Strange-steve's Homebrew Reviews

It probably wasn't quite as dark as that picture suggests, the lighting in my kitchen is a bit ****, but it was certainly more brown than yellow. Still a good beer though :thumba:

Tonight I have the second of @Hopsteep's beers to look forward to, this one being a 5.6% Chocolate Stout...

Aroma
Lovely roasted aromas of coffee and chocolate, and a nice rich, grainy bread aroma, almost reminiscent of a wheaten bread (that's a brown soda bread for you lot across the Irish sea).

Appearance
On the lighter end of the stout colour spectrum but a lovely red hue when held to the light and very clear. Thin white head with good retention.

Flavour
Beautifully full bodied with rich, smooth roasted flavours of smooth coffee, with a lovely touch of sweetness in the finish which leaves a very pleasant milk chocolate flavour lingering in the palate. Hop bitterness is well balanced, perfect for the style, and very smooth. Nothing notable in the way of fermentation character or off-flavours.

Overall Impression
Wow this one is a belter. The first thing that struck me was the silky smooth and full mouthfeel, which was wonderful. Do you treat your water for this effect or is it all in the recipe? Next was the richness of flavour with lots of dark malt flavours going on, but beautifully smooth with no harshness at all. This is a cracking stout, much better than any of my efforts. I might be wrong but I have a suspicion that it's not down to anything particularly special about the recipe (although I'd love to see your recipe anyway!) and more down to great brewing techniques and attention to detail, so we'll done that man and thanks for sending this :hat:

strange-steve said:

Wow this one is a belter

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strange-steve said:

although I'd love to see your recipe anyway!

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I've observed that Steve is most eloquent when his taste buds are tickled and his recommendations of this beer leave a chap dying to taste it too. Are you willing to give us a clue, Hopsteep?

I second the recipe request! I’ve just made a stout which I’m happy with but Steve’s description makes mine sound like the recipe needs to ‘grow up’ to be a real stout like this one!

strange-steve said:

Tonight I have the second of @Hopsteep's beers to look forward to, this one being a 5.6% Chocolate Stout...

Aroma
Lovely roasted aromas of coffee and chocolate, and a nice rich, grainy bread aroma, almost reminiscent of a wheaten bread (that's a brown soda bread for you lot across the Irish sea).

Appearance
On the lighter end of the stout colour spectrum but a lovely red hue when held to the light and very clear. Thin white head with good retention.

Flavour
Beautifully full bodied with rich, smooth roasted flavours of smooth coffee, with a lovely touch of sweetness in the finish which leaves a very pleasant milk chocolate flavour lingering in the palate. Hop bitterness is well balanced, perfect for the style, and very smooth. Nothing notable in the way of fermentation character or off-flavours.

Overall Impression
Wow this one is a belter. The first thing that struck me was the silky smooth and full mouthfeel, which was wonderful. Do you treat your water for this effect or is it all in the recipe? Next was the richness of flavour with lots of dark malt flavours going on, but beautifully smooth with no harshness at all. This is a cracking stout, much better than any of my efforts. I might be wrong but I have a suspicion that it's not down to anything particularly special about the recipe (although I'd love to see your recipe anyway!) and more down to great brewing techniques and attention to detail, so we'll done that man and thanks for sending this :hat:

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Thanks for the review

My thread is here from the brew day (https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/chocolate-stout.83189/) it was my first attempt at adding chocolate to a stout.

I like to adjust my water to around 100ppm chloride and 200ppm sulfate for dark beers and aim for a mash ph of 5.4.

I think a lot of the flavour and body comes from the yeast actually. Although there was some homemade invert sugar thrown in which probably accentuates the coffee/malty flavour.

Recipe is for 30L:

Maris Otter 6kg
Pale Chocolate Malt 0.9kg
Flakes Oats 0.6kg
Light Crystal 0.2kg

Invert No.3 0.52kg
Lactose 0.45kg
Target 60mins, 14.1 IBUs
Fuggles 60mins, 17.7 IBUs
Fuggles 10mins, 2.8IBUs
Cocoa nibs 200g (primary)
Wyeast 1187 (Ringwood)

The yeast profile wasn't obvious to me, but I'm sure it really did add to the complexity of the beer, I really like that Ringwood strain

I've discovered recently that I really like a big lactose addition in a stout too, so that certainly helped too.

