Wait for the Blackout

[nigelnorris]

First brewday thread, first Stout

Tried to keep as near trad as I could manage given what was lying about in the kitchen already. Recipe is an amalgam of recipes picked up from half a dozen different sites.

The only roasted barley they had in the shop was a pack past its sell by. Then I got home and noticed it was whole grain so I've had to run it through my coffeee grinder. Bit too fine but better than nothing.

Boiler's up to 60C already so any recommended changes need to be in the next ten minutes.

Wait for the Blackout (Dry Stout)

Original Gravity (OG): 1.057 (°P): 14.0
Final Gravity (FG): 1.013 (°P): 3.3
Alcohol (ABV): 5.75 %
Colour (SRM): 46.0 (EBC): 90.6
Bitterness (IBU): 52.9 (Tinseth)

60.24% United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale
24.1% United Kingdom - Amber
7.23% United Kingdom - Roasted Barley
6.02% United Kingdom - Crystal 90L
2.41% United Kingdom - Chocolate

5 g/L East Kent Goldings (4.6% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)


Single step Infusion at 66°C for 60 Minutes. Boil for 60 Minutes

Fermented at 22°C with Nottingham Ale Yeast


Recipe Generated with Brewer's Friend

[Dear Diary: Amber malt isn't just a differently hued Pale malt, and Crystal probably doesn't belong here.]

 

[jceg316]

Awesome, looks like a pretty solid recipe, keep us updated with how it turns out.

 

[nigelnorris]

Stout is suposed to be carbonated on the low side, yet have a good head on it. Surely the two are incompatible? How do you get a head on beer that's not got much gas in it?

 

[MyQul]

Stout is suposed to be carbonated on the low side, yet have a good head on it. Surely the two are incomatible? How do you get a head on beer that's not got much gas in it?

Reckon that's Guinness marketing for you.

 

[nigelnorris]

Reckon that's Guinness marketing for you.

I got it from here

http://www.bjcp.org/styles04/Category13.php

 

[MyQul]

I got it from here

http://www.bjcp.org/styles04/Category13.php

A "thick creamy head" can only be achieved with nitrogen. Bjcp guidelines are only really for comps. You can make a stout however you like

 

[jceg316]

Certain grains like carapils/dextrine promote good head on beer, probably others as well.

But as what MyQul says, brew the beer you wanna brew.

 

[nigelnorris]

You can make a stout however you like

brew the beer you wanna brew

Sound advice of course, but I just like to read around the matter at hand and thought it to be an interesting question.

 

[MyQul]

Sound advice of course, but I just like to read around the matter at hand and thought it to be an interesting question.

Of course.I regularly read about various styles and their guidlines. If you google 'dry irish stout style guidlines' and look oout for the BYO.com hits there very intesesting. You can't break the rules if you dont know what they are in the first place :thumb:

 

[nigelnorris]

Well that was my best brewday yet. Very little mess, everything looks like I'd expect, OG is only 1 point out at 1056, and I got exactly the 15L I aimed for.

The wort smells really strongly of toffee, like toffee apples in fact. No idea if that's a good thing in terms of the beer I'm aiming for but by golly it's nice at this stage.

 

[nigelnorris]

Of course.I regularly read about various styles and their guidlines. If you google 'dry irish stout style guidlines' and look oout for the BYO.com hits there very intesesting. You can't break the rules if you dont know what they are in the first place :thumb:

I agree, I've got this bee in my bonnet about successful experimentation being a consequence of already being good at the basics.

Was thinking about it earlier, considering the example of Tracey Emin. Can't have truck with the woman or her doings, god knows how a bed and some dirty knickers constitues art. But the truth is that she's had all the fine art training, is a professor of drawing at the Royal Academy, and probably knows her stuff, and I think in some sense that does give her more outlandish stuff a degree of legitimacy even if it doesn't appeal to me.

If all she'd done was that bed I'd just write her off as a nonsense perpetrated by Charles Saatchi and his weird sense of humour.

Same with beer. :lol:

 

[MyQul]

Well that was my best brewday yet. Very little mess, everything looks like I'd expect, OG is only 1 point out at 1056, and I got exactly the 15L I aimed for.

