ROTM Belgian Chocolate Stout

[NicolasW]

4 hours ago, Clinto73 said:

Just about to bottle at 1018 which gives me around 5.5% ABV ( after bottling around 6 % i suspect) 

Threw it into the IanH spreadsheet for you:

s33 doesn't attenuate as far as kit or US05. I used it as the main yeast because there are some reports of it getting stuck at 1020ish see:

On 6/4/2020 at 10:40 AM, Allan A said:

i had an OG of 1050

It seems like the OG should be approx 1061 with the recipe as stock. Depending on your FG it should be at least 6% (FG 1018) in the bottle.

Edited June 5, 2020 by NicolasW

[Clinto73]

Hey Nicolas 

Much Obliged, really appreciate it.

I had two days at 1018 ( am pretty careful when taking the readings ) so just bottled off today.

The Cooper's recipe said up to 1019 FG.

long term storage for this fine brew !

[Allan A]

5 hours ago, Journeyman said:

That seems high even for a thick stout. Are you sure it is at OG?

I did an oatmeal stout - 2 x Coopers cans, LDME and 4 different grains in it and that came out at FG = 1.014. (OG was 1.078  )

What kind of hydro only goes to 1.040?

Mine does lol. Its a little glass number. Might need to upgrade.

[Allan A]

How long did the stout brew for everyone else to reach FG?

[Journeyman]

13 hours ago, Allan A said:

How long did the stout brew for everyone else to reach FG?

Not sure if mine is relevant as different ingredients and I use a vitality starter which seems to cut the times a bit, but mine was at FG in 6 days and I boosted it by couple of degrees for cleanup, CC'd for 2 days then bottled. 

[Allan A]

56 minutes ago, Journeyman said:

Not sure if mine is relevant as different ingredients and I use a vitality starter which seems to cut the times a bit, but mine was at FG in 6 days and I boosted it by couple of degrees for cleanup, CC'd for 2 days then bottled. 

Thanks Journey man, it interests me that some brewers stick to 14 days yet others rely on FG stability. Each to their own of course.

Whats your thoughts on the 1 or 2 carbonation drops. I thought it was to prevent grenades but in researching stouts i see that some do not prefer the 2 drops as it over carbonates the stout.  But sometimes one will result in a flat beer.As not a being an experienced stout drinker i am looking for opinions on the matter.

[Allan A]

15 hours ago, Clinto73 said:

Hey Nicolas 

Much Obliged, really appreciate it.

I had two days at 1018 ( am pretty careful when taking the readings ) so just bottled off today.

The Cooper's recipe said up to 1019 FG.

long term storage for this fine brew !

how long do you opt to store before drinking mate?

 

[Journeyman]

1 hour ago, Allan A said:

Thanks Journey man, it interests me that some brewers stick to 14 days yet others rely on FG stability. Each to their own of course.

Whats your thoughts on the 1 or 2 carbonation drops. I thought it was to prevent grenades but in researching stouts i see that some do not prefer the 2 drops as it over carbonates the stout.  But sometimes one will result in a flat beer.As not a being an experienced stout drinker i am looking for opinions on the matter.

AFAIK I was the one who first noticed Coopers recommending 1 drop only per bottle when long term storage is considered. If others had noticed the info they were oddly surprised when I brought it up.

High ABV beers and dark beers can take a lot longer to mature, with time on the shelf in months instead of weeks. Coopers advice is tor educe the additional sugar for those to avoid bombs. Stout (AFAIK) is not normally a highly carbed beer  anyway but adding 1 drop should not leave it flat unless it has not had the temp or time to fully carb and mature.

My coffee stout I did, I didn't really think through and I carbed it high. The first bottle was adequate but since then I've had to be very careful pouring the beer - can't be any 'glug-glug' in the bottle as I pour or I get a long slow overflow out of the bottle, even though the pour itself is fine. It's a bit chilly today with a high of 13° so I'm thinking it could be a good night for a stout. If I remember I will update here about how it is.

[Clinto73]

7 hours ago, Allan A said:

how long do you opt to store before drinking mate?

 

Reckon at least 6 weeks (after reading the Stout Forums)  Allan so i bottled a few stubbies for samplers come July 

Added two carb drops per bottle (except for 3 tallies with one drop to experiment,  might be nice on Christmas Eve ) 

Cheers

Clint 

[NicolasW]

Laid this one down today.