Tonight I've finally gotten over my extremely serious but thankfully non-life threatening cold so am ready to taste the first of two beers sent by @BeerCat, an Amber Lager...

Aroma
Very clean, a slight sulphurous note which isn't unusual for a lager, the richness of the malt comes through with bready, toasty hints.

Appearance
Brilliant clarity, a lovely deep copper colour with a nice white head which left lacing right down the glass (see pic 2). Very pretty indeed.

Flavour
Lovely rich, layered, bready malt flavours with just a little toastiness (presumably Munich malt?) which combines with an almost creamy mouthfeel to be very pleasant indeed. Not much in the way of hop flavours, a hint of herbal hop character in the finish, and a very well balanced bitterness. Despite the richness, it lingers on the palate with the typical clean and crisp lager finish. Very clean fermentation character.

Overall Impression
Last year I went through a bit of a German lager phase and this beer reminds me why. I'm not sure if it's exactly what you were going for but to me this is a cracking example of a Marzen. It has the soft but full flavours, very little crystal malt character which is often overdone with this kind of beer, and the crisp finish with very little sweetness. The bitterness is fairly low, perfectly balancing the malts and giving a very moreish quality. The yeast character isn't noticable at all which suggests a healthy fermentation, and I'm curious if you fermented in the traditional lager way or if you used the trendy Brulosophy-style quick method? I love the mouthfeel, not too full as to lose the drinkability, but smooth and creamy. I know you typically start with RO water, did you add much to it for this? Anyway this is a fantastic beer and has made me add Marzen to my brew-soon list, I could easily have got through several maßkrugs of this, so thanks for sending it :hat:

strange-steve said:

Tonight I have the second of @Hopsteep's beers to look forward to, this one being a 5.6% Chocolate Stout...

Aroma
Lovely roasted aromas of coffee and chocolate, and a nice rich, grainy bread aroma, almost reminiscent of a wheaten bread (that's a brown soda bread for you lot across the Irish sea).

Appearance
On the lighter end of the stout colour spectrum but a lovely red hue when held to the light and very clear. Thin white head with good retention.

Flavour
Beautifully full bodied with rich, smooth roasted flavours of smooth coffee, with a lovely touch of sweetness in the finish which leaves a very pleasant milk chocolate flavour lingering in the palate. Hop bitterness is well balanced, perfect for the style, and very smooth. Nothing notable in the way of fermentation character or off-flavours.

Overall Impression
Wow this one is a belter. The first thing that struck me was the silky smooth and full mouthfeel, which was wonderful. Do you treat your water for this effect or is it all in the recipe? Next was the richness of flavour with lots of dark malt flavours going on, but beautifully smooth with no harshness at all. This is a cracking stout, much better than any of my efforts. I might be wrong but I have a suspicion that it's not down to anything particularly special about the recipe (although I'd love to see your recipe anyway!) and more down to great brewing techniques and attention to detail, so we'll done that man and thanks for sending this :hat:

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Where is the glass from

Leon103 said:

Where is the glass from

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Hefeweizen glass from IKEA, nothing but the best in this house.

strange-steve said:

Hefeweizen glass from IKEA, nothing but the best in this house.

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I meant the one w9th the stout

Many thanks for your kind words Steve. :) I also sent the same beer to @MickDundee so i will put the recipe here for anyone interested.

The water is RO with the mash adjusted to 30ppm alkalinity and i add 50ppm of chloride to the mash and sparge water. The base malt is equal amounts of German pale and pilsner with 2% each of chocolate rye, extra dark crystal and melanoidin and about 8% biscuit. Also added some acid malt to get the ph down to around 5.3.
Mashed at 67c and fermented with wyeast 2278. I pitch a lot of yeast somewhere around 8c and leave it for a day or 2 then knock it up to 10c. After a week or 10 days i put it up a degree a day until its at 18/20c. Day 21 i cold crash to zero for a week adding finings halfway through. I do not open the fermentor until i add the finings.
Force carb and you can serve the next day. It should be crystal clear by then or you can lager it longer if you need or want to. I think its the choc rye that dries it out and balances the crystal. 4.5% ABV and 30 IBU.

