In a previous post, I implied that my cream stout recipe has been perfected. That is kind of true, but I continue to tweak it. That is what is fun about homebrewing. The constant experimentation.
But, I do have a recipe that really works. The result is just plain yummy. I have 5 gallons in a secondary right now. In a week I will bottle and in another week I will drink.
Here is the recipe:
4 lb. Mountmellick light malt syrup
2 lb Munton & Fison Dark DME
0.5 lb crystal malt
0.5 lb dextrin (Cara-pils)
0.5 lb roasted barley
1 oz. N. Brewer hop pellets (bittering)
1 oz. Stryian Goldings hop pellets (aroma)
1 lb lactose
Wyeast #1084 Irish Ale yeast
The grains were steeped in 1 gallon of water at 155°F for 30 minutes. Sparged with 0.5 gallons and added to the brew kettle. The malt extracts are added to the brew kettle and the volume is adjusted to 3 gallons. The wort is brought to a boil and the N. brewer hops are added. This is boiled for 45 minutes. The Styrian Goldings hops, lactose and some irish moss are added. This is boiled for another 15 minutes. Cool, dilute to 5 gallons, pitch yeast.... wait.
Tell me what you think.
Homebrew and Chemistry
A blog about Homebrew and about Chemistry. Why? Because that's what I like. Homebrew and Chemistry. Sometimes the chemistry is about homebrew and sometimes it's not.
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5 comments:
I'd SO try to make that...if I had the space or the time. Oh well...
This is my first post, I'm a chemical/environmental engineer, and also an avid homebrewer. I mostly brew all-grain, but let's see...
If I remember right, Montemellick tends to be the most dextrinous of the extracts. M&F is fairly standard, though. But assuming that the batch size is 5 gal, 6 lb of liquid extract seems fairly low, especially since it's mostly hig-dextrin. I would have expected around 8-9 lb of liquid extract. I would expect an OG of 1.040 or so, which I guess is fine, given the style. Also, 1 oz of N Brewer seems a little low, but again it depends on the AA%. It could be fine, but I would use 1.5 oz of 8%aa N.B. for bittering, and maybe 0.5oz for flavor (assuming you don't want aroma hops). Did you run the recipe through Promash/Beersmith? If you've never used homebrewing software, I would *HIGHLY* recommend you download the trial and experiment (both programs are good and will ultimately work fine, the choice is up to preference -- I prefer Beersmith, but have experience with both).
Also, 1 lb lactose is fairly high, I would tend to use .75 or .5. But, homebrewing is all about what YOU want to do, so forge ahead, my friend! Let us know how this brew turns out!
Anonymous, you have made some very good points and observations. I don't know enough about Mountmellick to know about its dextrin content, but I've had great results using it to clone Guiness. I used it in this recipe for that reason.
The overall extract may be low, but I haven't been disappointed. My personal preference is for lower alcohol beers (I love drinking my beer, but I really don't like being drunk). However, the lower alcohol comes at a price, such as less maltiness.
You astutely noticed the lower bittering hops. This impressed me the most. In this latest iteration, I was looking for a beer with less bitterness, but only to balance out what I currently have in my beer cellar. I have a number of beers with high bitterness. Simply as a matter of personal preference, I chose to back off on the bitterness. The amount of hops has varied from 1-2 ounces in various iterations.
I have not used any software. I should, but I have been under the impression that only all-grain brewers need it. I may be wrong. I will download the demo.
The 1 lb of lactose IS high and I have experimented with this amount as well. The result of the experiment is that I prefer the 1 lb of lactose version. It's high, but I like it.
You comments make me want to experiment more. Contribute anytime.
Thanks
Good luck with the all-grain. I envy you.
Glad you enjoyed the PDFs, I'm always happy to help a homebrewer.
I ran your brew through the recipator (www.hbd.org/recipator) spreadsheet, and came up with 4.3% alcohol, 32 SRM, 28 IBU. The OG was 1.051 and I estimated an FG of 1.018 (~what I typically get with Irish Ale yeast).
I've been using the recipator for ~8 years now, and it's really accurate for extract and partial mash (me), though I don't know about all-grain, as you need to know your mash efficiency, which you can calculate of course. It's a little clunky, but you'll figure it out.
Some things to keep in mind regarding bittering: 1) the higher the gravity of the wort the less bitterness is extracted from the hops, and 2) the more water, the more bitterness is extracted from the hops. Of course the realtionship between OG and boil volume is obvious. So, for example, if you did a full 5 gallon boil, the IBU is 38. More water, lower gravity, more bitter.
Its amazing how seemingly small changes can have a marked impact on the beer. Give 10 homebrewers the exacts same recipe, and you'd end up with 10 different beers. All good.
This sounded good, so I brewed a batch earlier this week. I also posted an article on my blog about it.
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