Brewing A Hazy Daze Irish Stout Today

[ScrewyBrewer]

I haven't brewed a nice roasty stout in quite some time but today I'm brewing up a ten gallon batch to have on hand for colder weather ahead here in the northeast. Its my take on a Guinness Irish Stout brewed with a 70/20/10 percent mix of pale ale malt, roasted barley and flaked barley with kent goldings uk pellet hops for bittering. I was able to fit 23 pounds of grain in my 62 quart eBIAB kettle doughed in with 11 gallons of modified brewing water.

This time I stirred the mash every 15 minutes to try to increase my batch efficiency, last time I got to 70% without stopping to stir during the mash. Using a recirculating infusion mash system you've got to be careful when lifting the kettle cover or the wort spraying out of the nozzle will get all over everything real fast. I mashed for 90 minutes at 154F and it's just about time to lift out the grain basket, let it drain and then pour a few gallons of sparge water over them once they've stopped draining.

It smells like heaven in the brew room right now!

[Beer-lord]

Its funny because I was looking at recipes for a bourbon stout or bourbon porter for the winter/spring time. Not sure which yet.
Actually, I enjoy drinking this type of beer year around as I think it goes great with many types of foods I enjoy.
Happy Brewing.

[ScrewyBrewer]

Yeah I can't argue that I'd enjoy a stout anytime as long as it tastes good. I recirculated the boiling wort through the counter flow chiller for ten minutes today to sanitize it. I'm always a bit uncomfortable when trying something new for the first time but logically it should be fine. It's taking a while but the boiling wort is cooling down to 72F as it goes into the fermentor so pitching the yeast shouldn't take long.

[Beer-lord]

If you care to share the recipe, I always have a open mind......and an open fermenter!

[ScrewyBrewer]

If you care to share the recipe, I always have a open mind......and an open fermenter!

Be glad to share. For a ten gallon batch I used 18 pounds of Pale Ale malt, 3 pounds of Roasted Barley and 2 pounds of Flaked Barley so just divide these by 2 or 4 depending on your batch size.

I made two 2 liter starters from WLP004 Irish Ale yeast on Monday to build up the cell count and will pitch and ferment at 68-72F depending on when the furnace is turned on in the house. There are only two hop additions 2 ounces at 60 minutes and 3 ounces at 30 minutes, we only want bittering from the hops, the roasted barley is the main character of a stout no doubt. I'm happy to say that I overshot my OG by 0.001 for a 1.058 original gravity. The SRM is 35 and IBUs are 38 and I targeted 1.057 for the original gravity.

[Beer-lord]

Thanks very much! I like simple and my stout is very, very close to this though I use a different yeast and normally use Maris Otter.

[mashani]

FWIW, a small amount of acidulated malt will get you closer to Guinness. Guinness has a very light "touch o' sour".

[ScrewyBrewer]

FWIW, a small amount of acidulated malt will get you closer to Guinness. Guinness has a very light "touch o' sour".

I think the lactic acid I added to the water profile to lower the pH will add a little sour but in such small quantities [4ml] it may not add much. I think someone else had said to leave some wort out in a bowl for a few days to sour and then add it to the new wort, but I can't recall all the steps and I never tasted their beer.

[ScrewyBrewer]

The WLP004 took off nicely this morning both fermentors were bubbling away at a steady pace at 68F. Unlike the WLP810 used for my California Common Ale which took off a lot slower at 65F and bubbled slow and steady for over a week. Judging from the stout's airlock activity I think at this rate the primary fermentation will be done by next weekend.

[ScrewyBrewer]

The end of day two of fermentation and the airlocks just began to quite down a couple of hours ago. I roused the yeast a few times just to keep them awake, which I won't be shortly. So far I've been able to brew ten gallons of 6% alcohol beer using eBIAB and the only difference I can see from my three vessel system is the few extra hours shaved off of my brewdays.

[Beer-lord]

With BIAB you can brew 5 or 10 gallons in about the same time. The only increase in time is the little bit longer it takes to bring a larger volume of wort to a boil. I rarely do more than 6 gallons but 4.5 hours is my usual brew day and I don't even care if it's longer. It's a joy to brew and I don't think I'll ever tire of it.

[ScrewyBrewer]

It's great when you look back on a decision you've made and know it was the right one to make. Moving to eBIAB is one of the smartest brewing moves I've ever made, I love it already. The beer tastes absolutely great and cleanup is a whole lot easier resulting in a much shorter brewday. Although the upfront costs are expensive the addition of a digital temperature controller and Chugger pump gives you the freedom to run to a store, take a nap or do some chores while leaving the mash unattended. Basically giving you back one of those brewday hours to use as needed, less work and more beer what could be better.