First stout

[tomsan]

Before Christmas I made a ruby ale that turned out pretty well considering it was my first brew. Anyway, I want to do a stout next. Recipes are typically too complex or too simple so I have put together the following from a bunch of different sources:

For 20 litres (5 US gallons).
1.5kg (3.3lb) Muntons dark LME
55g (1.9oz) East kent Golding Hops
1 kg (3.5oz) Brewing Sugar
10g (0.35oz) Mangrove Jack British Ale Yeast
340g (12oz) Roasted barley
250g (8.8oz) Crystal Malt
350g (12.3oz) Black Malt crushed

Do the proportions of barley, crystal and black malt look sensible?
Should they be steeped at the beginning of the boil? Or should I steep them separately and then add that liquid at a later stage?

I'm only going to do one hop addition which is goldings for bittering at the beginning of the boil. Would some finishing hops normally be added to a dry stout?

Any help/advice etc. much appreciated.

 

[Sailingeric]

most stouts you want a light LME, the other grains will darken it up and add the flavor and often what is in the dark LME is unknown. I did a really good stout and had my first bottle last night.

8 pounds of light LME
1.25 pounds of Crystal 120L
1 pound of Chocolate Malt
.5 of Coffee Malt.

1/4 cup of coffee concentrate at bottling

1 oz of Magnum at 60 min
.5 oz Magnum at 15
.5 oz of magnum at 5 min. Comes out about 35 IBU and a very very dark brown, almost black.

 

[F_R_O_G]

1 kg (3.5oz) Brewing Sugar - not sure how much your adding but if you do it right you shouldn't have to add any sugar, it only makes the beer thinner.

putting your list into beersmith makes this a light dry black beer. I would not want to even try it to be honest.

I would recommend a few things to start off

NO sugar!!
more crystal malt
more extract
less dark adjusts

1.4lbs crystal malt 120l
4oz black patent
8oz roasted barley
1lb amber dry extract
6lbs dark liquid extract
1oz centennial hops 30 mins in
1.25oz Goldings
same yeast, (British ale yeast)

this will make 1.049sg, 30IBUs, 34.5 SRM, 4.5%

if you wanted something a little stronger add up to 3lbs more of DME (4lbs total) and up to 1.5oz Magnum hops and another package of yeast

I have no added any finished hops to my stouts. so I would not recommend it. directions on how to brew an extract are all over this website or at your local home brew store.

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

Depending on the flavor you are hoping to achieve, I would also consider reducing the amount of black malt in your recipe. That much in a 5gal batch is likely to lend a harsh almost charcoal-like taste to the wort. I'd suggest cutting that in half, if not more. Don't worry, you will still get plenty of color.

 

[Calder]

It is great that you are trying to create your own recipe for your second brew. But there are a lot of things in there that just seem wrong.

Muntons dark LME, Per Muntons website. "Chocolate malt, crystal malt and pale malt is used in the manufacture of Muntons dark malt extract. Ideal for recipes designed to brew Milds, porters and Stouts.". It already has a lot of crystal and dark malts in it.

Your fermentables are:

- 3.3 lbs LME
- 2.2 lbs Sugar (I assume the 1 KG is the correct number, as 3.5 ozs seems way too small.)

Sugar is OK in extract batches, as they tend to end high, and it helps to lower the FG. However, unless it is a Belgian ale, sugar should be kept to about 10% maximum.

With the dark extract and 1.5 lbs of dark grains, I think this will be very 'roasty', ..... too much.

What's your expected OG/FG/abv?

With that recipe, I would expect OG to be about 1.052

FG will probably be about 1.012

abv 5.3%

I wouldn't use dark extract (you don't really know what is in it). However, if it is what you have, and want to use it, I'd recommend dropping half the dark ggrains, drop the sugar to 0.5 lbs, and add 2 lbs of light extract to replace the sugar. I think I'd toss in an ounce of Goldings in at 10 minutes too.

 

[tomsan]

Thanks all, this is great stuff

 

[tomsan]

Thanks all for the superb advice. Following FROG's comment I've discovered beersmith!

