Stout Review

Appearance: Very dark ruby. Not black. Off white head with big bubbles and poor persistence. Traditionally this beer is supposed to have low carbonation but mine is disappointing in that it does not have that nice thick foam of a Guinness.

Aroma: It smells to me black coffee with addition of nutty malty character. I don't get hop aroma.

Taste: Like black coffee with a bit of malty character. I taste a bit of sweetness, but that might just be a malty note. Aftertaste is slightly harsh and lingering. Might be a bit of acridness. Low hop bitterness as far as I can tell.

Mouthfeel: Low carbonation, medium body.

Overall: OK, not my best, but not sure what if anything is wrong with it. Tastes to me like a mild but with more body. My wife doesn't like it because of the acridness in the aftertaste. I've entered it into a comp.... hope to get some helpful feedback.

Weizenbock + Dry Stout Double Brew

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Weizenbock 1
Style: Weizenbock

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 4.91 gal
Post Boil Volume: 3.91 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 3.50 gal  
Bottling Volume: 3.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.080 SG
Estimated Color: 20.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 23.3 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 77.1 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU        
6 lbs                 Wheat Dark (BestMälz) (9.1 SRM)          Grain         1        55.2 %       
3 lbs                 Pilsen (BestMälz) (1.5 SRM)              Grain         2        27.6 %       
1 lbs 4.0 oz          Munich (BestMälz) (7.6 SRM)              Grain         3        11.5 %       
4.0 oz                Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)    Grain         4        2.3 %        
4.0 oz                Special B Malt (180.0 SRM)               Grain         5        2.3 %        
2.0 oz                Carafa I (337.0 SRM)                     Grain         6        1.1 %        
0.50 oz               Northern Brewer [10.20 %] - Boil 60.0 mi Hop           7        23.3 IBUs    
2.0 pkg               Hefeweizen IV Ale (White Labs #WLP380) [ Yeast         8        -                    

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 10 lbs 14.0 oz
----------------------------
Name                    Description                                          Step Temperat Step Time    
Mash In                 Add 13.59 qt of water at 165.7 F                     150.0 F       75 min       

Sparge: Batch
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3/29/17: Made starter with 2 packs of yeast, 1.5 Liters.

4/1/17: Brewed. Hit mash temps well, but was using kettle on stove with some direct heat, so might have gotten some variation in the mash temp in different areas of the mash.

OG was a bit low, like 1.072. Meh.

Cooled to 70F with ice bath, then placed in fridge with target temp of 62F.

Pitched on 4/2/17 after 45 seconds of oxygenation. Good fermentation activity by morning of 4/3/17.

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Recipe: Stout 2017
Style: Irish Stout


Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.00 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.25 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal  
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.042 SG
Estimated Color: 30.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 30.8 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 76.4 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU        
5.50 gal              Boston, MA                               Water         1        -            
3.00 g                Calcium Chloride (Mash 60.0 mins)        Water Agent   2        -            
3.00 g                Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins Water Agent   3        -            
7 lbs                 Maris Otter Malt (Muntons) (3.0 SRM)     Grain         4        72.7 %       
1 lbs 8.0 oz          Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM)                 Grain         5        15.6 %       
14.0 oz               Roasted Barley (Muntons) (525.0 SRM)     Grain         6        9.1 %        
4.0 oz                Acid Malt (3.0 SRM)                      Grain         7        2.6 %        
1.00 oz               Fuggle [5.10 %] - Boil 60.0 min          Hop           8        16.6 IBUs    
0.25 oz               Northern Brewer [8.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop           9        7.6 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Fuggle [5.10 %] - Boil 10.0 min          Hop           10       6.6 IBUs     
1.0 pkg               Safale American  (DCL/Fermentis #US-05)  Yeast         11       -            


Mash Schedule: 150F, Mash Out, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 9 lbs 10.0 oz
----------------------------
Name                    Description                                          Step Temperat Step Time    
Mash Step               Add 13.03 qt of water at 162.6 F                     150.0 F       60 min       
Mash Step               Add 7.70 qt of water at 204.2 F                      168.0 F       10 min       

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 3.22gal) of 168.0 F water

------
Mash temps probably off due to equipment issue. Not really sure in which direction.

Ground roasted malt nearly to powder, added during sparge.

