BeerSmith™ Recipes and Web Editor

Taste Notes

Appearance - Motor oil that coats the glass, dark brown head. Aroma - Chocolate dominates, some dry hop character but low, alcohol in nose. Taste - once again chocolate dominates, unable to detect coffee, vanilla present but very low. Feel that bittern

Notes

Basis "Tricentennial Stout" from BCS for 7 gal boil volume, use 3.2gal at 168°F. (Conversion for mash - 28qt = 7 gal) ----BREW DAY NOTES--- >No pH 5.2 used today, added the 4g CaCl and 6g CaSO4 to approximate european hard water based on pearland water profile. Mash pH = 5.0. Would have been nice to have some base around to titrate that back up. >Mash temp hit exactly after alot of stirring - electronic thermometer bobbling between 149-150°F at BOM. This amount of grain almost fills the mash tun. >Max grainbed temp during sparge was only a hair above 153°F, windy day cooled it off quite a bit after time 0 with the lid open. Stirred 3 times: 30m, 148°F; 60m, 147°F; 90m, 146°F. Dark and rich mash looks like it should! >Drew wort slowly after sparge water ran out to let the grainbed drain as much as possible for higher efficiency. Volume Collected = 8.4gal, Pre-boil gravity 1.074. Wort set in kettly while I ran out and got ice+lunch, this was probably ~30m of extra "mash" time since enzymes were not denatured. >Maxing out firing trying to boil off some volume to get a better OG. At 20 minutes in was at about 8gal. That would be 7.2 gal at end of boil at this rate. Went back and forth a few times with lid on-lid off thinking about skunked beer. Researched it and its reported to not be an issue, so left it off from 40m into the boil and on. Exteded boil time to 75min to try to get rid of some water and let more maillard reactions take place. Kept 15min hops at 15min. 30min hops were already in. Updated recipe above to reflect actual. >Nailed the OG! 1.103 indicated at 66°F. Wort tastes like it will be a good beer if all goes well. Lots of IBUs, but balanced by the wort sweetness right now - roasty coffee notes also already there from all the roasted barley. >After a couple of hours waiting on smack packs to swell pitched, into freezer set at 70°F. Plan to do secondary at room temp, which this time of year is about 70 anyways. >Secondary - racked after 9 days, FG 1030. Added the 2oz of dry hops, which take up an absurd amount of room. Added vodka extracts (coffee toddy only, no grounds). >Kegging - racked to keg through a double layer of unsanitized cheesecloth to keep out hops and adjuncts. Only yielded about 3.5 gallons due to a combination of primary blow-off and hop leaf absorption in the secondary. Coffee Toddy Notes: Vodka toddy - cold brew with vodka for a few days, much more bitter than water toddy, but more smoky characteristics Cold water toddy - cold brew for a few days, aroma carmelly with low bitterness and pleasant flavor, like a cold brewed ice coffee