Rochefort 10 for my first Brew?!?!

My first brew and I have learned I made mistakes. I was brewing Brewers Best Irish Stout Extract. I believe I over steeped the grains(impatience) moved the bag around a lot during 20 minute boil. Poured a lot of lump into the fermenter with wort(impatience) I pitched the yeast when wort was still around 100 degrees(impatience). Fermented in primary for 7 days then bottled(impatience) let condition for 5 days and now chilled one bottle and am testing it(impatience). I know the beer is fresh but I have pretty good carbonation( 3 fingers) and right now my 'Irish Stout" taste almost identical to a Rochefort 10? The last three sips did have a slight sourness to it. Any experienced guys have an Idea what this beer may do two weeks from now?

Did you boil your grain? I'm confused by you saying that you moved the bag around a lot during the 20 minute boil.

Also, it seems that you have learned the biggest lesson in homebrewing. You've gotta learn to be patient. It's much easier to be patient when you have a pipeline built up and constantly have new and exciting beer to try. Helps keep your mind off the beer that is still fermenting/conditioning.

Thanks Mcbob. I meant when I was boiling the grain at around 150 degrees for twenty minutes I agitated the bag of grain a lot to try and get the most out of the grain . Definitely can be a little more patient with something finally in a bottle and drinkable. Hard to be patient especially when your not sure what to expect. Appreciate the HBT community learned a lot just reading prior post.

good lessons for others to learn. Maybe you can just tell everyone you made a belgian stout! I'm sure that of all your "lesson learning opportunities", the one that is leading to that off flavor is the 100 degree pitching temp. When you pitch that hot the yeast throw off lots of off flavors including those compounds that are sought after in some of the belgian styles. Obviously out of place in an irish stout, but no reason you can't enjoy it! In a few weeks it should mellow out, and you might find that some of those off-flavors die down a bit. Just an FYI, be careful about using the term "boil" when referring to a hot steep at 150 degrees since boiling is a technical term for ... well... boiling. Sounds like some of the other stuff isn't much of a problem, many of us dump the "lumps" aka trub into our fermenters and don't worry about it.

Rock on man, its your first brew! You learned something from it and the next one will go smoother. Get the process down, then start working on things like fermentation temps and yeast health / pitching rates. That will make your beer better. Then on to water chemistry LOL. It never ends. Hoooooooooray beer!

thanks Blackgoat, Still learning the vocab. I believe your right about the pitch. I'm anxious now to make another batch and pitch with the wort cooled to 70. Definitely pleased with the outcome and hooked on the Homebrew. Thanks again.

bestservedcold said:

thanks Blackgoat, Still learning the vocab. I believe your right about the pitch. I'm anxious now to make another batch and pitch with the wort cooled to 70. Definitely pleased with the outcome and hooked on the Homebrew. Thanks again.

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on the hook... its all downhill from here. Try to cool the wort down just a bit lower than that for best results - down into the mid-60s is ideal. Cooling it down sucks when you're just getting started since you probably are using an ice bath but its a vital part of the process. Probably a good thing that you made a stout to start off with since the darker beers tend to cover up some minor flaws better than something like a cream ale or whatever. Just read a ****-ton on here and you'll pick up more info than you need.

That's an ambitious start! You'll be hitting your targeting no time. A couple tricks, gadgets, and beers and you'll do just fine. I'll raise my whiskey barrel imperial stout in cheers to your first brew a R 10 no less! Slante and keep on brewin.

Wort Chiller will be purchased with next kit, as well as some irish moss and gypsum maybe. lol

Whiskey Barrel Imperial Stout......Nice.

Cheers to the new guy! There are lots of mistakes to be made while brewing, and some of them turn out really well. You might just have been THAT lucky! Write what you did down in a notebook a long with tasting notes and keep track of that trick. Who knows, maybe you could master pitching at slightly increased temps to design some great belgians/sours intentionally.

Wondering how I can make something as good as a Rochefort 10 out of a simple Irish Stout.

Appreciate the support and advice. I'd like to stand by my claim that the stout tasted identical to a Rochefort 10. I have gone through about three cases of 10 throughout the years, not my favorite but I do appreciate it. I have tried the 8's, and 6's a few other trappistes styles from Chimey, and the one with the Gnomes on the bottle(can't remember name). Not to mention the stouts I've gone through in my lifetime(same as most of you I'm sure) Guinness, Sam Smith, Rasputin, Yeti, etc. While the carbonation was not as 'alive' as a 10 and the candy notes weren't present the actual taste was closest to a Rochefort 10 with a small underlying sourness. For anyone up for experimenting here's what I did.
Brewers best Irish Stout/ 3.3 lb. Dark LME, 2 lb Dark Dme, .5 lb maltodextrin

12oz. Caramel 60L , 4oz Roasted Barley, 4Oz Black patent

1oz magnum for one hour boil(only used 3/4 of packet)
.5 oz Northern Brewer (about 3/4 packet last five minutes only)

ale yeast

I "steeped" the grains for twenty minutes at 150, made sure the grains were all mixed together and agitated the bag a lot(grabing top of bag and gently bouncing it in the pot while it warm steeped) In 3 gallons of Walmart distilled water(LoL)
Then brought to a boil adding the maltodex first the Dark DME, then the Dark LME slowly stirring the whole time. I then poured the magnum in and boiled for 55 minutes. added NB hops with five minutes left.
Placed Pot in Ice bath for ten minutes, while warming water on the stove to 100 degrees and hydrating the yeast for 15 minutes. I underestimated how long it would actually take to cool the wort. When it was down to 100 I poured it into the fermentation bucket with 1 gallon of water in it(walmart distilled LoL) thinking that would cool it enough.(about half the trub went in Ferment bucket)
I took an OG when wort was between 100-90 degrees it was 1.40. the yeast instructions said as long as my hydrated mix was within fifteen degrees of wort it would be good so I pitched with wort between 100-90 and Yeast mix between 100-90. Stirred pretty good, changing directions of stir a couple times. Put lid on and shook mildly. Airlock applied.
Put in closest temp on bucket was above ninety degrees, by morning it was at seventy degrees. Saw airlock activity that morning. By the second day bucket was at 68 and chugging away. Third day slow to no activity and 64 degrees. waited three more days took gravity and got 1.19 bottled the next day(7 days from brew day). Five days later Slightly Sour Trappistes Rochefort 10. Made from Walmart water.

in the future I would make sure you use spring water if you're buying bottled water. Distilled water lacks some minerals that the yeast use during fermentation and unless you're adding these back in yourself you will be lacking. The DME/LME should contain a small amount of these, but if given the choice between distilled or spring water you should choose the latter.

Thanks Goat, I just listened to a podcast that discussed the same thing. Going to definately use spring water next. I feel obligated to say to that the Rochefort Flavor has backed off and I have a more traditional Stout now after a few more days of conditioning. Still pleased for a first brew. Off to brew batch 2.

That is great! I'm sure it will improve further as it moves along - good luck with batch 2