Stout Brewing
Active Member
So, on Sunday I finally cracked a bottle of my first all grain, own recipe beer (a Chocolate Milkshake Stout, at least that’s what I’m calling it)…and was bloody pleased!
Before that I had done one Brooklyn Brew Shop kit, which came out average at best, so on Sunday’s tasting I have to admit I was pleasantly shocked.
Here’s a few pics…
I mashed in a pan with a grain bill of Maris Otter, Chocolate Malt, Crystal and a load of oats. Then used a big bloody sieve to sparge trying not to get too much wort on the kitchen floor. (note the tea towel)
Just a bit of East Kent Golding went into the boil and I had to wrap some oven gloves, using a bulldog clip, around the pan to get it up to a rolling boil temp. I finished it with a good dose of lactose as I'm a sucker for a sweet stout.
This went into a 1 gallon demijohn along with some Mangrove Jacks Strong Ale Yeast for 3 weeks, whilst I made a tincture using 100ml vodka, a vanilla bean and a load of cocoa nibs. After the vodka had had time to infuse (10 days shaking every now and again) I passed it and then froze the concoction to separate the fats. It tasted amazing.
Bottling day all went pretty smoothly as it was such a small batch. The tincture was stirred through and then I bottled it with 3-4g of sugar in each bottle and let carb up for 2 weeks before popping in the fridge.
A week later, I got impatient so wanted to try the first one!
The satisfying hiss as I opened the bottle brought a smile to my face as did the steady head that formed. Good, dark colour was nice too.
The aroma was rich, chocolatey with little touches of vanilla.
And the taste left me genuinely quite surprised, in a good way. Sweet but not overly. The chocolate and vanilla have seemed to combined with the malts to give hints of the additional flavours without it feeling like a 'flavoured beer'.
I forgot to take an OG (oops) so no idea on strength, but feels like a healthy Christmas beer level.
Overall, I'm really pleased and just wanted to share the start of what I think may become a fantastic hobby! I have also learnt looooooads from reading this forum so a thank you to all the contributors.
Before that I had done one Brooklyn Brew Shop kit, which came out average at best, so on Sunday’s tasting I have to admit I was pleasantly shocked.
Here’s a few pics…
I mashed in a pan with a grain bill of Maris Otter, Chocolate Malt, Crystal and a load of oats. Then used a big bloody sieve to sparge trying not to get too much wort on the kitchen floor. (note the tea towel)
Just a bit of East Kent Golding went into the boil and I had to wrap some oven gloves, using a bulldog clip, around the pan to get it up to a rolling boil temp. I finished it with a good dose of lactose as I'm a sucker for a sweet stout.
This went into a 1 gallon demijohn along with some Mangrove Jacks Strong Ale Yeast for 3 weeks, whilst I made a tincture using 100ml vodka, a vanilla bean and a load of cocoa nibs. After the vodka had had time to infuse (10 days shaking every now and again) I passed it and then froze the concoction to separate the fats. It tasted amazing.
Bottling day all went pretty smoothly as it was such a small batch. The tincture was stirred through and then I bottled it with 3-4g of sugar in each bottle and let carb up for 2 weeks before popping in the fridge.
A week later, I got impatient so wanted to try the first one!
The satisfying hiss as I opened the bottle brought a smile to my face as did the steady head that formed. Good, dark colour was nice too.
The aroma was rich, chocolatey with little touches of vanilla.
And the taste left me genuinely quite surprised, in a good way. Sweet but not overly. The chocolate and vanilla have seemed to combined with the malts to give hints of the additional flavours without it feeling like a 'flavoured beer'.
I forgot to take an OG (oops) so no idea on strength, but feels like a healthy Christmas beer level.
Overall, I'm really pleased and just wanted to share the start of what I think may become a fantastic hobby! I have also learnt looooooads from reading this forum so a thank you to all the contributors.