Got 7 gallons of wort, a bit above target OG. Boiled 60 mins, cooled to 90F, racked and cooled in fridge to 62F.

Sprinkled dry yeast onto wort on 4/2 and moved to 65F ambient. Little activity the following day, then good activity by 4/3, sitting in 68F ambient. 

Dry Irish Stout Review

Appearance: Very dark brown body, nearly black. Free of yeast sediment. Tan, fairly persistent head with thick appearance. Good lacing.

Aroma: Malty aroma, a little like black coffee. Earthy. No alcohol notes, maybe slight hop aroma. As it warms it smells a bit rounder with better malty complexity.

Taste: Dry, fairly roasty, slight acridness. Slight crystal sweetness comes through as it warms. Like black coffee but less intense. Bitterness is moderate. The dark roast malt has some acidity, a bit like the bite at the end of Guinness.

Mouthfeel: Smooth body. Medium carbonation (CO2, not nitrogen, so not as smooth as Guinness.)  Drinkable.

Overall:  Fairly pleasant dark stout. Straightforwardly roasty with a slight acrid-coffee flavor. Minimal sweetness from the C120. Pretty drinkable. Fairly similar to Guinness but not as smooth and a little more intensely roasty. I would brew again and probably would not change anything, though of course it is fun to experiment with different roast malts.

Dry Irish Stout Brewday

One of the clubs of which I am a member is doing a club experiment where a bunch of brewers will brew nearly the same recipe but vary one ingredient - in this case the roast malt. I decided to use Carafa I in this recipe to see how that grain tastes in comparison to Black Patent, Roast Barley, Chocolate Malt, etc...

Cooling the wort. 

Recipe: Irish Stout
Style: Dry Stout
TYPE: All Grain
Note: 1/2 g Cal. Chloride and 1/2g Gypsum, per gallon of brewing water.
Ferment at 68F for 6 days, 70F for 2 days, crash cool to 35F.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.88 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.88 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.5 gal  
Bottling Volume: 5 gal
Estimated OG: 1.057 SG
Estimated Color: 41.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 39.9 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.3 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU        
5.25 gal              Boston, MA                               Water         1        -            
7 lbs                 Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)           Grain         4        57.1 %        2 lbs                 Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM)                 Grain         5        16.3 %       
2 lbs                 Carafa I (337.0 SRM)                     Grain         6        16.3 %       
1 lbs                 White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM)               Grain         7        8.2 %        
4.0 oz                Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM)   Grain         8        2.0 %        
0.95 oz               Magnum [12.00 %] - Boil 65.0 min         Hop           9        39.9 IBUs    
1.0 pkg               Irish Ale Yeast (White Labs #WLP004)     Yeast         10       -            

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 12 lbs 4.0 oz
----------------------------
Name                    Description                                          Step Temperat Step Time    
Mash In                 Add 19.31 qt of water at 161.2 F                     152.0 F       60 min       

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 4.52gal) of 168.0 F water


Made starter on 3/23/16 since I was planning to brew that week. Brewday was delayed... After starter fermented, cooled, allowed yeast to completely settle, then put yeast in mason jar with boiled H20.

4/3/16. Brewed. Brew day went well. Hit my mash temp of 152F. Mashed for 1 hour, drained, then sparged. Probably oversparged a little.

Pre-boil OG was ~1.046 / 11.4B. Post-boil OG was 1.054 / 13.4B, slightly under. Overvolume.

Cooled to 90F, then placed into fermentation chamber for final cooling to 68F.  Got 5.75 gallon into fermenter pre-pitching.

After wort reached 67F, oxygenated 1 min and pitched yeast directly from Mason jar. At around 9 pm.

By 5pm on 4/4/16 the beer was actively fermenting. I am afraid some foam may blow out of the airlock when high krausen hits. The temperature probe taped to the side of the carboy read 67.7F. Of course the middle of the beer is likely at a higher temp due to the heat of fermentation.

4/5/16, 5pm. Quite some foam blew through the S-type airlock during high krausen. I removed the beer / krausen soaked airlock and bung, and replaced them with a clean one. High krausen has passed but the new airlock was bubbling at a moderate pace.

I would like to have a stainless kettle with internal volume etchings for better control over my final batch volume. 

