What Style Would You Call This Recipe?

[GrowleyMonster]

I usually would rather drink my beer than talk about it, but people always ask me what kind of beer it is, so I want to know what style of beer this most closely resembles. This is in the fermenter right now.

Mash
BIAB 6 gallons 148-146° 60 minutes
10lb Viking pale 2 row
1 lb Briess chocolate 350L
1 lb Viking Cookie Malt 20L
3 lb Quaker Quick Oats
Drain bag, squeeze. Sparge with 1-1/2 gallons hot water. Squeeze very dry.

Boil
2 oz Czech Sasz pellets for 60 minute boil, just using up something that has been in the freezer a while that i want to get rid of. Next several batches will each get one ounce Sterling for half hour.
1 lb Lactose added near end of boil

Chill
to 80F with immersion coil

Ferment
Transfer to a Big Mouth Bubbler
Yeast: 1 quart starter from last batch trub, derived from BE-256 and HotHead. I pitched the whole starter, both solid and liquid component.
SG by Tilt was 1.078
Batch volume in the Big Mouth Bubbler is 5.75 gallons, with the biggish starter.

Brewer's Friend recipe calculator predicts:
OG 1.078 FG 1.019 ABV 7.78% IBU 9.97 SRM 27.76

This is similar to what I have been brewing for quite a while now except for the addition of the Viking Cookie Malt and the Lactose. The Lactose in particular is for creaminess and a hint of residual sweetness. I expect color to be quite dark and head to be very heavy and definitely well along between beige and tan in color. Previous batches have given me that color and head, with only about 5psi of CO2 required to put a great head on the glass.

I notice that most stouts seem to be around 4.5% to 5% ABV, something like that. My beers have been running about 7.5% ABV. So what do I call this, when people ask? Is this still a Stout, and with the lactose added, is it now a Milk Stout? Milk Porter? Imperial Cream Ale?

 

[AlexKay]

With that much chocolate malt, I think it will taste like it has roasted barley, even though it doesn’t. My vote is stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout, imperial milk Belgian oatmeal stout, or the like.

 

[MaxStout]

3lbs of oats--that's a lot!

Call it Haulin' Oats Imperial Milk Stout.

 

[GrowleyMonster]

With that much chocolate malt, I think it will taste like it has roasted barley, even though it doesn’t. My vote is stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout, imperial milk Belgian oatmeal stout, or the like.

Okay, nothing special then, just your everyday imperial milk Belgian oatmeal stout. I get it.
So where does the "imperial" come in? A certain SG or FG, or a certain ABV?

 

[GrowleyMonster]

3lbs of oats--that's a lot!

Call it Haulin' Oats Imperial Milk Stout.

I been using a 42oz cannister, for convenience. I just thought maybe I would add another 6oz and bring it up to the next whole pound. The 42oz has been working really well for me.

 

[AlexKay]

You could pull out the “imperial” label for anything that’s significantly stronger (and often hoppier) than you’d expect. This isn’t so strong, really, so maybe it’s a quasi-imperial milk Belgian oatmeal stout.

it’s the perfect amount of oats, I think. When I want to oat something, I like to make sure it’s well oated, to the tune of 30-50% of of the grain bill. Mmmmm, oats.

 

[Jayjay1976]

Sounds tasty.
Agree that it's not quite Imperial; according to Webster, a notch below that would be Lordly.
On account of all the oats, I'd call it Lord Brimley's Revenge.

 

[Jayjay1976]

it’s the perfect amount of oats, I think. When I want to oat something, I like to make sure it’s well oated, to the tune of 30-50% of of the grain bill. Mmmmm, oats.

In my book, anything worth oating is worth oating right, that means >30%
Got me thinking I might work some oats into the Helles Bock I'm brewing tomorrow.

 

[MaxStout]

The BJCP range for imperial stout is 8-12% ABV. So, "near imperial."

Who cares, looks tasty.

 

[MaxStout]

Imperial Lite
Tastes great, less filling

 

[GrowleyMonster]

The BJCP range for imperial stout is 8-12% ABV. So, "near imperial."

Who cares, looks tasty.

BJCP? I don't know that acro.

 

[GrowleyMonster]

I think this was the 4th day in the fermenter. It was blooping pretty slow yesterday, and the Tilt said 1.030, very slow today, 1.029. I don't think it will make the predicted 1.019 but that's okay if it doesn't. I do think it WILL be tasty, maybe my most satisfying batch to date. Feeling very optimistic. And I dumped the Tilt in there right before I put the lid on. It might have some crud stuck to it from the krausen so it could be reading a little high.

I left the air conditioner on for two days and it got pretty cold in the house when that cold front came through, and I didn't really notice it. The Tilt says it is at 68F today so with the yeast this batch is descended from, it might just be a little lethargic. I got the heat on now. Hopefully it will be up above 70F by morning and it will blurp some more and lighten up just a hair. Honestly I kind of think I would like for it to come in at around 1.024 or 1.025.

So, just your everyday imperial milk Belgian oatmeal lite stout. JYEIMBOLS. Anybody should be able to remember that.

Next batch gets a little cocoa and espresso.

 

[MaxStout]

BJCP? I don't know that acro.

Beer Judge Certification Program.
They establish the parameters around each style of beer.

 

[grampamark]

Beer Judge Certification Program.
They establish the parameters around each style of beer.

BJCP is to homebrewing what HOAs are to home ownership.

 

[GrowleyMonster]

So, fermentation stalled out at 1.026 at day 19. Bottled, priming with 3.8 oz corn sugar. After 3 weeks I put a bottle in the fridge for two days and tasted it last night.

First sip was a jarring shock to the senses. Avalanche of sweetness. Not really unpleasant, but vaguely disturbing. Second sip, Hmmmm, pretty good, actually! Gave Mrs. Monster a taste and her eyes lit up with delight. Could use a touch more carbonation. I think that would tame that initial "ew, too sweet!" shock. Or I could cut back on the lactose a bit. I have had so many geyser bottles in the past that I guess I am gun-shy about priming, and I would rather under-carb than over-carb. I will try 4-1/2 oz next time I bottle something like this. Anyway, very creamy. I think some raspberry or cherry syrup would go good in it. A desert beer? I have always enjoyed a Kriek or Framboise Lambic any time I was in Belgium and could get it easily in a bar.

 

[Jayjay1976]

BJCP is to homebrewing what HOAs are to home ownership.

Don't forget to mention, the people who created BJCP are also more or less self-appointed.
I respect what BJCP aims to do, but the entire premise reminds me of something...



Also, the post-2015 styles strike me as particularly ethnocentric, as in, their map seems to have America right in the middle.
For example: style 1: "Standard American Beer". "Standard" by whose standards? Sheesh. What's worse is that pre-2015 they were much less like this. Not to condemn the whole thing, just change the name to ABJCP so we can all be clear on what it really is.

Side note: I might consider studying to become a BJCP judge, except my star trek costume is at the dry cleaners. Also, I totally don't think I could do it.