Not another Chocolate Stout!

[Bigbre04]

Just enjoying my stout. Maybe consider layering in some other textures and flavors, like chocolate rye, golden oats, carafe and honey malt. I modeled mine on this one:
https://beerandbrewing.com/recipe-malletts-cherry-stout/

I have a decent grain selection on hand, but at the moment I cant order more since im stocked up on base malt. I might be able to sub in some Golden Promise for the 2 row to leave a bit more residual sweetness, but i dont know that that will make a big difference in the final product.

 

[Bigbre04]

Edited the recipe again.

Added Golden promise.
added more RB, FOats
Switched pils to 2r as that was a leftover from the original recipe and i no longer have pils malt.
removed most of the phos to increase the mash ph to ~5.4

This puts me close to 10% roasted malts with some caramel malts mixed in. Flaked oats are up to ~14%. Maybe i should up those?

Also added some goldings since i only have 11oz left and might as well use them. this also brought up the IBUs to about 35.

Thoughts?

Also thanks for all of the feedback. I love learning about this stuff. I am also reading about brewing stouts.

 

[Bigbre04]

I have 11% dark malts in my stout using chocolate, roasted barley and black.
I have over 15% flaked products.
I don't have any issues with head retention and it drinks well without being harsh.
I think changing from a pils malt to something richer would benefit your recipe greatly. Maris Otter or a pale ale malt would work nice.
Also, on my stout, I don't use any acid in the mash and only acidify my sparge water to 5.4.
Lastly, Voss? Not a fan.
Based on your recipe, id use Apex London for a softer mouthfeel.
Good luck,
Brian

Currently all i have is Voss, but i might buy some Us-05 to give it a try. Especially since it is so damn cheap and I have plenty of time for fermentation as we are in our slow season.

I dont really have the ability to acidify my sparge water since i have todo basically 2 brew in a bags and wash the grain in between with hot water. its a really stupid setup for my size and takes forever.

Checkout the updated recipe and let me know what you think?

 

[Bigbre04]

Mine is just about 11% of chocolate and black malt, with black making up 4% of that.

Just my opinion, but citrus or pine don't go well stouts, so not a fan of the hops you have chosen. Same for the yeast, fruity off flavors seems bad for a stout.

I almost always use 1098 for stouts and EKG or fuggles for hops

I have a box of Willamette that i could sub out for, I also have some goldings, Pacific jade, mandarina bavaria, and a few others. Im fairly light on Noble hops as i have to brew so much IPA. I dont hate the thought of breaking into the willamette. maybe ill make a copy and sub in more traditional hops and see what it looks like.

Loral is a pretty decent hop for this as it can sort of bridge the noble and fruity hops imo.

yeast wise im gonna look at getting my hands only some us-05 to try out. its currently made with voss since that is basically all that i have been using along with nova lager. mostly based on having to turn and burn over the summer in order to keep my taps full.

 

[Megary]

I have a box of Willamette that i could sub out for, I also have some goldings, Pacific jade, mandarina bavaria, and a few others. Im fairly light on Noble hops as i have to brew so much IPA. I dont hate the thought of breaking into the willamette. maybe ill make a copy and sub in more traditional hops and see what it looks like.

Loral is a pretty decent hop for this as it can sort of bridge the noble and fruity hops imo.

yeast wise im gonna look at getting my hands only some us-05 to try out. its currently made with voss since that is basically all that i have been using along with nova lager. mostly based on having to turn and burn over the summer in order to keep my taps full.

Willamette would be a great choice.

 

[Sandy Feet]

BigBre,
Have you guys tried or do you have access to the Riverbend malts in Asheville? Some of the breweries that I like here are using their stuff. The grains are from the Southeast, and many of the beers that I have liked locally in the breweries are made with them.
I like drinking other people's beer as much as I like mine.

 

[Bigbre04]

BigBre,
Have you guys tried or do you have access to the Riverbend malts in Asheville? Some of the breweries that I like here are using their stuff. The grains are from the Southeast, and many of the beers that I have liked locally in the breweries are made with them.
I like drinking other people's beer as much as I like mine.

Im sure that I could order from them. The only tough thing is that its hard to compete with Country malt and BSG pricewise. Ill look them up.

I assume that the breweries who use them dont use them exclusively?

 

[Bigbre04]

Willamette would be a great choice.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/1437455

columbus willamette goldings and loral

 

[Sandy Feet]

Im sure that I could order from them. The only tough thing is that its hard to compete with Country malt and BSG pricewise. Ill look them up.

I assume that the breweries who use them dont use them exclusively?

I don't think so. I think they use them for some things and others for other things. I have had a Rye Pale Ale that was wonderful with their malt. More recently, I had a Helles/Festbier that was also fantastic. The German beer had some breadiness to it that I really enjoyed.

 

[Bigbre04]

I don't think so. I think they use them for some things and others for other things. I have had a Rye Pale Ale that was wonderful with their malt. More recently, I had a Helles/Festbier that was also fantastic. The German beer had some breadiness to it that I really enjoyed.

I love good german beer. I strive towards that, but i havent nailed it down yet in my golden lager.

I wonder if its worth doing a reset on the recipe, im brewing a double batch of it today so it wont be for a while.

 

[Minbari]

I have a box of Willamette that i could sub out for, I also have some goldings, Pacific jade, mandarina bavaria, and a few others. Im fairly light on Noble hops as i have to brew so much IPA. I dont hate the thought of breaking into the willamette. maybe ill make a copy and sub in more traditional hops and see what it looks like.

