Brews to make into a black & tan

[ReaderRabbit]

A few years ago, I tried homebrewing an ESB and a stout to use in making black & tan drinks but they ended up too similar and kept mixing together.

Thus, I'd like to try again but be a little more deliberate in trying to end up with beers that have a different density. At first, I thought I could accomplish this with ingredients that affect the texture of a beer like maltodextrin or rolled oats. However, the guy at my local shop said I should be aiming for different FGs and be using yeasts with different flocculation rates. He could name yeasts with high flocculation easily (and since I typically use dry yeasts, he recommended US-05) but he was stumped about low floccuation yeasts since that doesn't come up very often.

I've also tried searching the forums and saw recommendations to aim for different ABV levels or that corn sugar will help make a lighter stout.

Anyway, I thought I'd see what the forums recommend today. Should I look for particular ingredients to manipulate the FG? Different yeast strains? (And which ones?)

 

[Homercidal]

I can't believe different yeast flocculation rates affect a Black and Tan much at all.

Even Guinness and Bass are close to the same ABV, so I'm not sure that makes a difference.

Oats? Not sure Guinness has much of them. It's a thinnish beer with dark roast malts. Not much different from a thin pale beer besides that *Unless I'm forgetting something...

Maybe it's the Nitrogen? Not sure I've ever successfully made a black and tan with a beer that wasn't on nitrogen. I bet there is a Youtube video describing the whys of how a Black and Tan do what they do.

 

[Homercidal]

Google seems to indicate it's a Specific Gravity trick. So you'd want a pale beer with a higher FG, and the stout needs to be thin and light - like a Guinness.

 

[Norselord]

In order to get a nice layering effect you want two products that have different final gravities, that is the science on why one will float on the other. If you insist on having the black float on tan then i recommend:
1) Black: A dry stout with a final gravity under 1.010.
2) Tan: A pilsener with a final gravity over 1.015.

I am intrigued with specifically brewing two beers to make a black&tan. You would want to brew two beers that compliment and play off one another, but can also stand on their own. You wouldn't necessarily need to go down the traditional path either. A cream ale under a dry vanilla porter might be nice. How about a citra based Pale Ale against a chocolatey stout?

The parameters i would look for are two unique flavors in each beer that when combined are greater than the individual parts (vanilla+cream, or orange+chocolate, etc), keep the final gravities more than 0.005 units apart, and make sure the colors contrast.

Got me thinking now...

 

[Homercidal]

^ ONly question is whether the Citra Pale would taste good combined with Chocolate Stout. Interesting.

 

[Yooper]

My favorite B&T came from a DIPA and an oatmeal stout. But I love hops, so that's probably why I loved it so much.

A dry stout will have a relatively low FG, while a sweet stout or oatmeal stout will have a relatively high FG. Most light lagers will have a low FG, as will a cream ale. So, a cream ale and oatmeal stout would be likely to "keep" the black and down layering.

 

[Homercidal]

So if you did a light pale beer, and a thick stout they would change positions?? Seems like they would.

I could try this with some Bud Light and KBS!

 

[Norselord]

My favorite B&T came from a DIPA and an oatmeal stout. But I love hops, so that's probably why I loved it so much.

A dry stout will have a relatively low FG, while a sweet stout or oatmeal stout will have a relatively high FG. Most light lagers will have a low FG, as will a cream ale. So, a cream ale and oatmeal stout would be likely to "keep" the black and down layering.

According to the guideline:
Cream Ale - Light Hybrid Beer - Category 6A - Final Gravity Range: 1.006-1.012
Brown Porter - Porter - Category 12A - Final Gravity Range: 1.008-1.014

You could push it by making the cream ale on the upper end, and the brown porter on the lower end of the FG spectrum and still end up ~0.004 points apart.

 

[Norselord]

Could you do a triple layered Black/Red/Tan?

Doppelbock - FG: 1.020 (no decoction, 6-8 SRM)
Irish Red - FG: 1.014 (14-16 SRM)
Dry Stout - FG: 1.007 (~30 SRM)

 

[Yooper]

According to the guideline:
Cream Ale - Light Hybrid Beer - Category 6A - Final Gravity Range: 1.006-1.012
Brown Porter - Porter - Category 12A - Final Gravity Range: 1.008-1.014

You could push it by making the cream ale on the upper end, and the brown porter on the lower end of the FG spectrum and still end up ~0.004 points apart.

I'm not sure .004 is always going to stay separate like a larger difference, but maybe it would.