Stout recipe critique

[BillBaxter]

Hello all. Just wanted the thoughts of the brain trust on an American Stout recipe I developed.

9 lb 2-row malt
1.5 lb caramel 60L
1 lb flaked oats
1 lb chocolate malt
12 oz Munich malt
8 oz carafa 2

60 minute mash at 156° F

1 oz Nugget (13%AA) @ 60 minutes
1.5 oz Willamete (4.8%AA) @ 5 minutes

Safale US-05 yeast

Estimated stats:
OG 1.070
FG 1.021
IBU 45

I'm still fairly new at recipe development and wanted to know if there are any suggestions or red flags that I may have missed.

 

[TheJasonT]

I think you've got a great porter recipe there. You need 8-12oz of roasted malt to give a stout that bitter malt punch. I'd say take the Crystal to a pound, the chocolate to ten ounces, and then add ten ounces of roasted barley.

 

[nmenninga]

I think you've got a great porter recipe there. You need 8-12oz of roasted malt to give a stout that bitter malt punch. I'd say take the Crystal to a pound, the chocolate to ten ounces, and then add ten ounces of roasted barley.

+1 on the roasted barley. It's not really stout without it.

Also, make sure to keep the mash and lauter temps low, astringency jumps out of this if you are not careful.

 

[eltorrente]

I will echo what the others have said - give that thing some roasted barley. I agree that at least .5-.75lbs would be good. I'm fermenting an Irish Dry Stout right now and it has 1lb in it.

 

[BigEd]

As others have said, what you have is more of a porter. That's fine but if you want a stout a portion of roasted barley in the dark grist is pretty much a necessity. Except for sweet UK stouts, others like American and Irish stouts are drier and emphasize the roasty aspect so in addition to using some roasted barley I would also cut the crystal way back.

If you want to keep much of what you have already, maybe modify it into something like this:

10# pale
1# Munich
1# oats
.5# crystal
1# roasted barley
.5# Carafa II

 

[stevedasleeve]

+ 1 to roasted unmalted barley. If you like your stouts sweet then sub the chocolate malt and leave it at that . Me I hate desert stouts so if I were brewing I'd get rid of the crystal altogether, mash way lower (148) and up the IBUs to 70. That being said lots of folks like a chocolatey sweetish stout, if that's you go for it!

Steve da sleeve

 

[BillBaxter]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I just have one question: couldn't carafa II essentially replace the roasted barley?

 

[eltorrente]

Carafa II can't replace Roasted Barley - at least not in a Stout. You should really have the real deal Roasted in there.

If I was going to take most of your existing recipe and brew it up, I would just cut back on Crystal to maybe .75lbs, and add in .75lbs of Roasted. Maybe even go half and half with Carafa II and Roasted (.5lbs of each) and see how that is. Carafa II isn't a replacement for Roasted, but it should compliment it pretty well.

Of course, this is YOUR recipe and your tastebuds, so that is just what *I* would do.

 

[rklinck]

+1 on the roasted barley. It's not really stout without it.

Also, make sure to keep the mash and lauter temps low, astringency jumps out of this if you are not careful.

To cut back on the astringency, I don't add my dark grains to stouts until the vorlauf.

 

[BigEd]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I just have one question: couldn't carafa II essentially replace the roasted barley?

In a pinch? sure With a similar color? Yes BUT, Carafa does not taste like roasted barley, nothing does. Roasted barley is both a traditional and signature flavor ingredient in a stout. So, yeah you can replace it with Carafa but it will not taste the same and technically it will then be a porter not a stout. Not a big deal and the choice is yours.

 

[BillBaxter]

One final question as I look forward to brewing this recipe: I have never done a step mash before and I assume I will have to use a protein rest because of the flaked oats. Is there anything I should be aware of ahead of time? Tips and tricks?

 

[BigEd]

One final question as I look forward to brewing this recipe: I have never done a step mash before and I assume I will have to use a protein rest because of the flaked oats.

You don't.

If you feel you want to try a 20 minute rest @ ~130F and then proceed to the main saccharification rest.