what will help my stout?

[ilv4xn]

I brewed a Chocolate Coffee Oatmeal Stout on Aug 11th. I was hoping for a creamy glass of goodness at 8AM. Well its been in a keg aging for three weeks now. It has a pretty strong coffee flavor bordering on acidic. I cold extracted a 1/2LB and added it at flame out. I am wondering if pouring this on nitro would help as every nitro beer I have had has a creamy finish. Or maybe add a touch of lactose before I cold crash and carb. thoughts? tip? opinions welcome.

 

[bottlebomber]

What was the recipe?

 

[Stauffbier]

1/2 lb of coffee seems like a lot to me. I only used about 3 or 4 oz in a batch I made once, and it had plenty of coffee flavor. I didn't add it to the boil, though. I added it during bottling with the priming sugar. I'm willing to bet with time yours will mellow and gain a little more body. Nitro might help the body a little, but won't do anything for the acidic flavor.

 

[bottlebomber]

I'm thinking that being a stout the acidity may be from roasted barley.. That will age out too, though it takes a little while.

 

[ilv4xn]

Oatmeal stout
20 lb 2 row
1lb blk malt
2lb roasted barley
1lb choc
1lb light choc
1.5lb 80L crystal
1 C molasses
2 flaked oats
4oz Erroica
4oz cascade
.5lb ground coffee cold extracted
Irish ale yeast

10gal batch

 

[bottlebomber]

I think you may just be getting a little bite from all that roasted barley. 2 lbs is kind of a lot for a 10 gallon batch, especially if it is Bairds 600L or something like that. It will age out though, it just takes a couple months

 

[Whattawort]

Just this man's opinion, but the acidity may be from the amount of coffee and molasses you used. What kind of coffee did you use? If it was a dark roast, then I would think that is the main culprit. If you used a dark molasses such as black strap, that too would offer up a more bitter, acidic profile. I think both will probably mellow and balance out after more aging, but it may take a while with those amounts. Again, just my opinion.

 

[bottlebomber]

Cold extracted coffee is usually more nutty and mellow, I don't think the acids really come out as much. It could be though.

 

[Double_D]

I second bottlebomber. That's way too much roasted barley. I use 1# each chocolate and roasted barley for a 10 gallon batch of christmas beer and it's plenty dark and roasty. IMO, next time cut out three pounds of dark malt especially the black malt if you're using roasted barley. And use some other character malts like munich, honey, crystal or a caravienna. I have victory in mine too.

It will mellow with age but I'm thinking this will still be flat. I wouldn't expect a cup of molasses in a ten gallon batch to impart off flavors though. I'd attribute it to having 5# of malt that are all over 250L. That's 20% of the grain bill.

 

[brycelarson]

I think you may just be getting a little bite from all that roasted barley. 2 lbs is kind of a lot for a 10 gallon batch, especially if it is Bairds 600L or something like that. It will age out though, it just takes a couple months

I second bottlebomber. That's way too much roasted barley.

I'll third that. That's too much barley - especially for a coffee stout.

It will age and get better - but lactose is a good plan as well. I would make a lactose syrup then add it to taste as you're transferring to the keg for carbing. That should round out the edge a bit.

 

[ilv4xn]

I made a 5g batch excluding the light choc and coffee. I got a lb of a light roast coffee for my birthday and figured what a better way to enjoy it then use half of it to make beer. I wanted to bump up the choc flavor so the the LHBS suggested adding light choc.

 

[beerloaf]

My stouts generally do not mellow out and blend tastes well until about 6-8 weeks. Then they are great. Give it more time.

beerloaf

 

[JonM]

My stouts generally do not mellow out and blend tastes well until about 6-8 weeks. Then they are great. Give it more time.

beerloaf

This. Exactly. I had a stout that I brewed in June and it's just starting to get good. Let it sit until Thanksgiving or so.

 

[brycelarson]

my standard is drinkable after 4, good after 8, excellent after 16 weeks.

 

[wolfman_48442]

You might try a little black pepper as well.
I had a stout that was a little too roasty for my taste and some black pepper mellowed it out and kind of 'opened up' the flavors. It really improved it.
I was too chicken to do an entire keg's worth at once so I only added it to my glass as I drank it.