Thick Stouts vs. Thin Stouts

Some oatmeal stouts are thinner and more carbonated as well such as Breckenridge's oatmeal stout----which I might add is also pretty good. That said give me Even More Jesus or my personal soft spot Black's Dawn from Cismontane. Excellent stuff.

 

Thinner. I like the porter as a thinner style, the foreign extra stout at it's high abv already. I like the roastier bitter flavors and the earthy coffee and chocolate too. caramel is ok but soft and not too much. I think there can be full malty flavor without a lot of sugar too and I dislike the sweet stout as a style. . I think the sugary finish really makes a difference to me. The irish dry stout is a house favorite and so is the oatmeal stout. Which so light compared to the thick big abv stouts.

 

Yes, I've always been curious why the Evil Twin Stouts (and Lil B "porter") are so much thicker and syrup-y than the competition. They are a little sweeter, but they also have a smoky note, either some smoked malt or jus that perception from the roast. Stillwater On Fleek is another new one that's really thick in the Expedition/Ten Fidy realm.

 

Maybe try scouring a few places (clone recipes, brewery websites, etc.) for that information. Or you have the O.G. and the alcohol percentage you can calculate the F.G. that way as well. Or next time you have one of your favorites, buy a hydrometer and a test tube and check it yourself (or use a refractometer...you use less beer to test, but they cost more $).That's how lots of people start to clone a recipe. If it's 12% and has a final gravity of xxxx, then you can calculate the original gravity. This works most of the time except with some bourbon barrel aged stouts. Sometimes they pick up a few % alcohol from the barrel itself (KBS said to be an example of this).

For some commercial examples:

BCBS: 1.040
Parabola: 1.035
Dark Lord: 1.054

 

These are FG figures from clones and not the actual brewery, correct?

 

Dark Lord is from a published BYO clone recipe. BCBS was from a hydrometer reading of actual BCBS. Parabola says the O.G./F.G. on the bottle in degrees Plato/Brix( a simple conversion can tell you the gravity in decimal form).

 

I eagerly await the following 2 styles: Peanut Butter Thin Stout and Russian Imperial Thick Porter.

 

Like I said... not really sure why OP believes Parabola to be thin, as that doesn't seem to be the experience of anyone else. Or science apparently.

 

Thanks. Didn't realize FW published the FG on some bottles. Strange that some have it and others don't.

Looks like 2016 is on the thicker side compared to 2013/14: 8.6*P vs 7*P

 

If it's not thick it's thin, seems pretty clear cut to me .

 

Thank you, Captain Obvious

 

Ummm, are you talking beer or something else?

 

Only stuff that matters

 

I am neutral on this one, so long as it tastes great I don't care how thick or thin it is. I actually think thin is better since its easier to drink than a thicker beer. Great answers above, very good info on how it all works.

 

I don't mind a thin good-tasting stout but really prefer thick and chewy good tasting examples, such as Big Sky Ivan The Terrible.

 

note that you need to let the beer sample go flat.

 

Adding on to that: Sample should be at the temp for which the hydrometer is calibrated (or use a calc for temp adjustment).

 

If anyone feels they are stuck with a lousy stout due to the mouth feel I will be happy to take it off your hands especially if it's bourbon barrel.