Jimmy Posted April 20, 2012 Share Posted April 20, 2012 As the subject line suggests, I decided to throw caution to the wind and unleash my inner mad scientist. [bandit] I wanted to find out what a dark, roasty beer with a relatively low level of bitterness would be like, so here's what I put together: - 1 can of Coopers OS Lager - 1 kg of Pale Ale malt - 400 grams of Crystal malt (60L, I believe) - 400 grams of Chocolate malt - 200 grams of Black Patent malt - 30 grams of Fuggles hops, boiled for 15 minutes - kit yeast Topped up to 23 litres, the OG was 1.040. Let me tell you, the smell of that wort was frickin' amazing! [love] Now I know why they call it Chocolate malt. The thing is, though, I have no idea what to call this. The way I understand it, the amount of Black Patent malt I used would suggest a stout, but the low bitterness and the absence of roasted barley would suggest a porter. I checked the BJCP style guidelines, but I'm still on the fence as to what I would call this. Any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
***** Posted April 20, 2012 Share Posted April 20, 2012 Hey Jimmy Looks like you've got yourself a Sweet Stout. I also think your SG should have been higher, around the 1.048 mark given the ingredients. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Posted April 20, 2012 Author Share Posted April 20, 2012 Really? That sounds kinda high to me. But to be honest, I really had no idea what to expect from the OG. I'm pretty sure I got everything I could get out of the grains, seeing as I ground them up good and I mashed the Pale Ale and the Crystal at 64-67 degrees for 90 minutes, adding the roasted malts after about 40 minutes and stirring the wort every 10 minutes or so. We'll see, it'll be interesting to see what the FG will be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted April 20, 2012 Share Posted April 20, 2012 It's hard to estimate the OG when you are mashing 2kg of grain in the recipe. It really depends on your mash efficiency. So your OG of 1040 may be right. With all the black patent malt in your recipe it is probably closer to a stout. But who cares about the style guidelines if you aren't in competitions? Maybe it is somewhere between and you have made yourself a "Storter". And if it doesn't taste too good then it may be a "Pout". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 20, 2012 Share Posted April 20, 2012 I wouldnt hold my breath on this one mate, thats alot of malt with little to no hops to balancing hops, Even if you didnt want it biter it would still need (IMO) Flavour / Aroma hops. My Prediction, Overly sweet and malty. Yob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Posted April 20, 2012 Author Share Posted April 20, 2012 I wouldnt hold my breath on this one mate, thats alot of malt with little to no hops to balancing hops, Even if you didnt want it biter it would still need (IMO) Flavour / Aroma hops. My Prediction, Overly sweet and malty. Yob Well, I did add 30 grams of Fuggles. There was noticeable presence of hops in the wort, but we'll see what the final product will end up like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Posted April 20, 2012 Author Share Posted April 20, 2012 And if it doesn't taste too good then it may be a "Pout". Or "Diarrhea". Time will tell. [biggrin] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted April 20, 2012 Share Posted April 20, 2012 Just wait and see. You may like it. I have made a dark ale with 500g of specialty grains (chocolate & crystal), bittered it to late 20s IBU and only 20g Cascade at 10 minutes. It was one of the best beers I have made. Sometimes they surprise you. And sometimes they don't [crying] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Posted April 20, 2012 Author Share Posted April 20, 2012 I am a long-time fan of Czech dark lagers, most of which are rather sweet and not very bitter, so this might just be right up my alley. I'll be sure to report how it turns out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordEoin Posted April 20, 2012 Share Posted April 20, 2012 If its good I think you should call it 'Once You Go Black...' If its bad I think you should call it 'Frederik' or 'That Bucket of Swill I made in 2012' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Posted April 22, 2012 Author Share Posted April 22, 2012 Okay, time for the first follow-up report. I put the brew down on Thursday, and now on Sunday the krausen has all but disappeared and the SG has dropped down to 1.013. The temperature in the room has been at a constant 19-21 degrees. Looks like the kit came with a very healthy batch of yeast. [love] Think I'll let the brew sit in the FV for at least seven more days. I'm having a bit of a cold at the moment [annoyed], but even with my impaired sense of smell, the sample tasted very promising. The roastiness comes through pretty much exactly like I had hoped. It didn't really taste too sweet like Yob predicted it might (as far as I can tell in this condition, of course). All in all, I'm quite optimistic about the final product. I'll let you know how it turns out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Posted May 17, 2012 Author Share Posted May 17, 2012 Sorry to resurrect an ancient thread, but I just cracked open my first test bottle after two weeks of conditioning and I thought I'd share my first impressions in case anyone was wondering how somethng like this might turn out. I suck at describing stuff like this, but I'll try my best. *drum roll* It's good. [love] Of course I might be a little biased in my assessment, but I'd call this a very nice drop. First of all, at this point the smell is very rich and pleasant. Impressive, even. You can actually detect all of the specialty malts I used, the caramel-like aroma of the Crystal and the deeper, stout-like qualities of the roasted malts. The taste is very much in the same vein: an initial sweet and deep maltiness followed by a nice, pleasantly charcoal-like dry finish courtesy of the Black Patent Malt. The hops stay in the background, really. I love how there is a progression like this in how the taste profile unfolds. The relatively low bitterness is not an issue at all. I kinda expected the roastiness to be slightly more pronounced based on how it tasted at bottling, but I definitely have no complaints. It'll be interesting to see how the taste profile develops as the beer matures. I will most definitely make something like this again. Maybe next time I'll ramp up the amount of Chocolate malt and use the OS Real Ale as a base. [devil] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.