Made some slight changes. Using Lallemand Abbaye (2 packs) instead of the included s-33 and I am delaying the vanilla extract until kegging (using a fresh bottle of extract so chances of infection are low). I only Filled up to 22L and hydro OG is 1061. I was a little sloppy with the mixing up so thinking I might have some unmixed extract. Sample tastes delicious.

Edited June 8, 2020 by NicolasW

[hawker831]

A bit of a late update, after raising the temp to 22 and giving it a good stir I was able to get the SG down a bit more to a FG of 1.020 which I bottled the other day.

 

Fingers crossed it all comes good.

[kmar92]

I am struggling with this too. OG was 1.060 and at day 12 it is just down to 1.020. S-33 seems to be a lazy yeast.

[Beerlust]

@Allan A

On 6/6/2020 at 9:32 AM, Allan A said:

Whats your thoughts on the 1 or 2 carbonation drops. I thought it was to prevent grenades but in researching stouts i see that some do not prefer the 2 drops as it over carbonates the stout.  But sometimes one will result in a flat beer.As not a being an experienced stout drinker i am looking for opinions on the matter.

When making any beer you plan to bottle, you need to make a decision on how long you plan to age the beer, & when you expect to complete drinking the batch BEFORE you brew it. With that decision made you can then prime the beer more accurately around that desired drinking time-frame to create the level of carbonation you want.

4 things come to mind that can create a 'flat' beer.

1.  Secondary fermenting temperature. Basically if the bottled beer has been stored in too colder temperature for the yeast inside the bottle to function at, it will simply drop out of suspension (go to sleep) & not ferment the priming sugars you added when bottling. In this situation simply raise that ambient temperature around the bottles & assist the yeast back into suspension by tumbling the bottles end over end a few times & the priming sugar will usually then be consumed & carbonate the beer.

2. The caps you sealed the bottles with are allowing leakage. The yeast has fermented the priming sugar converting it into alcohol & CO², but the capping has allowed that to escape.

3. This one is less spoken about, but does happen more than most might be aware of. When you under-pitch enough yeast to adequately complete your primary ferment, the yeast can become stressed & their survival rates decrease, sometimes dramatically before & by the end of primary ferment. A noticeably higher FG than predicted is often a sign of this, but not always. Bottom line in this situation is there may be very few if any live yeast cells left to secondary ferment your priming sugars to carbonate the beer. This scenario is common with new home brewers who like to add an extra kilo of fermentables to the basic kit & kilo recipe chasing more ABV% but not increasing the amount of required yeast they pitch to complete the primary ferment properly.

4. This is the comical one. The brewer simply forgot to add a carb drop or priming sugar to the bottle when capping. Happens all the time. 

I hope that helps,

Lusty.

[Hodgo]

I just bottled mine thursday, due to my location I had to improvise a bit because I didn't have lme, instead I used a kg tin of Saunders malt from woolies and 500gm of golden syrup but the rest of the ingredients and method as per recipe.

My OG was 1064 and FG 1015 was pretty happy with that, cold crashed for two days and bulk primed, when I tasted the fg sample I thought it was a bit dry so I added 100gm of lactose, not sure if that would change it much as I'm novice but I had it there and used it anyway lol.

[Allan A]

On 6/6/2020 at 5:40 PM, Clinto73 said:

Reckon at least 6 weeks (after reading the Stout Forums)  Allan so i bottled a few stubbies for samplers come July 

Added two carb drops per bottle (except for 3 tallies with one drop to experiment,  might be nice on Christmas Eve ) 

Cheers

Clint 

Clint,

 

thanks for the reply.

[Allan A]

12 hours ago, Beerlust said:

@Allan A

When making any beer you plan to bottle, you need to make a decision on how long you plan to age the beer, & when you expect to complete drinking the batch BEFORE you brew it. With that decision made you can then prime the beer more accurately around that desired drinking time-frame to create the level of carbonation you want.

4 things come to mind that can create a 'flat' beer.

1.  Secondary fermenting temperature. Basically if the bottled beer has been stored in too colder temperature for the yeast inside the bottle to function at, it will simply drop out of suspension (go to sleep) & not ferment the priming sugars you added when bottling. In this situation simply raise that ambient temperature around the bottles & assist the yeast back into suspension by tumbling the bottles end over end a few times & the priming sugar will usually then be consumed & carbonate the beer.

2. The caps you sealed the bottles with are allowing leakage. The yeast has fermented the priming sugar converting it into alcohol & CO², but the capping has allowed that to escape.

