Warming winter Stout.

Sometimes, but not often, I find something to look forward to in winter.

I'm usually more of a summer type of beer lover, and would rather quench a thirst on a warm day than any other. But the saviour of the season for me is the word Stout, I do like the dark side.

I can imagine myself sitting in front of the fire in a big leather armchair sipping an Imperial stout or a barrel aged something.

The fact that I don't have a fireplace or a big leather chair doesn't deter me from making a Stout for the season anyway.

Stout is an ale, a dark ale, often described as having coffee and / or chocolate tones. It is brewed with dark roasted malts that give up their colour and their malty backbone. Think smooth or creamy especially when served on nitro. Varieties range from thick and sweet to robust and bitter and can have all sorts of additions from Milk sugar through to Oyster shells.

When I see one on a menu, whether its calling itself Irish, Oyster or cake, Mars bar or breakfast, milk or Russian it certainly gets my attention and although sometimes I've found them disappointing when the brewer puts it on the menu as a token dark beer, I often find they have all the qualities I love.

My own recipe changes often but below is a base and a few notes from one that turned out a cracker.

A water profile with a bit of extra chloride to allow the malty character to shine through and increase perceived sweetness is recommended. I'm not too concerned with numbers here, just a dab or two, as my grain bill and a little lactose later will usually cover those characters.

5kg Pale ale malt.

1.8kg Rolled oats. straight from pantry

700g light choc malt

500g Wheat

250g Shepherds delight

200g Dark crystal

80g Dark Chocolate

80g Patent black

( pretty big grain bill for a 25l brew)

Lactose about 50-80g and a little Maltodextrin for more body, not that it needs it.

Dextrose to adjust gravity in boil.

80g Cacao nibs or 50g powder whatever you can find in supermarket, not coco powder though.

Hops, 20g Magnum at 60 mins for bittering and 20g Fuggles at 10min for tradition.

Any English style ale yeast, I like Nottingham.

60 min mash @67 deg but I put the choc grain and crystal in at 20 minutes and the patent in at 10min. this gives me colour and malt without too much of the bitterness that you get from the roasted grain but the base malt still has time to convert.

No need for acid additions as the dark grain lowers the pH nicely.

No need to cook the oats, just dump them in the mash as the temperature is high enough to gelatinize. If you have ever smelt freshly cracked Gladfields Shepherds delight you'll instantly fall in love ( well I did ). Its described as bready and kola with fruit, smells gorgeous but can increase bitterness if over done. Adds a nice red hue if used in pale ales but that's not relevant here in a black stout, does add something though.

Always add some wheat for head retention.

And the Oats give it a thick creamy consistency and mouthfeel due to their starch and beta glucans content, these need to be included in the base malt mash for the enzymes to break down the starch.

This is a pretty thick mash and can get stuck, I keep recirculating and spoon mix the mash during the first half hour.

I like to throw the Cacoa into the boil, or you can just put it in the fermenter.

The addition of dextrose is a bit of a cheat to increase Abv. I usually throw it in late in the boil after checking my gravity just to chase about a 6 to 7% ..... or 8.

Lactose or milk sugar ( beware some friends are Lactose intolerant ) gives some sweetness as this sugar does not ferment. This will raise your original gravity and because it does not ferment, expect your final gravity to be higher. Maltodextrin same doesn't ferment but gives more body to the beer.

60-90 min boil and Bob's your uncle.

You can add vanilla or Cherries or more chocolate to the fermenter or secondary ferment but your call on this. I did add a little chilli powder once but only once.

I Ferment for 2 weeks using either 2x 11g packs of yeast or a big starter.

This recipe, ages well and can benefit from a little rest on Oak staves, (or in my case roasted offcuts from an American oak staircase, ) in the keg for a few weeks.

Gets better with age but never lasts long in my house.

Brew Love.