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I thought I'd post the details of one of my recent micro (1 gallon) incarnations. It's a Black Forest Stout, which was my attempt to try reproduce the rich sweet dark chocolate cake, laden with Black Cherries.
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0.550 kg Pale Malt (5.0 EBC) 56.4 %
0.175 kg CARAPILS (4.5 EBC) 17.9 %
0.100 kg CARAFA II (1150.0 EBC) 10.3 %
0.150 kg Milk Sugar (Lactose) (0.0 EBC) 15.4 %
3.00 g SAB Blend [11.40 %] - Boil 60.0 min 24.4 IBUs
2.00 g Fuggles [5.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 7 1.4 IBUs
25.00 g Solid Cocoa - Grated (Boil 5.0 mins)
0.5 pkg SafAle English Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-04)
175.00 g Frozen Black Cherries - Thawed and blended (Secondary 0.0 mins)
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.053 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.056 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.008 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.0 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 6.0 %
Bitterness: 25.8 IBUs Calories: 523.6 kcal/l
Est Color: 80.2 EBC
It turned out pretty well as an initial attempt and it's certainly pretty tasty. I got what I was after in the rich chocolate and cherry flavours, slightly sweet and with some nice off-white head.
My main problems were the vast amount of sediment at the end. The chocolate is actually quite difficult to get rid of, settling at the surface of the wort, and not at the bottom. This was despite using finings and crash cooling. I think some good filtration is in order. The other thing was that beer wasn't as full bodied as I might have hoped, so might need to change the mash profile. Also our water is very soft, which is not conducive to big bold stouts, so might also have to think about some water additives.
But all in all it was certainly a tasty experiment, and one which I think would be worthwhile fine-tuning.
photo.jpg
0.550 kg Pale Malt (5.0 EBC) 56.4 %
0.175 kg CARAPILS (4.5 EBC) 17.9 %
0.100 kg CARAFA II (1150.0 EBC) 10.3 %
0.150 kg Milk Sugar (Lactose) (0.0 EBC) 15.4 %
3.00 g SAB Blend [11.40 %] - Boil 60.0 min 24.4 IBUs
2.00 g Fuggles [5.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 7 1.4 IBUs
25.00 g Solid Cocoa - Grated (Boil 5.0 mins)
0.5 pkg SafAle English Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-04)
175.00 g Frozen Black Cherries - Thawed and blended (Secondary 0.0 mins)
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.053 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.056 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.008 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.0 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 6.0 %
Bitterness: 25.8 IBUs Calories: 523.6 kcal/l
Est Color: 80.2 EBC
It turned out pretty well as an initial attempt and it's certainly pretty tasty. I got what I was after in the rich chocolate and cherry flavours, slightly sweet and with some nice off-white head.
My main problems were the vast amount of sediment at the end. The chocolate is actually quite difficult to get rid of, settling at the surface of the wort, and not at the bottom. This was despite using finings and crash cooling. I think some good filtration is in order. The other thing was that beer wasn't as full bodied as I might have hoped, so might need to change the mash profile. Also our water is very soft, which is not conducive to big bold stouts, so might also have to think about some water additives.
But all in all it was certainly a tasty experiment, and one which I think would be worthwhile fine-tuning.
Very nice stout for the cold winter ahead.
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