3. This one is less spoken about, but does happen more than most might be aware of. When you under-pitch enough yeast to adequately complete your primary ferment, the yeast can become stressed & their survival rates decrease, sometimes dramatically before & by the end of primary ferment. A noticeably higher FG than predicted is often a sign of this, but not always. Bottom line in this situation is there may be very few if any live yeast cells left to secondary ferment your priming sugars to carbonate the beer. This scenario is common with new home brewers who like to add an extra kilo of fermentables to the basic kit & kilo recipe chasing more ABV% but not increasing the amount of required yeast they pitch to complete the primary ferment properly.

4. This is the comical one. The brewer simply forgot to add a carb drop or priming sugar to the bottle when capping. Happens all the time. 

I hope that helps,

Lusty.

excellent mate appreciate the reply.

[Allan A]

gents,

as ive explained before ive bought a shit hydrometer that only goes to 1.040 so i believe my brews OG was well over 1.050. Ill be buying a new one asap. My brew after 13 days has a FG of 1.022. Recipe states 1.019 or lower. Whats your thoughts on this FG? Anything to worry about or am i doing something wrong? Brew maintained a temp range from 18 - 20 degrees with periodic use of a heat belt.

cheers.

 

 

[Hodgo]

2 minutes ago, Allan A said:

gents,

as ive explained before ive bought a shit hydrometer that only goes to 1.040 so i believe my brews OG was well over 1.050. Ill be buying a new one asap. My brew after 13 days has a FG of 1.022. Recipe states 1.019 or lower. Whats your thoughts on this FG? Anything to worry about or am i doing something wrong? Brew maintained a temp range from 18 - 20 degrees with periodic use of a heat belt.

cheers.

 

 

leave it for longer I just left mine for 17 days cold crashed and took the reading (1015) when I bottled to get my ABV 

[Allan A]

6 minutes ago, Hodgo said:

leave it for longer I just left mine for 17 days cold crashed and took the reading (1015) when I bottled to get my ABV 

Excellent, thanks.

What temperature do you try to achieve when you cold crash?

[Hodgo]

11 minutes ago, Allan A said:

Excellent, thanks.

What temperature do you try to achieve when you cold crash?

I set the inkbird to two degrees and it got there no worries, I live in the desert we have had minus two mornings, I'm no expert either as it's my first stout and I just go with info I find online.

[Journeyman]

On 6/6/2020 at 9:32 AM, Allan A said:

Thanks Journey man, it interests me that some brewers stick to 14 days yet others rely on FG stability. Each to their own of course.

Whats your thoughts on the 1 or 2 carbonation drops. I thought it was to prevent grenades but in researching stouts i see that some do not prefer the 2 drops as it over carbonates the stout.  But sometimes one will result in a flat beer.As not a being an experienced stout drinker i am looking for opinions on the matter.

Strictly speaking, setting a specific time would only be valid if it was exactly the same brew and exactly the same conditions each time. Any chages and the date for finishing could be wrong. FG on the other hand is a measure of when things are DONE, no matter what brew or conditions.I don't use the drops but when I bottle, it depends very much on what is going in the bottle.

It's difficult I think, to set hard and fast rules for brewing - while the large companies (and likely some brewers) may have it down to an exact science, most HB'ers are fiddling and changing, tweaking their beers to aim for the God Brew. So having methods that rely on a result are better than having rules to follow that may leave your brew wanting

I use a smaller amount for the scoop or bulk prime if the brew is a heavy brew that's going to sit for a longer time - as in months in stead of weeks, and the normal 750 ml amount if it's an IPA or the like which I am expecting will be polished off in a few weeks.

[kmar92]

1st pour and this is a great stout. Chocolate overtones and vanilla aroma, I am very pleased with this. It has had 2 weeks in the keg and it is sensational. It has a very silky mouthfeel.

[Allan A]

That looks bloody good. Verynice.

When you say keg did you keg this not bottle?

My FG waz only 1.022 so fingers crossed i get a bottled brew like that.

8 minutes ago, kmar92 said:

1st pour and this is a great stout. Chocolate overtones and vanilla aroma, I am very pleased with this. It has had 2 weeks in the keg and it is sensational. It has a very silky mouthfeel.

 

[kmar92]

Yes it was kegged, not bottled, my FG was 1.020 which was above what I expected but the result is very pleasing.

[Allan A]

How long did you leave the keg before this beautiful sampling?

2 minutes ago, kmar92 said:

Yes it was kegged, not bottled, my FG was 1.020 which was above what I expected but the result is very pleasing.