2018-03-16

15C - Irish Extra Stout


Style: 15C - Irish Extra Stout, 16D - Foreign Extra Stout

A stronger (5-6% ABV) version of the classic Irish Dry Stout.

This is borderline Foreign Extra Stout which starts at 6.3%. Character, body, and color are the same. I have a FES recipe I'll make in the future but for now this will cover both.

Full recipe is on BF but here's the TL;DR
  • Brew day: 2018-3-3
  • Malts: 2-row, flaked barley, chocolate malt, black barley, sugar
  • Hop: Magnum
  • Yeast: SafAle S-04
  • OG: 1.058; FG: 1.013; ABV: 5.9%
  • expected efficiency: 75%, actual: 68%
This one was a pain, mostly because I couldn't get accurate/consistent readings from the refractometer when attempting to adjust the OG. It kept reading the same thing no matter how much extra sugar I put in. I ended up adding 320g (4.7% of total) to bring the OG up from 1.055 to 58. 

I usually don't adjust for this very reason: It's a massive pain in the ass and typically not worth it. Once in a while I get irritated with a lower than expected efficiency and will go for it though. 

Lovely grains: flaked barley, 2 row, and dark malts

in the hopper - ready for milling (my Barley Crusher has been acting up and will spin the rollers without crushing anything, but that's another story)

mash temp

fresh wort. bag removed, ready for a bit of sparging and top-up to 7G. 

Lower than expected pre-boil gravity (should be about 5 points higher). This lead to frustration later when attempting to adjust the wort.

Give me sugar. In water. More.
I started with 120g, but when that didn't seem to make much of a difference I added another 200g and hoped for the best. 

Finally got where I wanted - or close enough.
Steve the brewery assistant wasn't much help. 

My first brew using one of a pair of Fermonsters I picked up for a sweet deal from morebeer. Some yeast from the previous batch of English IPA added before the wort. 

And away we go!

Brewday +1 or 2: happy yeast!

2018-3-13: kegged and carbed. Served on nitro.

2018-5-23, clean nitro pour