The How My Averagely Perfect American Stout Turned Out Thread

Brewing it tomorrow, toasted the oats a bit last night and they are in a paper bag awaiting the mash!

 

I brewed it on Feb 9 and will be kegging today. I followed the recipe exactly but my FG is higher than expected, 1.028. I was a little surprised to be off by so much but the gravity has been stable since Feb 19 and it tastes like a fully attenuated beer with crystal malt in it. Does anyone else have an FG yet?

 

I hope to everything glorious in brewing it doesn't finish at 1.028 for me.

You did make an appropriate sized starter, right?

 

Yep. Mr Malty sized starter and Vikeman's recommended dose of O2 at pitching. Also ramped fermenter temp to 72F after the first gravity reading.

 

I'll be kegging mine tomorrow.

 

How long, or how toasted did you guys get your oats?

Mine aren't black, but have a nice even brown layer on them, similar to perhaps... maybe C-20 or C-40

 

I did 30 minutes in a 350 oven.

 

So we're close. I was doing some potatoes in there the other night at 400.. Did around 20-30 at 400, raking them and moving them around every 5-10 minutes.

 

I was really craving a stout yesterday, which is why I asked about early reports in the other thread. I will need to enjoy this homebrew vicariously, at least for several weeks. Did find a Wisconsin stout that I liked though, from Sand Creek.

 

I'd be happy to send out bottles ( along with some locals ) to anyone else who brews this. Give me around a month to get it done, kegged and I'll bottle some. Perhaps with my new whiz-bang beer gun I'm gonna buy.

 

So was I. Stayed up late studying for calculus III with a really pretty girl last night*, and by the time I was done it was almost breakfast time. Lucky me, I had a founder's breakfast stout handy. Then, this morning when I woke up, I had a bomber of lagunitas cappuccino stout. Breakfast of champions.

*when I think of how many friday and saturday nights I've spent with this very pretty girl studying calculus, it's very depressing. At least I went to a concert with her once, but that's mostly just a consolation prize which helps me avoid being kicked out of the cool kid's club completely, but doesn't get me off probation.

 

I went with a lighter toast. I tried light, med, and med dark. The lighter roast had a cereal flavor, mostly cheerios. The medium had a popcorn flavor and the darker just seemed flat and roasted. I need to dig up my notes. But I ended up mixing all three toasts and using them I think it was something like 20% dark (light brown), 20% medium, and 60% light. I'll be sampling later today when I keg this batch. I'll post status.

 

Mine are between cheerios and popcorn-ish.. Good description, as it's what came to my mind too!

 

Dude, you're being the definition of a Nice Guy TM here. Let her know you're interested! Invite her over to drink home brew and watch a movie or something and see how it goes bro! Carpe diem.

 

So I finally got to have my first pint of the APA stout. I'm very happy with it, it is delicious and I've honestly never tasted anything quite like it. It's very thick, silky, chewy and full. Very black and opaque. Good head retention, not a huge head, but lasting. This is definitely a hop forward beer, but I would not call it a Black IPA, there's just way too much mouth feel for that. The hops in the aroma seem rich and citrusy, more on the orange side of things. The up front flavor is also orangey to me, but the roasty chocolate/coffee notes do come out in the backgound. The bitterness and sweetness seem to be well balanced, and drinkable. However, I don't think the toasting of the oats added anything, I can't pick up any notes from that. If anything my only critique would be to get better balance with the hop flavor, maybe less hop flavor or a touch more roastiness. But overall I think this was a success, and I'm interested in hearing what others have come up with. Oh btw, I didn't quite hit my FG, I ended up with 1.016, I mashed at 158F.

 

I just checked mine tonight, finished at 1.019. Both US05 and 1084 got the same attenuation. I overshot the OG however, by 2-4 points as well off the top of my head. I can't honestly taste of difference in the two, other than I think the US05 has more hop flavor/aroma to it. I fermented both pretty cool.

There's a good bit of hop forward notes to the beer. Has a piney/orange/citrus note in the nose, followed by some earthy dirt and some roast. I like the way it smells, but makes you back up and wonder if it's a stout. It's got a nice full mouthfeel despite not being carbed, and is pretty smooth and oily.

That said, it's a mighty fine beer, and something that fits the style. I think with time the hop flavor will fade a bit, and I'm curious to see how it does. I'm also interested to find if others hit the numbers we went for, as it seems everyone is coming up with a higher FG.

I mashed at 156 or 157* I believe, as I don't have my notes in front of me.

Oh yeah, and like Naugled, the toasted oats added next to nothing to the beer. I've brewed many beers with plenty of oats, and never toasted them until now, and simply can't taste or find a difference in them.

 

But it did make your kitchen smell good, right?

 

Seize the carp!