Last winter, I made a Dry Stout that turned out pretty well. For my recipe, I followed the conventional wisdom of what a dry stout should be with a couple tweaks. I shared this with a lot of people and got lots of positive feedback. The best feedback was from my mother, who generally doesn't like beer much. Her birthday is coming up soon and the only thing that she asked for was more of that stout. So, what's son to do? Make 10 gallons, of course—5 for mom and 5 for me.
Problem: I only have a 5-gallon system.
Solution: A double-brew day.
Problem: I only have a 5-gallon system.
Solution: A double-brew day.
I got all the ingredients measured out and crushed the grain the night before. Brew day was an early start, with work underway by 8:30 a.m. As the first batch was boiling, the second was mashed in. And with parenting duties included and helping carry drywall into the neighbours house, there were two carboys full and the mess cleaned by 4:30 p.m. All and all, not bad time.
The Recipe:
With my system I get about 65% efficiency.
OG - 1.040
FG - 1.010 (expected), about 4% ABV
37 IBU
32 SRM
3.15 Kg (6lbs, 15oz) - Marris Otter
900g (2lbs) - Flaked Barley
450g (8oz) - Roasted Barley
100g (3.5oz) - Black (Paten) Malt
46g (1.6oz) - East Kent Goldings, 5% AA (60 mins)
0.5 tsp - yeast nutrient (10 mins)
Whirlfloc tablet (10 mins)
Wyeast 1084 - Irish Ale yeast
(Made a yeast starter big enough for both batches a few days before and had it on the stir-plate)
Mash with 12.5L (3.3gal) of water at 66.5 degrees C (152 F) for an hour.
Mash water treatment (I have super soft water):
1.5 tsp - Chalk
0.75 tsp - Baking Soda
0.5 tsp -Gypsum
0.25 tsp - Calcium Chloride
