Beer Forum

Okay, I'm getting ready for my next brew at the end of the month, and I want to make it right. A summer stout.

Here's what I'm thinking:

for a 3 gallon batch:

1lb caramel 60 6 ppg
.5 chocolate malt 2.5 ppg
1lb roasted barley 7 ppg

= 15.5 ppg / 60 = 25% and then 75% extract...

and what extract should I use?

I am aiming for around a OG of 1.06 is that too high? I want the beer to be thick and heavy.

Hops? Something subtle, but with a bite.


Fermentation:

I plan on fermenting for a month at 67 degrees.

Then bottling with about a 1/2 cup sugar. (I don't want the carbonation to be too strong)

I find that a pound of roasted barley is way too much for me in a 5 gallon batch. This would be so roasty you wouldn't taste any other flavors. I would cut that to no more than 1/2 pound in your recipe. The pound of caramel malt is a bit high too depending on the malt extract you use. With something like Laaglander's, you could probably get by with no caramel at all due to the large amount of unfermentable sugars in it. John Bull extract also finishes high. United Canadian or Alexander's are probably the best brands to use as they are more fermentable though Munton's is both acceptable and probably easier to find. As far as color goes, always go with the lightest one you can find so you can control the color and taste yourself with the other malts.

Wayne

I would agree with Bug. When i scale my stout recipe to 5gal its .5 lb roasted barley. I dont use any caramel malts at all. I prefer a dry stout and dont think the crystal malts fit in to the style. I would up the choclate and reduce/remove the crystal.

I use MArris otter as my base malt. I believe there is an extract for that.

Thanks guys, Okay.

So what kind of flavor is the caramel going to add? I'm assuming hence the name caramel 60 that it will be a semi-sweet flavor to it. And I'll cut back on the roasted barley for sure.

I made a faux-Stout with wheat extract (the 60/40 kind), Carafa III, and CaraAroma, but then fermented with S-04 and spiced with a little black pepper. It was a touch malty, had enough roasted character to be satisfying but light enough for a summer beer, and the peppery zing gave it some liveliness. It went well with picnic fair.