By cutting the sugar and black malt, and upping the LME, I've come up with this:

0.50 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (19.7 EBC) Grain 1 11.9 %
0.40 kg Chocolate Malt (886.5 EBC) Grain 2 9.5 %
0.30 kg Roasted Barley (591.0 EBC) Grain 3 7.1 %
3.00 kg Amber Liquid Extract (24.6 EBC) Extract 4 71.4 %
55.00 g East Kent Goldings (EKG) [5.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 34.4 IBUs
15.00 g East Kent Goldings (EKG) [5.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 6 3.4 IBUs
1.0 pkg British Ale Yeast (Mangrove Jack's #M07) Yeast 7 -

It gives a much more stout-like profile, although still relatively dark.

Est Original Gravity: 1.047 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.014 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.4 %
Bitterness: 37.8 IBUs
Est Color: 83.0 EBC

 

[Calder]

Looking much better.

20 liters (your target) = 5.3 US gallons. This will be higher than 1.047. The extract alone will just about get you there. Assuming a 40% efficiency from steeping the grain, I get your OG at 1.051. You are probably getting .006 from steeping the grain.

I suspect you will also end higher than 1.014 due to the contribution from the grain which is mostly unfermentable sugars. Probably somewhere around 1.018.

Not sure why you want 1.1 lbs of Crystal 10. C10 will be un-noticeable with the roast and choc, and 1.1 lbs is a lot. I would suggest going for a darker Crystal, maybe C90 or C120, and halving the amount.

 

[F_R_O_G]

beersmith is great, 2nd best investment I've made for beer and worth every penny. 1st was the book "how to brew"

i believe beersmith compensates for using extract when calculating FG. (not 100% though) but remember there all just predictions...

I thing you might not understand Crystal malts. there main use is to blend your lighter ingredients with your darker ingredients. as you know Crystal comes in different colors (or Lovibond, L10 to L120) and sweetness so they help to complete a mouth feel.

{side note: 2lb crystal L40 does not equal 1lb crystal L20 plus 1lb crystal L60}

with a color of L300 to L500 for you roasted malts and L20ish for amber extract, you need something to blend them. I would still use more crystal and at a darker color (L60 to L120)

all that to say "put some 80L crystal in"

this explains a lot http://www.howtobrew.com/section2/chapter12-1.html

 

[Calder]

i believe beersmith compensates for using extract when calculating FG. (not 100% though) but remember there all just predictions...

I would still use more crystal and at a darker color (L60 to L120)

I have an old version of BeerSmith (version 1.4), and it is dumb with respect to FG. It makes no difference whether you have extract, or grain, or Lactose for that matter. It will tell you lactose ferments out 75% (or whatever is the number dialed in for the yeast). It also makes no compensation for mash temperature. Maybe later versions do, but I suspect not. Can you check your version by inputting a test recipe with just 2-row as the fermentables, and then the same thing with the same OG using extract. And just for fun, replace all the frementables with lactose. Please report back. With my version, it will give the same FG for all 3.

He has 2.65 lbs of specialty grain (1.1 lbs Crystal, 14 ozs Chocolate, and 11 ozs Roasted Barley). You really think it would benefit from more crystal. Would be interested to understand why. I'm no expert, but it seems to me he has too much already.

 

[bionara]

Just a quick thought, but I'd certainly recommend using some oatmeal (rolled oats) too otherwise your end product may not have the creamy stout body you perhaps expect. 10-20% of the grain bill... be bold!

 

[Calder]

Just a quick thought, but I'd certainly recommend using some oatmeal (rolled oats) too otherwise your end product may not have the creamy stout body you perhaps expect. 10-20% of the grain bill... be bold!

His first post says he wants a dry stout.

He is not mashing, and has no enzymes, so the oats will add almost nothing. Certainly nothing fermentable.

 

[tomsan]

Just a quick thought, but I'd certainly recommend using some oatmeal (rolled oats) too otherwise your end product may not have the creamy stout body you perhaps expect. 10-20% of the grain bill... be bold!

Originally I intended to add oats but came across advice similar to the above suggesting it does nothing.

If I added rolled oats they would be steeped with the other grains at the beginning (not mashed). I'm aware this won't add anything fermentable but will it do anything for the mouth feel?

 

[F_R_O_G]

i'm a big fan of oatmeal stouts. big creamy beers, (now i think i might have one)

if you steep cooked oats you should get the mouth feel you would expect. you will get more from quick oats. oatmeal would go very well with your chocolate malt

 

[tomsan]

Thanks all for the help.

Brew day was Sunday and, apart from the airlock getting clogged up with krausen, all is well.