Luckyeddie's AG#20 - Summer Stout

[luckyeddie]

So-called because I took summer this, summer that, summer the other and summer telse. I wanted to take all the science out of beer-making and reduce it to nothing more than bucket-chemistry and a helping of witchcraft. Just for fun.

My base malt was about 5 jugs of MO.
To this I bunged in a good dollop of dark crystal malt, a tad of roasted malt, a smidgeon of chocolate malt, a handful of flaked oats and a bit of torrified wheat.

90 minute mash (ish) at 66C (ok, the one thing I measured accurately)

The boil had to be done in three stages because it rained on and off so I was forever turning the boiler off and winding up the extension cable.

I chucked some cocoa powder in late in the boil.

I did not add any finings, Irish Moss etc at all during the boil - this was not deliberate - I forgot because of the constant interruptions with the weather.

Hops were an unspecified amount of Northern Brewer, EKG and Fuggles.

After chilling I added a couple of teaspoons of very, very expensive vanilla extract and stuck it in the FV. Yeast is Chimay bottle culture.

It will be interesting to see how it turns out because I will never be able to reproduce it. 20 litres at 1046.

 

[Wendy1971]

sounds really nice. Love the way you have thrown everything out the window with this brew. It will turn out fine.

 

[jinxy72]

im sure it will turn out fine m8 .. end of the day as long as you like it thats all that matters .... its your beer :

 

[luckyeddie]

Yes, that's the whole idea - to do something completely 'off the wall' and trust to luck for once, instead of science. Whatever the outcome, it will be a surprise. Perhaps it's the kick up the backside I need if it goes awry. I've been getting really blasé about my beers recently, and have come to the conclusion that Belgian yeasts can cover up a multitude of mistakes. I mean, who has ever drunk a Belgian beer that has been anything other than wonderful?

(You guys who I argued with recently about Lambics STFU and GBTW at this time :lol: ).

So it's really a test of that theory - I'm following the philosophy of that great Indian brewer, Chukkitan Chansit, just this once. I promise to take it seriously again from next week.

 

[luckyeddie]

Fermentation tailing off now at 1006, so we're looking at around 5.2%.

I'm racking to another FV this evening just to get it off the floating globs of chocolate.

I said it would be a surprise, and it is. Stout, schmout - what we have here is a brown ale. Early signs are that it's a keeper. It's very cloudy still (remember I forgot to add any Irish Moss or Protofloc) so what I think I'll do is lager it for a couple of weeks before bottling.

Tastes very nice.

 

[luckyeddie]

Bottled it 5 days ago - the last bottle was only half full so I opened it tonight - it's conditioning well and is clear. The double-drop and keeping it at 0C for 12 days did the trick.

The chocolate taste is present but subdued (it's more an aftertaste really) - can't taste any vanilla. The hops are overpowering it. Quite pleasant, but it's hardly going to win any awards because it's not what I'd call 'balanced'. Too bitter for a brown ale, not dry enough for a stout. Not an experiment I shall repeat (for a while).

Back to being careful next week.

 

[jinxy72]

as long as its drinkable m8 then thats all that matters : :

 

[snail59]

Sounds like a winner Ed. Nice Job :thumb:

 

[gurtpint]

Great stuff! Did you make notes in case you'll come up with a corker of a brew and want to make it again?