AG#3: Treacle Stout

[50quidsoundboy]

An attempt to approximate two of my favourite beers: Fullers London Porter, and Osset's Treacle Stout. This was a fun and easy brew day, and the first where I hit my target volume and my OG!

Recipe: GW's London Porter recipe, but modified:

- Replaced 300g of crystal with 300g black treacle, dissolved in a jug of wort and added back to the boil at 15 minutes
- Threw in 20g of EKG at flameout, to give it a bit of a hop lift
- Target OG without treacle: 1051
- Target FG: 1013
- Yeast: WLP002 (only made up a 300ml starter due to a demijohn catastrophe earlier in the week)


Malt shot:

Kids away, the weather's iffy, we can brew indoors today!

Mashed at 66C:

Sparge:

In go the Fuggles:

Treacle:

Gravity post-boil: 1053

I was pleased to get my full 23 litres and a sensible gravity for a normal pint of beer! I adjusted the GW recipe in Beer Engine to account for an 85% mash efficiency, this
was still too conservative and I had to liquor back by 4 litres before the boil. At least I'm saving money on malt this way...

Fermentation got off to a flying start overnight, hopefully this will be a faster and less stressful ferment than my AG2 double IPA, which just about looks like it might struggle over the finish line and turn into drinkable beer some time in the next week...if I'm lucky...

 

[tazuk]

wow that is dark :thumb:

 

[50quidsoundboy]

wow that is dark :thumb:

yeah, it looks pretty dark in that photo doesn't it? i don't think it was quite that black IRL, must be a trick of the light. pint of crude oil, anyone?

 

[Wendy1971]

looks great i love dark stout :thumb:

 

[Buster]

Is that TIN FOIL on top of the mash during the sparge ??

 

[50quidsoundboy]

Is that TIN FOIL on top of the mash during the sparge ??

yes, is that not the standard ghetto sparge technique?

 

[Buster]

Is that TIN FOIL on top of the mash during the sparge ??

yes, is that not the standard ghetto sparge technique?

LOL... depends where yer ghetto is, mines a Tupperware lid with a zillion holes in it :thumb:

 

[rich27500]

I do believe the tin foil approach is standard sparge fare for the over complicated brewing fraternity

 

[50quidsoundboy]

I do believe the tin foil approach is standard sparge fare for the over complicated brewing fraternity

haha, don't knock it! ~90% efficiency and no stuck mashes so far! (only done three brews, but still...)

 

[rich27500]

That is impressive, keep going. If it ain't broke don't fix it and all that!

 

[50quidsoundboy]

fermentation almost done after 48 hours. currently at 1020 and tasting better than i'd dared hope, absolutely delicious. kicks the **** out of my previous efforts, it's taking all my willpower not to drink it straight out of the FV. fingers crossed it stays this good...

 

[EskiBrew]

fermentation almost done after 48 hours. currently at 1020 and tasting better than i'd dared hope, absolutely delicious. kicks the **** out of my previous efforts, it's taking all my willpower not to drink it straight out of the FV. fingers crossed it stays this good...

That's pretty quick work :thumb: presumably you aerated the wort well?

 

[PD]

what boiler is it ? make and size

cheers

 

[50quidsoundboy]

That's pretty quick work :thumb: presumably you aerated the wort well?

it is quick isn't it? fastest yet. my aeration technique is to drain the boiler at a bit of a height, with the wort hitting a sieve on the way down. i end up with a lot of foam so i presume there's enough air getting in there. i don't aerate with a paddle like i did with kits.

what boiler is it ? make and size

cheers

it's a Buffalo 40L. i had to remove the thermal fuse (5 mins work) which blew during my first brew, ever since then it's performed great. I also bought a hop filter from Hop & Grape which slotted straight in, no mods required.

 

[The Goatreich]

My GW London Porter has now been in the barrel for 6 weeks and I've had a couple of halves so far, and I'm not sure if I like it. I don't believe I've ever tried the original, and probably should try and find some to compare, but it's weird tasting. Not bad, but I'm not convinced.

I hope your version turns out to be as supreme as it looks!

 

[50quidsoundboy]

i love the genuine article, really love it, and the taste of my own version certainly had a similarity in the smokiness. i think it's a good recipe. what yeast did you use for yours? and what sort of weird taste are you getting?

 

[The Goatreich]

I'm not sure, it tastes like a porter, but there's something funny about it. It's got quite a bit of sweetness left, so I'm wondering whether it's still a little young. Also it's pretty flat, but I'm blaming that on my budget barrel, it's not particularly to its detriment though.

From memory I used SO4, but I'll have to check my notes.

Also I slightly modified GW's recipe as I had less of one grain in stock than I thought.

I'll have another glass tonight to see if I can place what's odd about it

 

[Vossy1]

Great brew day post and pics 50 I can almost smell that treacle from here :drink:

 

[dennisdk2000]

Is that TIN FOIL on top of the mash during the sparge ??

yes, is that not the standard ghetto sparge technique?

LOL... depends where yer ghetto is, mines a Tupperware lid with a zillion holes in it :thumb:

In the interest of trying to improve my efficiency, I'd like to make one of those sparge thingies. I like the sound of using a lid, but how big does it need to be? Does it have to cover the grain completely, or is space around it allowed? How big should the holes be? And how many of them? Oh, and does it just go straight on top of the grains? I was wondering as I've seen a washing up bowl used for sparging...

Dennis