Stout - what do you think?

[shecky]

For my first attempt at an AG recipe, I went with a simple dry stout (yes, I'm a simple guy, for all you who want to take poke at me).

Opinions, suggestions please:

8.25 lb MO
1.25 lb roasted barley
.5 lb flaked barley
1 oz Challenger (7.5%) 60 min
S-04

I'm planning on adding vanilla bean to secondary.

 

[mkling]

Personally, I'd drop the roasted barley to 1lb max and I'd up the amount of flaked barley to at least 1 lb but could go up to 2 lbs (which is what I use -- creates a great creamy mouthfeel).

I've made many batches that match this almost exactly -- it's an awesome brew. Also matches very well with Jamil's Brewing Classic Styles dry stout recipe & Papazian's Guinness clone.

 

[bierhaus15]

This is my favorite dry stout, and it's done very well in comps.

70% pale, MO
15% flaked barley
10% roasted barley
5% chocolate malt

1.044 OG//42 IBU//wyeast 1098

 

[Prionburger]

My only concern is that S-04 won't attenuate enough for the beer to be dry out. You'll want to finish at a gravity about .010.

Right now Nottingham does not seem to be reliable, and I would recommend that yeast instead of S-04. Next best would be S-05, which won't give you the esters, but will dry it out.

 

[shecky]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll go back and rework it.

Prionburger, interesting you say that about 04. I have used it on my last two beers and got 76% and 81% percent attentuation, respectively, with higher gravity beers. Might I ask your reasoning?

I have 05 on hand, so maybe I'll go that way.

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

I would definitely throw in some black patent and/or chocolate malt, but that's just my preference. I prefer a pretty roasty stout with coffee and chocolate aroma. If you prefer a smoother stout like a guiness then your recipe would be closer to that style.

This is a better representation of the american stout style:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f68/blackheart-stout-141075/

Uses almost too much roasted grain, but mellows out nicely after 6-8 weeks in the keg/bottle. Before that point there is a bit of astringency to it, but nothing overwhelming.

 

[Prionburger]

Safale s-04 is known as a medium attenuator. It doesn't attenuate as much as us-05 or Nottingham. You can compensate for this by mashing at a lower temperature and using s-04, but I don't see many people doing it that way, so there may be downsides to it (I don't know).

Did you mash a low temperature or use a highly fermentable wort with s-04? Maybe they attenuated a high percent, but left a greater final gravity (0.016+)? For a dry stout, you want to finish about 0.010, and I'm not sure s-04 can do that.

 

[balto charlie]

I like 1.25 lb roasted B. A stout should have lots. I've used 1.25 w/ excellent results. I recently upped it to 1.5lbs, results currently unknown. It is in the secondary.