First try

So I just got Ray Daniel's book in the mail today. Man this thing is awesome. There's so much information, it's going to take forever to tackle all of it.

But I went ahead and skimmed quite a bit, and the excitement got too much for me. So I jumped on beersmith and decided to attempt making my first recipe from what little knowledge I have. I just want to see if I'm on the right track for understanding recipe building.

So, here goes, this is my first attempt at making just a plain-jane passable dry stout:

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 2.30 gal
Post Boil Volume: 2.08 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 4.75 gal
Estimated OG: 1.049 SG
Estimated Color: 36.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 32.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 72.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
3 lbs 12.0 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)
3 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM)
2 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)
12.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)
1.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min

So, how does this look? Like I said, i really just want to see if I'm on the right track on recipe making. From what I've gatehred so faqr, it's important to make 60-70 percent of the recipe with a solid enzyme producing malt, then use the rest as specialty malt. I was thinking the maris otter would be a solid backbone, that goes well with stouts, the crystal 80 would add body. The munich for a nice malty flavor without a really harsh bitterness, and the chocolate mainly for color.

I don't know much about hops, and picked chinook mainly because beersmith says they can be used for some stouts. (I'm sure I'll know plenty about them once I've finished absorbing this book )


So anyway, tell me what you think? Am I on the right track, or did I completely miss the boat? Be gentle, lol

looks good, but for my taste I'd add some roasted barley to give it the typical roasty profile. Even just a few ounces can go a long way. Good luck!

Playing with the numbers, it looks like I could cut the chocolate 4oz and add 8oz of roasted barley (total of 8 and 8). Would going half and half be enough to cut the harsh bitterness of the roasted, or would I have a more mellow beer if I fudged the numbers more? The idea I was going for was a stout, but more malty and smooth than harsh bitter, although I do love coffee undertones.

What if I were to take this recipe (with or without the roasted malt) and added coffee to it? Or is this just something I'm going to have to experiment with?

you can split the baby and just go with 4oz of roasted barley, that would contribute a good hint of roasted flavor in the background without getting too harsh. Coffee in a stout is often outstanding, just do some research on here as to how others have approached this. There are a few different methods.

3 lbs of crystal in a 5 gallon ipa would be impossibly cloying. 3 lbs in a 2 gallon batch would be ... I don't know. Sweet. Very sweet.

The most classic dry stout recipe is 7# British pale ale malt, 2# flaked barley and 1# roast barley. Dry stouts don't have much residual sweetness, so most don't have any crystal/caramel malt in them, or at most half a pound or so.

For hops, chinook is a noticeable hop, lots of grapefruit and pine flavor. That can go well in some beers, and it's up to you if that's what you want in a stout. I've used challenger, east kent goldings, and magnum, individually in batches of stout, and have found them all to give good, but individual flavors to the stout.

Hoser_brewing said:

3 lbs of crystal in a 5 gallon ipa would be impossibly cloying. 3 lbs in a 2 gallon batch would be ... I don't know. Sweet. Very sweet.

Click to expand...

I agree, way to much crystal, also chinook is not a great bittering hop, very harsh. If you want a bitter punch, go with columbus

sorry, I goofed when i posted the recipe. I hadn't changed the equipment in beersmith to BIAB. This is what the corrected recipe should read with 70% efficiency, 13 gal brew pot (6 gal brewed) BIAB. I only adjusted the numbers to maintain around the same IBU/SRM/ABV, this is without any roasted:

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 9.50 gal
Post Boil Volume: 7.37 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 6.08 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.63 gal
Estimated OG: 1.049 SG
Estimated Color: 29.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 43.1 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 81.6 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
5 lbs 12.0 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 48.9 %
3 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 2 25.5 %
2 lbs 4.0 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 3 19.1 %
12.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 4 6.4 %
1.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 39.2 IBUs
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 6 3.9 IBUs


Mash Schedule: BIAB, Full Body
Total Grain Weight: 11 lbs 12.0 oz


also, beersmith can be kind of annoying when trying to adjust numbers without saving.

also, also, ctrl C doesnt work in beersmith,a s I found out after several attempts to copy paste the right recipe.
I could see where crystal would be too sweet, and not dry enough I was just thinking it would improve body and head, nothing about the sweetness). I may revise the recipe to cut it and add the english pale ale. I'm wide open to hops, because, like I said, i don't know enough about them yet.

MisterClean said:

Estimated OG: 1.049 SG
Estimated IBU: 43.1 IBUs

Click to expand...

I know someone said impossibly cloying due to the massive amount of crystal... but this looks really bitter, like DIPA range. I'd avoid that much crystal for other reasons, though.

Alright, thanks for the help. I think it's back to the drawing board. I've gotten some insight in how the recipe making process works, so this just encourages me to do more research and come back with something better!


edit:do keep in mind, that I'm wide open on hops, so if I choose a different hop with a lower AA,or perhaps even less of them, the BUGU might be better



edit: oNot giving up so easily! Having another go for the evening:


Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 9.50 gal
Post Boil Volume: 7.37 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 6.08 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.63 gal
Estimated OG: 1.049 SG
Estimated Color: 38.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 29.9 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 81.6 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
8 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 66.7 %
2 lbs Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 2 16.7 %
1 lbs 12.0 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 3 14.6 %
4.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 4 2.1 %
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 60.0 Hop 5 15.0 IBUs
2.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 15.0 Hop 6 14.9 IBUs


Mash Schedule: BIAB, Full Body
Total Grain Weight: 12 lbs



cut the crystal, which could be too sweet (madxe up for it with more maris otter), and added some roasted barley. Swapped the hops to kent golding (which I have *some* experience with in the AHS spring stout), and I've adjusted the BUGU as low as I can with a max OG of 1.049 and an IBU of 29.9, which are the absolute limits of the style, giving me a BUGU of .612, which is still on the bitter side of .5, but should be expected for a stout, no?

That there looks like a tasty dry stout recipe. Depending on your hop-headedness, you can keep the aroma hop amount at 2 oz, or decrease it, but either way, I looks like you'll have a rich, cocoa/espresso stout there. Pleae report back on how it turns out for you.

Forgot to ask, what yeast do you intend to use?

Thanks for the feedback! I'm not really that big on hops, at least not in my stouts. I was actually considering switching the aroma hops for something weaker (galena?) or removing them altogether and adjusting the malt accordingly. If I were to try actually making this, I'll use wyeast 1028 or 1084. Also, what do y'all think about this recipe with some cold brewed coffee and steamed oak chips added in secondary? I really, really, enjoy Yeti espresso oak stout. Do you think my recipe could wind up similar if I added the coffee/oak?