Leon103 said:

I meant the one w9th the stout

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Ah I see. Extra large wine glass, also from IKEA

BeerCat said:

I think its the choc rye that dries it out and balances the crystal.

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I haven't used it so would have never picked it out, but I suspect you're right. That's a healthy dose of biscuit malt also which I'm very partial to myself, good job :thumba:

BeerCat said:

Many thanks for your kind words Steve. :) I also sent the same beer to @MickDundee so i will put the recipe here for anyone interested.

The water is RO with the mash adjusted to 30ppm alkalinity and i add 50ppm of chloride to the mash and sparge water. The base malt is equal amounts of German pale and pilsner with 2% each of chocolate rye, extra dark crystal and melanoidin and about 8% biscuit. Also added some acid malt to get the ph down to around 5.3.
Mashed at 67c and fermented with wyeast 2278. I pitch a lot of yeast somewhere around 8c and leave it for a day or 2 then knock it up to 10c. After a week or 10 days i put it up a degree a day until its at 18/20c. Day 21 i cold crash to zero for a week adding finings halfway through. I do not open the fermentor until i add the finings.
Force carb and you can serve the next day. It should be crystal clear by then or you can lager it longer if you need or want to. I think its the choc rye that dries it out and balances the crystal. 4.5% ABV and 30 IBU.

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Sorry for the brief hi-jack but what calcium does this hit? Also I'm assuming most of the hops are nobles up front, much added late in the boil? I'm going to be trying some lagers again this year and this sounds great.

Who's biscuit malt do you like Beercat and Steve?

Zephyr259 said:

Who's biscuit malt do you like Beercat and Steve?

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I think the one I get is Chateau from HBC.

This evening I'll be having the second of @BeerCat's beers, an Imperial Stout. Can't wait...

Aroma
Intensely fruity aroma of raisins and dates which blends with the hints of alcohol to smell just like a Christmas cake. Delicious.

Appearance
Opaque deep black with a lovely tan head. This should be called "Beyond Good and Evil" because it's like gazing into the abyss (and yes it does gaze back!)

Flavour
Again, really intensely fruity which is enhanced by the sweetness which initially hits the palate. It then gives way to a bittersweet finish, with the roastiness being quite subtle at first but lingering, preventing it being overly sweet. I'm not sure what strength this is but the alcohol is well hidden, just a slight warming hint which is very welcome (edit to add: though I can certainly feel the alcohol as I get to the bottom of the glass!)

Overall Impression
Well this is something else. It's so thick and luscious, like drinking a sticky syrup. I really love that fruitiness that comes from a large grain bill and drinking this is like having a Christmas pudding rammed down your throat by Mike Tyson (in a good way!) The comparative subtlety of the roasted flavours gives this almost a Belgian quad quality (although sweeter), and I bet if this was fermented with a Belgian yeast it would have been equally excellent. The carbonation is very low which in my opinion suits the style perfectly and helps with the oily mouthfeel. There is a lot of sweetness but it just manages to avoid being cloying. There's not much that compares to a great RIS in my opinion, and this is a great one. This was quite an experience to drink and I thoroughly enjoyed every sip, thanks BeerCat :hat:

That sounds and looks the part

Most kind of you Steve. Apologies as usual i forgot to send any info on the beer. It came in at 12.6% ABV. 1022 to 1026. Racked onto cacoa nibs,vanilla pods and tonka beans for 4 months before kegging. It was my first reiterated mash and i put the other half on oak. Fermented with Voss.

BeerCat said:

Most kind of you Steve. Apologies as usual i forgot to send any info on the beer. It came in at 12.6% ABV. 1022 to 1026. Racked onto cacoa nibs,vanilla pods and tonka beans for 4 months before kegging. It was my first reiterated mash and i put the other half on oak. Fermented with Voss.

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You know what, now that you've said that there was a definite resemblance to Lervig's 3 bean stout (which is very high praise) and it really didn't taste like a >12% beer, great job.

strange-steve said:

You know what, now that you've said that there was a definite resemblance to Lervig's 3 bean stout (which is very high praise) and it really didn't taste like a >12% beer, great job.

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Thank you. I got the idea from them but i have never tried the beer. Go easy on the tonka beans if anyone tries it as they are a lot more potent than the nibs and pods. Really glad you liked it.