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First stout, questions about yeast, comments needed!
This will be my first attempt at a stout. I am trying to use what I already have so going out and getting another type of hops or something isnt what I'm looking for. Just looking for suggestions on what I have planned and what everyone thinks so far:
1 lb. American Chocolate Malt
.5 lb. American Black Patent
2 lbs. Dry Dark Extract
3 lbs. Liquid Dark Extract
.25 lb. Malto Dextrin
.9 oz. Amarillo (Pellets, 8.50 %AA) boiled 60 min.
0.50 oz. Liberty (Pellets, 4.00 %AA) boiled 15 min.
Yeast : White Labs WLP013 London Ale OR WLP007 Dry English yeast
Beertools places everything within compliance for a dry stout style with only the alcohol (4.8%) and OG (1.046) being above center of the range.
I am unsure of which yeast to use and was looking for some recommendations between the 013 or 007. Also I need some ideas or fermentation temperatures on these yeasts.
Steep the specialty grains in 4 gallons of water at 150 deg. for 45 minutes, pour 2 gallons of hot water over them in a strainer to rinse the grains bringing kettle level to 6 gallons (brings to about 5 gallons after evap), and I am going to pitch a 500 ml starter of whichever yeast I decide to use. Probably 7- 10 days in primary then to secondary for another 10 days (all of this is considering hydro readings of course)
Thanks for reading and let me know what you all think!
I made a stout back in January and used Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale and the beer came out awesome. I put your recipe into Beersmith and the OG only came out to 1.039. If the DME was increased to 3lbs it hit 1.048. A pound of chocolate malt seems a little high. I'd recommend cutting back on the chocolate malt and mix in some black barley, roasted barley and some dark crystal. I was also using amber DME instead of dark. I used 4oz of Malto-Dextrine too and it left just enough sweetness that balanced the bitterness and mixed well the chocolate and roasty flavors. Another suggestion, use DME to prime when you bottle and you'll get a nice creamy head on that beer; much better than corn sugar. Good luck.
I like the London Ale yeast, but to be honest I haven't tried the Dry English yeast. On the London Ale I would ferment between 63-68, but a little higher wouldn't hurt either. You may develop a little more estery character at higher temps but your black patent and chocolate malt would probably cover it or even compliment it. Hell, get the same bill and make two batches with both yeasts and then compare them side by side.
I like your grain bill just the way it is, but I'd drop the colored extracts and use light extracts. Just too much roasted malt characters going on and I thin it would get muddled.
Going with what you ahve on hand and not having to buy anything else... I'd cut the batch in half to 2.5 gallons because you don't have enough extract!!! (as already pointed out) So make the batch 2.5 gallons.
If you do this I'd use half the chocolate, 0.25lb of the BP keep the dextrin malt as it is.
Put half the Amarillo in for 6 minutes, then bump the rest of it to a 5 minute addition.
Keep the liberty right where it is.
So to clean up that mess of thoughts.
2.5 gallon batch
2lbs Dark DME
3lbs Dark LME
0.5lb chocolate
0.25lb black patent
0.25 maltodextrin
0.45oz amarillo 60min
0.5oz Liberty 15min
0.45oz amarillo 5min
Use either yeast (OR BOTH!!!!)
If you want to go to 5 gallons... maybe you could get away with the original grain bill and add 2 pounds of table sugar to get the OG up. But man it will end up with a dry finish, and maybe a bit acrid with all the different roasts from the grains and the extracts.
Thanks for the suggestions
Basically here is a list of what I have available to put into this stout so I can change the grain bill by using any of this stuff:
2.5 lb muntons crystal
2 lb weyermann cara amber
2 lb muntons black patent
1 lb carapils
2 lb chocolate malt
3 lbs plain extra light dry extract
3 lb dark dry extract
4 lb alexander pale liquid extract
3.3lb muntons dark liquid extract
hops: williamette (2 oz) amarillo (1 oz) liberty (2 oz) UK Fuggle (2 oz) Chinook (2 oz) Cascade (3.5 oz) Mt Hood (2 oz)
WLP007 Dry english ale yeast, WLP013 London Ale, WLP 041 Pacific Ale, and WLP001 California ale (3rd generation from pale ales)
I also have 8 oz of malto dextrin and some various other adjuncts.
FirePitBrew "I put your recipe into Beersmith and the OG only came out to 1.039. If the DME was increased to 3lbs it hit 1.048."
When I put my original recipe into beertools.com it comes out with an OG of 1.046. Maybe the softwares are comparing different extracts?
basementbrewer wrote:
FirePitBrew "I put your recipe into Beersmith and the OG only came out to 1.039. If the DME was increased to 3lbs it hit 1.048."
When I put my original recipe into beertools.com it comes out with an OG of 1.046. Maybe the softwares are comparing different extracts?
Its more likely that the efficiency for the grains is off variable in the calculations. For steeping you should anticipate 40% efficiency.
I use the 40% efficiency the Brewchez suggested when I calculate my recipes. It comes pretty close when I do.
DC
brewchez wrote:
I like your grain bill just the way it is, but I'd drop the colored extracts and use light extracts. Just too much roasted malt characters going on and I thin it would get muddled.
So would you change out the dry, liquid, or both extracts? I have 3 # of plain extra light dry and 4 # of alexander pale liquid that I could exchange for some of the dark extracts
basementbrewer wrote:
So would you change out the dry, liquid, or both extracts? I have 3 # of plain extra light dry and 4 # of alexander pale liquid that I could exchange for some of the dark extracts
Well that is a topic of debat for most people. I tend to prefer only dry extracts. But you can still use a combination of the DME and the LME. I would indeed just keep them to light colored extracts regardless of which one you use or any combination there of.
Does that make better sense?
But look, you want to use up those dark extracts right? So go ahead an use them. Just lighten up on the roasted grains you are using. I just think it will be too much roast.
Maybe next time you make the stout with only the light extracts and all the roasted grains.
I was looking through my WhiteLabs chart and either of those yeast are OK but the preferred yeast for a Dry Stout is WLP004 Irish Ale, WLP005 British Ale, or WLP051 California V Ale yeast...........I like the Irish Ale yeast myself and use it in 3 or 4 of the beers I brew regularly.....
WLP004..........65-68
WLP005..........65-70
WLP013..........66-71
WLP007..........65-70
Looks like 67 would be a good middle of the road temp for all of them 
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