Stout Review

[hayabusa]

first crack at a homegrown recipie in beersmith, any criticism?
Goal was a dry stout for this coming weekend.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 5.72 gal
Estimated OG: 1.087 SG
Estimated Color: 37.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 42.9 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
11 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 64.71 %
4 lbs 4.0 oz Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 25.00 %
1 lbs 12.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 10.29 %
1.50 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (60 min) Hops 22.5 IBU
1.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops 20.4 IBU

Danstar Notingham Yeast....

 

[brewmasterpa]

thats a rockstar. whole lots of roasted barley, and alcohol to spare.

 

[Got Trub?]

I would back off on the flaked barley to say 2#. This is a big beer and you will have lots of body and mouthfeel already. I'd also add some other toasted grains like chocolate or special B to round out the toasty flavours - roasted barley is very one dimensional.

GT

 

[Bob]

Yeah, GT, but the man's after Dry Stout. That grist is only a few percentage points off the classic Dry Stout grist of 70% pale malt, 20% flaked barley, 10% roasted. You may find roasted barley only one-dimensional, but if a "Dry Stout" comes in front of me and I taste chocolate malt, guess what? It gets dinged. Dry Stout is supposed to have a one-dimensional roasted-grain profile; it's a hallmark of the breed. Increasing roasted-grain complexity in the style is as pointless as breeding spots onto a Weimaraner - you do that, you no longer have a Weimaraner, you've got a Dalmation.

Furthermore, Special B is a crystal malt, not a roasted malt. Neener, neener, neener.

Hayabusa, if I have one complaint about your recipe, it's that it's too darned BIG. Cut the OG in half, and you're on to something. See, I like to suck down Dry Stout by the Imperial pint, four or more of an evening. Can't do that with a 1.087 beer. Well, not me, anyway!

Cheers,

Bob

 

[brewt00l]

Bob/NQ3X makes a number of good points that are on the mark:

Dry stouts using the 70/20/10 profile to my tastes yield the classic dry stout flavor and offer plenty of depth in that simple grain bill. Adding crystal or chocolate seem to muddy that profile and can really decrease the depth.

That's just waaay too big to be a nice quaffable dry stout.

 

[hayabusa]

thanks for all the comments - I think there are lots of good points and I am going to definitly scale it back a bit. I think I had my nuts on the keyboard when I was doing the grain bill and shot to high as NQ mentioned. I need to decide if some extra flavors are what I am shooting for a a true dry stout... I think I will go true dry this round but between here and the LHBS i might change my mind.

cheers

 

[flyangler18]

Too many people are drinking the Randy Mosher Kool-Aid when discussing stouts and try to overcomplicate where simplicity is best. Roastiness is the hallmark of the style and, done properly and with restraint, has a reassuring and comfortable complexity and depth despite the simplistic grist.

I've brewed stouts that deviated from the dry stout proportions, including off-setting the roastiness with crystal and pale chocolate. While pleasant quaffers and very popular with guests, they weren't dry stouts!

 

[bsay]

I think you typed a "5" instead of a "10" in the gallons column. The one thing the standard stout %s don't say is how much water to use. Dry stouts usually fall between 1.036 and 1.050. I usually aim mine for around the 1.043-1.048 mark. All depends on the efficiency I get on brew day.

 

[user 22118]

Back off of those IBU's to match the gravity. I like my stouts around the 1.048. Listen to Bob as he is smarter than us and has been brewing since before our fathers were in diapers. As good as a dry stout is, I like to make my stouts with a hint of chocolate for added depth. Not a dry stout any more, but a tasty brew.

Make the recipe once by the book and then think about what you are going to do to make it more to your liking.

 

[hayabusa]

I think you typed a "5" instead of a "10" in the gallons column. The one thing the standard stout %s don't say is how much water to use. Dry stouts usually fall between 1.036 and 1.050. I usually aim mine for around the 1.043-1.048 mark. All depends on the efficiency I get on brew day.

I did mean 5 gallons and got a bit big-balled on the gravity - here is my updated one... The gravity is still a little high but I have had some efficiency issues lately so I added some extra grain to compensate
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 5.72 gal
Estimated OG: 1.054 SG
Estimated Color: 37.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 37.1 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
6 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 55.81 %
3 lbs Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 27.91 %
1 lbs 12.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 16.28 %
1.00 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (60 min) Hops 19.4 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops 17.7 IBU
1 Pkgs Irish Dry Stout (Brewtek #CL-0240) Yeast-Ale