjective. I tend to think less is more in malt bills, and would probably simplify it to 8oz carafa and 8 oz roasted, or even 1# of roasted, all depends on what you want. Good luck, let us know what you decided to do.

 

[SouthBay]

Ok, good point about the base grain and Cara Pils.

With the dark malts, I'm not looking for a big, roasty flavor. My inspiration for this one is a big beer, but it's not very roasty or toasty. Its a smooth beer, with a hint of roastiness, almost like the coffee flavors are a little burnt. I'd like to attain that level with this one, since neither myself or SWMBO are much in the way of traditional stout drinkers. And, i just happen to have 3/4# Carafa 2 on hand.

So, try this:

2.5# light DME (I have a hard time fitting more grains/liquor in the MLT)
6# US 2-Row
2# Munich 10L
1# Crystal 80
1# Flaked Barley
8oz Flaked Oats
12oz Carafa 2 Special
4oz Roast Barley

That puts the OG at 1.080, a negligible difference.

 

[Lucky_Chicken]

My recipie calls for Crystal 120L instead of 80L but then again I use a lot of 120 so it is one of my stock grains. I also use Nottingham yeast and some chocolate malt, it comes out very nice. I think your recipie looks like it will be a good sweet stout! There shouldnt be any off style issues with your grain bill. Let us know how it turns out.