Stout Recipe- Suggestions welcome

Many people avoid using the dark extracts so they can be more certain of the ingredients. I'm not sure who makes your DME. Briess describes their Dark DME as 54% Munich Malt 10L, 30% Base Malt, 13% Caramel Malt 60, and 3% Black Malt (link). To this, you are adding more crystal malts and more roast malts. To me, this would be a tough beer to drink -- sweet, high abv, lots of body.

 

He's right. Dark DME already has all your specialty grains in it. If you do both then you're doubling up on all of it. My suggestion would be to use light DME with all your specialty grains. Then you'll be in better shape. Also I'd consider reducing the extract to 6 lb and add 1 lb plain cane sugar to ensure good fermentability and low final gravity... unless you actually want a sweet stout which is fine too. WLP007 is a good choice either way.

For a finishing hop, I kind of like Willamette. But anything is fine of course, whatever you like.

Enjoy.

 

Can anyone please suggest a recipe for a Full Bodied Stout that is Lactose Free? I realise that Lactose is used to promote body in Stouts, but I’m currently on a Lactose Free Diet. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.- James Boykett

 

By Full Bodied do you mean sweet....or a thick, creamy mouthfeel?
Lactose will add sweetness. It's possible some folks perceive more body from extra sweetness.
Maltodextrin or crystal malts can be used to increase body and a creamy mouthfeel.

This recipe doesn’t use lactose; two links to the same recipe except one uses whole leaf hops and the other pellet hops:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...rican-stout-whole-leaf-hop-version-ag.241978/
https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...-american-stout-pellet-hop-version-ag.241977/

They’re found in the Homebrew Recipes forum, where there are other Stouts recipes to look over.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/forums/homebrew-recipes.67/

 

@ash111 good advise above. I like fuggles for a finishing hop in stouts.

@Anzac2541962 i find using dark music malt adds body without the lactose sweetness as long as you mash at 150. Higher temps seem to bring on more sweetness.

 

Use 20-25% crystal malt, and Windsor ale yeast. The crystal malt has some unfermentable sugars, and Windsor has extremely low attenuation of about 61%. Combined they might do the trick for you. Just be aware that due to the very low attenuation, you may wish to use extra malt up front and bring the original gravity up much higher than usual so that you still get "enough" alcohol in the end product. For instance let's say you would normally brew a 1.050 wort which might finish around 1.013, and 5% ABV. Well in this instance you should consider bringing this up to say 1.063 or so with an expected final gravity around 1.025, to hit the same final ABV of 5%.

 

Plus a bonus lively tune for buck-dancing….

 

Also, do a short mash length and a high mash temp.

 

I almost always say something like this, but do you have a particular reason to add both roast barley and black malt?

If not, my suggestion would be to pick one and stick with it. Once you've brewed a few recipes with either one or the other, you'll start to get more of a feel for what each one brings to the party, and be able to make better decisions about whether to use one or the other or a mix in the future.

 

I dig it for the most part. As others have stated, avoid dark extracts. I'd go with extra light DME and maybe add .25# British dark crystal malt (I really like Double Roasted Crystal). So far as a finishing hop, for dark ales, I like Willamette or UK Fuggles, but that's up to you. I wouldn't add add any coffee, chocolate, etc. until you've brewed it once and see what it may need to boost it into what you want. I kinda go by a little rule of thumb on this: if I didn't envision a flavoring for this beer when coming up with the recipe, I'm not going to flavor it.

 

I agree. I haven't used roast barley in years, but I really like black malt in small amounts.
Roast barley gives me a stale coffee flavor if it gets any sort of oxidation.
I dig the slight scorched/ashy flavor you get from Black Malt, but it can be a bit much when overused.
I tend to get most of the roast in my stouts from British chocolate malts.

 

I can endorse the use of Windsor. Also, Lallemand's London ESB is a good one for low attenuation, in my experience. Not a fan of this much crystal, though.

 

I thought a higher mash temp would bring out more sweetness from malts. Is your response only for short mash times?

 

Arrrrgg, I ment dark munic malt.

Thanks ripper.

Lookin fer bucks in your stomping grounds?

 

You really have to do both at the same time for it to work.

 

It will. More sweetness/body, and a higher FG.

Not just for short mash times. But both help, and together they are more effective.

 

Yeah, a little bit. Those grounds are in GA, time afield is limited this year due to work, and I’ll miss the peak.
So far this season the most rewarding experiences have been evenings around the fire back at the camp, sipping on brew and swapping recycled stories.

Didn’t even have time to harvest any white oak acorns for testing in a homebrew. I still think they’d be good, once leached and toasted and/or roasted…..maybe even in a stout?

 

Hmmmmm , never thought of the acorns. I'll have to do some scouting.

 

Maltodextrin instead of lactose will do the trick. Essentially the same thing (unfermentable sugar) but maltodextrin is malt derived