Loral is a pretty decent hop for this as it can sort of bridge the noble and fruity hops imo.

yeast wise im gonna look at getting my hands only some us-05 to try out. its currently made with voss since that is basically all that i have been using along with nova lager. mostly based on having to turn and burn over the summer in order to keep my taps full.

That is basically EKG.

 

[The Brew Mentor]

Overall, better.
Do you have some lower crystal malt? I'd sub out 33% of the C-120 with it if you do.
Also, you can just stick with the Willamette at 30 & 5 min. No need for the Loral.
The Safale -05 is a better choice for yeast if you can get it. I actually like the APEX San Diego better as a dry chico strain.
Do you have Magnum?

 

[Bigbre04]

Overall, better.
Do you have some lower crystal malt? I'd sub out 33% of the C-120 with it if you do.
Also, you can just stick with the Willamette at 30 & 5 min. No need for the Loral.
The Safale -05 is a better choice for yeast if you can get it. I actually like the APEX San Diego better as a dry chico strain.
Do you have Magnum?

i have c15, c40, c120, brown malt, and special x on hand at the moment.

The main advantage of the Loral is that it is cryo so it bumps the IBU with alot less total weight.

I dont have magnum, just columbus cryo. I would totally prefer magnum cryo but i dont think they offer it.

 

[The Brew Mentor]

Here's my hop schedule for 1BBL.
The Willamette will sub out for the EKG. Now you see why I asked about the Magnum. Columbus can be harsh.
Also the reason for the lower crystal is to give some sweetness which balances out some of the roast malt. The C120 mainly goes to raisin without perceived sweetness.

Amount	Variety	Cost	Type	AA	Use	Time	IBU	Bill %
3.30 oz	Yakima Chief Hops - German Magnum		Pellet	14	Boil	60 min	26.83	45.2%
4 oz	East Kent Goldings		Pellet	6	Boil	30 min	10.71	54.8%

 

[Bigbre04]

Here's my hop schedule for 1BBL.
The Willamette will sub out for the EKG. Now you see why I asked about the Magnum. Columbus can be harsh.
Also the reason for the lower crystal is to give some sweetness which balances out some of the roast malt. The C120 mainly goes to raisin without perceived sweetness.

Amount	Variety	Cost	Type	AA	Use	Time	IBU	Bill %
3.30 oz	Yakima Chief Hops - German Magnum		Pellet	14	Boil	60 min	26.83	45.2%
4 oz	East Kent Goldings		Pellet	6	Boil	30 min	10.71	54.8%

i could see that. Would you use c120, spec x or brown?

Special x seems to be right between c120 and brown? possibly a smaller amount of Spec X with some C40 to layer the sweetness?

I like the idea of some C40. Gonna add that in.

 

[GFHomebrew]

i love me some ashtray lol.

I really lack experience with water chemistry, I learned it many beers ago, but times have changed so much since school that i havent kept up with it. Further reading is very much needed on my front. I also need to work on getting into more podcasts for my long commute instead of angry music lol.

My previous brewery, we rarely deviated from the standard salts for most of our beers. They turned out well, but i wonder now if we could have made them better.

School yourself on the Salts Bigbre04 I personally don't brew a beer without making tweeks to the water profile.

The yeast needs a base level of atleast 50ppm calcium so if anything I add this to nourish the yeasts then I tweek the Chloride to sulphate ratio to match the beer um aiming at brewing.
Dry and crisp for a lite lager = higher sulphates.

More rounded and smooth like a brown ale stout or one of them NEIPAs then reverse the ratio to favor chlorides.

If um unsure I aim for a ballance between the both.

Everyone's base water profile is different so going off another person's Mineral additions won't work for you.

 

[The Brew Mentor]

i could see that. Would you use c120, spec x or brown?

Special x seems to be right between c120 and brown? possibly a smaller amount of Spec X with some C40 to layer the sweetness?

I like the idea of some C40. Gonna add that in.

i use 2/3rd C-90 and 1/3rd C-40 but its your vision

 

[Bigbre04]

School yourself on the Salts Bigbre04 I personally don't brew a beer without making tweeks to the water profile.

The yeast needs a base level of atleast 50ppm calcium so if anything I add this to nourish the yeasts then I tweek the Chloride to sulphate ratio to match the beer um aiming at brewing.
Dry and crisp for a lite lager = higher sulphates.

More rounded and smooth like a brown ale stout or one of them NEIPAs then reverse the ratio to favor chlorides.

If um unsure I aim for a ballance between the both.

Everyone's base water profile is different so going off another person's Mineral additions won't work for you.

I need to dig into this on Monday!

 

[Sandy Feet]

I love good german beer. I strive towards that, but i havent nailed it down yet in my golden lager.

I wonder if its worth doing a reset on the recipe, im brewing a double batch of it today so it wont be for a while.

I am still drinking my first attempt at a German beer. I'm not quite there, but I am very encouraged with it being my first try. It is very drinkable. The pros that do them here for the ones that I really like use the good yeast strains and the 6-8 week lagering. I have had a few conversations at a couple of those places. The ones I went apeshit over were lagered for 8 weeks.
If you ever get to Tampa, there us a brewery called Barriehaus about a block from the Ybor Centro parking garage. German lagers are about 80% of the taplist, and they are damn good.

 

[Craigerrr]

I have never heard of doing that. Its not really possible with my equipement, but its certainly an interesting concept. almost like adding powdered malt extract but just roasted barley powder lol.

I cap the mash with dehusked carafa I for my Black IPA, brings the color and flavor, without the body, the dehusked version reduces the roast bite of the dark malt as well.
Never thought to cap the mash in a Porter, seems like you would miss out on the intended effects