The wort smells really strongly of toffee, like toffee apples in fact. No idea if that's a good thing in terms of the beer I'm aiming for but by golly it's nice at this stage.

Hope you mashed low. A dry stout should be just that and according my researches (if your being a style nazi) crystal has no place in a dry stout. Similarly you shouldnt put Munich in their for the same reason but I'm using both crystal and munich so will be mashing low and using a high attenuating yeast (WLP001) to dry the beer out

 

[MyQul]

I agree, I've got this bee in my bonnet about successful experimentation being a consequence of already being good at the basics.

Was thinking about it earlier, considering the example of Tracey Emin. Can't have truck with the woman or her doings, god knows how a bed and some dirty knickers constitues art. But the truth is that she's had all the fine art training, is a professor of drawing at the Royal Academy, and probably knows her stuff, and I think in some sense that does give her more outlandish stuff a degree of legitimacy even if it doesn't appeal to me.

If all she'd done was that bed I'd just write her off as a nonsense perpetrated by Charles Saatchi and his weird sense of humour.

Same with beer. :lol:

I never got some of the stuff I've seen in the tate modern

 

[nigelnorris]

Hope you mashed low. A dry stout should be just that and according my researches (if your being a style nazi) crystal has no place in a dry stout. Similarly you shouldnt put Munich in their for the same reason but I'm using both crystal and munich so will be mashing low and using a high attenuating yeast (WLP001) to dry the beer out

I did find some recipes with it in there which is why I included it. Just found this quote on byo.com

Although a quick perusal of stout commentary on the web finds many sources denouncing the use of crystal malt in the style, many commercial stouts do indeed use such malts. Crystal malts lend caramel and toffee notes to beer and are a useful ingredient when sweetness and higher finish gravity are sought. Personally, I like to use crystal malt in coffee stout and imperial stout to add depth of body.

I'd say the caramel / toffee reference just about sums up what I've got in my bucket. Not what I intended but oh well, we'll see.

 

[nigelnorris]

I never got some of the stuff I've seen in the tate modern

I saw Kraftwerk in the Turbine Hall a couple of years ago. It was a strange night, full of the sort of people who go to Tracey Emin exhibitions, and a few like me and my mates lagered up and dancing. They were moaning because they couldn't see three blokes 50 yards away standing still pushing buttons on laptops.

 

[MyQul]

I did find some recipes with it in there which is why I included it. Just found this quote on byo.com

Although a quick perusal of stout commentary on the web finds many sources denouncing the use of crystal malt in the style, many commercial stouts do indeed use such malts. Crystal malts lend caramel and toffee notes to beer and are a useful ingredient when sweetness and higher finish gravity are sought. Personally, I like to use crystal malt in coffee stout and imperial stout to add depth of body.

I'd say the caramel / toffee reference just about sums up what I've got in my bucket. Not what I intended but oh well, we'll see.

The quote mentions coffee and imperial stouts, but I think dry stout shouldn't have it if your sticking rigidly to style. Having said that, your stout sounds like it will come out really nice. I made a smoked porter, which I've just finished of the batch, and that tasted like a stout even though it had had no roasted barely in it and had crystal in there

 

[terrym]

And I thought that this thread was going to be about successive UK government's lack of leadership and investment concerning our electrical power generation capacity and security of supply required to sustain our way of life and our economy. Silly old me.
So here's hoping that next winter and those for years to come are not too extreme.

 

[nigelnorris]

WOMAN: Well, old man...

MAN: Woods. And the darkness... and the howling wind! Will the snows never cease? They seem to reach back forever!

WOMAN: We begin the night Uncle Volva died... on the night

MAN: If only we were deaf! Do you remember when this very room was filled with light and laughter and young people? How we laughed! Ha-ha! He-he!

WOMAN: Was the food richer then? Or have we just forgotten?

MAN: It was... sort of crunchy. The woods. And the darkness... and the howling wind! Will the snows never cease? They seem to reach back forever!

 

[BeerCat]

I have been using crystal in my Stouts recently and i like it. Also mashing at 67c. Had no idea was meant to be lower.

 

[nigelnorris]

If it turns out sweet or fruity I'm just going to whack some tinsel round the glass and tell everyone it was intended to be a christmas beer.