Need opinions on my stout

Quantities?

 

Could you please provide more details? What were the amounts of the grains you used either in percentages or pounds?

Cheers!

 

Without knowing the amounts? Carafa II, Black Barley AND Roasted Barley seems like (potential) overkill. And 154F won't get you 'chewy', ever. Gotta go higher.

 

Mashing at a temperature like 158 degrees F will result in a wort that has a lot of dextrins. The result will be a beer with a higher final gravity and more body to the mouthfeel.

Cheers!

 

Very high mash temps don't burn off sugars. They denature enzymes that would otherwise be converting starches into sugars.

I would be very hesitant to go above 160F. In fact, I've never gone quite that high.

 

When people ask for quantities, we want to know how many pounds of each grain. I'm guessing you didn't use enough pale.

 

What boothbeer said. Nineteen percent roasted grains is a lot of roasted grains. Also, in my experience, 60 IBUs is high for a stout, especially if a lot of those IBUs came late in the boil. The roasted malts and the hops may be fighting it out.

It may mellow in time and mix well for black and tans.

 

Anyone know the difference between Black Barley and Roasted Barley? I thought they were both unmalted highly roasted barley. I know Briess has both (different lovibond), but that's their choice as to what they call it.

 

Briess Roasted Barley is something like 300L. Briess Black Barley is something like 500L. But British Roasted Barley's are more similar to Briess Black.

 

I can't speak for others but I find percentages to be much more useful.

 

Took the first pulls off of this stout today

Pale Malt - Great Western (3.0 SRM) 56.7 %
Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) 14.9 %

Brown Malt (65.0 SRM) 5.7 %
Caramel Munich 60L (Briess) (60.0 SRM) 5.7 %

Chocolate (Briess) (350.0 SRM) 5.7 %
Carafa Special II (Weyermann) (415.0 SRM) 2.8 %
Roasted Barley - 500L (500.0 SRM) 2.8 %

Brown Sugar, Dark (50.0 SRM) 5.7 %

og 1.072
fg 1.017
srm 47
ibu 47
abv 7.3%

mashed at 156F
wy1728
Crystal and Nugget hops
nibs and coconut

Smooth and robust with a medium-full body

 

Yes, too much dark roast (and wrong yeast)

 

I guess I'll be a bit of the contrarian and say it I like it although maybe swap the oat & chocolate malt quantities...but either way, expect a big robust roast character, export stout style...

 

4 pounds of roast is your problem, about twice as much as you need. As for the acidity, you need to add some hardness to your water with baking soda to keep the mash ph from going too low. You really need to get a water report and start playing with brunwater or another calculator. Google "mash ph water chemistry" and start reading. Have fun!

 

Without knowing what your water looks like, we can't say anything about needing baking soda. But, we can say that pH stabilizer (5.2) is a waste of money and should not be used.

I think your recipe looks mostly OK, I would have gone lighter on the black barley. I'm surprised that some lactose and 7% oats did not give you a semblance of chewy, but a higher mash temp would have helped.

You might consider this a blending beer or a cooking beer.