Beer Brewing Blog

I started using Beersmith on this batch, here are the brewnotes:

Type: Extract	Date: 4/3/2007
Batch Size: 5.00 gal	Brewer:
Boil Size: 4.08 gal	Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min	Equipment: Brew Pot (5 Gallon)
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0	Brewhouse Efficiency: -
Taste Notes:
Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU 4.00 lb Dark Liquid Extract (17.5 SRM) Extract 40.0 % 4.00 lb Dark Liquid Extract (17.5 SRM) Extract 40.0 % 0.50 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 5.0 % 0.50 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 5.0 % 0.50 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 5.0 % 0.50 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 5.0 % 1.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50%] (60 min) Hops 23.9 IBU 1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50%] (45 min) Hops 11.6 IBU 1.00 oz Williamette [5.50%] (5 min) Hops 3.1 IBU 1.00 lb Lactose (Boil 60.0 min) Misc 3.00 gal New York, NY Water 1 Pkgs European Ale (Wyeast Labs #1338) Yeast-Ale
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.059 SG	Measured Original Gravity: 1.060 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.018 SG	Measured Final Gravity: 1.038 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.4 %	Actual Alcohol by Vol: 2.9 %
Bitterness: 38.7 IBU	Calories: 284 cal/pint
Est Color: 48.7 SRM	Color: Color
Mash Profile
Mash Name: None	Total Grain Weight: 10.00 lb
Sparge Water: -	Grain Temperature: -
Sparge Temperature: -	TunTemperature: -
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE	Mash PH: -
Mash Notes: -
Carbonation and Storage
Carbonation Type: Corn Sugar	Volumes of CO2: 2.4
Pressure/Weight: 3.8 oz	Carbonation Used:
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 60.0 F	Age for: 28.0 days
Storage Temperature: 70.0 F
Notes
Bottled on 4/17/07

Yesterday I bottled up the Chocolate Cream Stout, FG was 1.038. This gives it a low alcohol content, about 2.8%. I’m not sure if it was the yeast that just wasn’t active enough or if the lactose inhibited the fermentation, I was hoping for a bit more alcohol. A taste before bottling showed the beer was coming together nice, the prominent dark chocolate taste from the malt and rich creaminess from the lactose will give this a taste profile to complement a nice chocolate desert.  Here are a few pics of my racking setup:

Racking the Chocolate Stout

I’m going on a limb this time and I put together my own recipe.  I’ve wanted to make a stout for some time now and I want it to be a big stout; not imperial, but big taste.  I read many recipes for chocolate stout and cream stout and decided to try and make a hybrid, thus Chocolate Cream Stout.  I know a few others have tried this before, Big Horn in particular, and the reviews weren’t that great.  It’s always an experiment so we’ll see what happens.

My shopping list for this beer did not give me any breaks.  I ordered mostly whole leaf hops but they were not added to my order and when I called to have them shipped out, I received pellets instead.  Que sera, sera.

Ingredient list:

Grains:

Black Malt 475-525º L Briess Malting (USA) 1/2 lb.
Chocolate 325-375º L Briess Malting (USA) 1/2 lb.
Light Roasted Barley 275-325º L Briess Malting (USA) 1/2 lb.
Special B 140-155º L Castle 1/2 lb.

Malt Extract:

4 lbs Mountmellick Amber (Ireland)

4lbs Mountmellick Dark (Ireland)

Hops:

North Brewer Pellets (1 oz) (They were out of Bullion) 60 min

Willamette Pellets (1oz) 45 min

Irish Moss  (1tspn) 15 minutes

Fuggle Pellets (1oz) 5 minutes

Additives:

1 lb lactose

Yeast:

Wyeast European Ale (Activator, they didn’t have propagator)

The use of specialty grains and only 2 lbs of it makes this a straight extract brew.  The line between partial mash and extract mash can be fine, after reading more I’ve discovered that to be a true partial mash, you need grains with enzymes to actually convert the starches to sugars and in all of my recipes thus far, including the smoked porter, this has not been the case.  I start out by bring my 2 gal water up to 190, a bit too much, and brought it back down to 185 and added my grains to steep for 45 minutes.  I using a bit longer time to try and get  more of the flavor out of these grains, especially the Special B and chocolate.  I then strain these into my brew pot and rinse with 190 deg F sparge water.  I then added the lactose suger and 8lbs of extract syrup and brought to a boil. Note:  the lactose adds a creamy head the beginning of the boil, watch out for boilover.  After about 10 minutes all subsided.  I then added 1 oz of Norther Brewers hops, then @ 15 minutes I added 1 oz of Fuggle hop pellets, @ 45 minutes I added 1 tspn of Irish moss and then @ 55 minutes I added 1 oz of Willamette pellets for 5 minutes.  Then the hot wort was strained a bit at a time through my small fine strainer with a large amount of hop goo left behind.  I’ll definately need to do a double straining when racking to secondary, I need to get the hops out.  I generally don’t like to use the hop pellets by fate was against on this batch.  SG 1.060 @ 70 deg.  I pitched the activator pouch directly into the wort and stirred well.

Although it may be a bit premature, I decided to rack my wheat beer to a carboy today after only 4 days in the primary fermenter. I noticed that the bubbling had stopped and after checking the final gravity it was already down to 1.018 yesterday and 1.015 today. What may have effected my decision is that I finally received my 5 gallon carboys in the mail and I want to use them. So I racked to the secondary, the beer had a nice sweet smell, if anything a bit acrid which isn’t uncommon and a good reason to get it off that layer of trub in the bottom.