American Stout Tasting

Winter is coming. Actually, it's here. The temperature outside right now is 19F, with lows tonight around 6F. It's not so cold that my tastebuds can be warmed up enough to taste the American Stout I brewed a few weeks ago using the recipe from Brewing Classic Styles. I let this one sit in the primary fermenter a little longer than usual to let some of the potentially acrid tastes mellow out so that the beer doesn't taste too much like burnt coffee and so that any dusty pieces of roast grain that might have gotten into the fermenter have a chance to settle out.

Appearance: Opaque black in color with a dark tan head that lingers pretty well. Some carbonation bubbles stick to the side of the glass as I pour.

Aroma: An interesting mix of roasty notes with piney hops smell. These notes seem to be about equally balanced or maybe slightly tilted toward the hoppy smell, at least to my nose.

Taste: Again a pretty strong roast taste, but with a noticeable bit of resinous hops, especially in the aftertaste. Some hints of chocolate and an almost smokey quality. A firm bitterness. A bit of sweetness is in there as well so that it doesn't taste acrid.

Mouthfeel: Thick body but not cloying. Low to moderate carbonation. Hop bitterness and a bit of sweetness linger in the aftertaste.

Overall: The dark roast and hoppy quality dominate.  I like it quite a bit although to me the hoppiness could be dialed down a little bit so that the roastiness comes out a bit more. I'm pretty happy with it.

American Stout

I seem to have focused on dark beers for a while. It's not only my doing: my wife wants me to brew dark beers like porters, stouts and dark milds. She likes the complexity of porters with their mix of chocolate and coffee like qualities, but finds dry Irish style stouts like Guinness a bit lacking in complexity. I tend to agree with her, although Guniess is a great beer. American stouts are predictably bolder, combining an almost acrid roast note with aggressive American hops. This recipe is a scaled version from Brewing Classic Styles. I hope it will have a nice bold complexity when complete.

A note on the process: In some of my previous dark beers, I've steeped the dark grains rather than including them in the mash, a technique that is supposed to lend a smooth roast character. For this beer, however, I wanted to include the dark grains in the mash for a bolder character and, of course, to simply experiment with techniques.

American Stout
3.25 gallons
60 minute boil

Breiss 2-Row: 8.313#
Breiss Black Barley: 9oz
US Chocolate Malt: 5oz
Crystal 40L: 5oz

7/8oz Chinook, 11.7%AA, 60 mins
.75oz Columbus, 15%AA, 5 mins

US-05

Mash at 154F, batch sparge.

Expected OG/FG/IBUs: 1.071 / 1.018 / 55

Brewed 12/21/12

Didn't have time yesterday to make a starter using the re-cycled yeast from my previous batch. Oh well. Will use a packet of US-05 instead.

My mash temp was 155F, just slightly higher than my target. The mash looked really dark wight a nice dark foam on top. Collected 2 gallons first runnings. Collected 2.5 gallons 2nd runnings for a total pre-boil volume of 4.5 gallons.

Pre-boil OG was 1.053, for my typcial efficiency of 70%. If it boils to 3.25 gallons I should hit my OG almost spot on. Boiled for 20 minutes before adding first hops because I collected more wort than intended. The boil was smelling really good after the first hop addition.

The weather was rainy and windy today. A few drops of rain landed in my wort before cooling began. Probably it won't be an issue in terms of infection or anything. 

Cooled wort to around 90F using the IC, then left in 50F ambient air to cool to pitching temps. That was around 1:15pm.

Transferred at pitched at about 6:15pm, left in 61F ambient to begin fermentation. The next morning the ambient temp was 61F, which is a little too low for most ale yeast, so I moved the bucket to the furnace room where ambient temps are 64F.

Post-boil OG was 1.070, right on target! Woohoo!

12/23/12
10am, beer was sitting in 65F ambient air temps, with good activity in the airlock. The stick-on thermometer read 63F. So in the right temperature range for minimal yeast character. 

12/24/12
9:15am - Airlock activity had slowed to about one bubble per 15 seconds. Ambient temps around 64F. I hope the yeast will be able to dry out the beer enough before flocculating.

1/14/13

Bottled with 60g of sugar, going for 2.1 units of CO2. Measured FG at 1.022, which is a little bit higher than expected. I hope I don't get any exploding bottles! I got 30 x 12oz bottles.