Lil Pout American Stout

Brew date: March 13, 2016

#49 - 6.25 gal

Without a doubt my best beer to date. Tasting notes to follow, but suffice it to say I nailed this American-style stout. This brew also had the honor of being my first on the new draft system. More on that later too.

I made a last minute decision to switch out the London ale yeast and instead use the American ale. A hugely good call, since the 2 gallons or so of London ale tasted awful. I mean really bad. I believe the yeast was stressed from the batch prior, an imperial stout. But it's an important lesson: Don't reuse a yeast from any big beer. Not worth the risk.

I fermented this at room temperature, roughly 64F.

Ingredients:

7 lb Maris Otter (Muntons) 

5 lb 2-row (Briess) 

12 oz Flaked barley (Briess)

8 oz Caramel 60L (Briess) 

9 oz Debittered black malt (Dingemans) 

3 oz Acidulated malt (Meussdoerffer) 

10 oz Roasted barley (Briess) (cold steep) 

6 oz Chocolate malt (Briess) (cold steep) 

3 oz Black malt (Briess) (cold steep) 

1.25 oz Cascade (6% homegrown leaf) (60) 

0.5 oz Columbus (13.4% p) (60) 

1.5 t Irish moss (15)

Yeast nutrient (10) 

1 pk + slurry American Ale 1056 

1.5 L London ale 1028 

Water:

Profile calculator 

10 gal (50/50 filtered tap and RO) 

7 g Gypsum 

3 g Calcium chloride 

1 g Epsom 

Schedule:

Mash in 6 gal @ 161F

Sac rest @ 151F (60)

Batch sparge 4 gal

Boil (60)

Chill to 66F 

Target:

OG 1.063

FG 1.016

ABV 6.2%

IBU 42

Efficiency 75%

Observations:

Heated mash to 165F, stirring continuously for an abbreviated mash out.

Cold steep 2 qt @ 1.056

1st running 4 gal @ 1.071 

2nd running 3 gal @ 1.036

Preboil 7 gal @ 1.054

OG 1.068