Leprechaun Stout
I knew I was going to want a special St. Patrick's
Day beer. The logical choice seemed to be to make an Irish Stout and the Mr.
Beer refill: St. Patrick's Irish Stout w/Creamy Brown was as good a place
to start as any. I added some peppermint extract and some brown sugar just to
spice things up a bit and see what it would be like.
I immediately regretted the decision to add the peppermint because it smelled too strong. It faded a bit, but was still too strong for my first taste test out of the fermenter. The taste at bottling started making me think of a girl-scout thin mint ... made me think it was going to be a good dessert beer. Same with most of my QA tests. By St. Patrick's Day, the peppermint taste had faded enough that I thought it was perfectly complimenting the dark malts in the beer. Obviously an example of beer improving as it conditions.
Leprechaun Stout has the dark, robust, rich, creamy roasted and chocolate malt base of a traditional Irish Stout with enough hoppy bitterness to balance out the caramel full-bodied sweetness. As a bonus, a touch of peppermint makes this beer a treat for all.
| Leprechaun Stout --- cost 23.02 |
| Style | American Stout | Batch Size | 2.13 gal | |||
| Type | Extract | Boil Size | 1.01 gal |
Recipe Characteristics
| Recipe Gravity | 1.058 SG | Estimated FG | 1.015 SG | ||||
| Recipe Bitterness | 40.7 IBU (Rager) | Alcohol by Volume | 5.71 % | ||||
| BU : GU | 0.697 | ||||||
| Recipe Color | 49.5 SRM |
|
|||||
| Measured OG: | 1.056 | Measured FG: | 1.020 | ||||
| ADF: | 64.3% | Measured ABV: | 4.83% |
Ingredients
| Amount | Item | Type | % or IBU |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8.0 oz | Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) | Dry Extract | 12.76 % |
| 1 lbs 3.4 oz | Mr. Beer Creamy Brown UME (95.0 SRM) | Extract | 30.87 % |
| 1 lbs 3.4 oz | Mr. Beer St. Pat Irish Stout HME (157.0 SRM) | Extract | 30.87 % |
| 4.0 oz | Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) | Grain | 6.38 % |
| 4.0 oz | Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) | Grain | 6.38 % |
| 4.0 oz | Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) | Grain | 6.38 % |
| 0.25 oz | Columbus [14.20 %] (20 min) | Hops | 10.5 IBU |
| 0.50 oz | Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (5 min) | Hops | 3.7 IBU |
| 4.0 oz | Brown Sugar, Dark (50.0 SRM) | Sugar | 6.38 % |
| 1 Pkgs | American Ale II (Harvested from TB) (Wyeast Labs #1272) [Starter 125 ml] [Cultured] | Yeast-Ale | |
| 1/2 tbsp | peppermint extract | Misc |
Mash Profile
Steep grains as desired (30-60 minutes)
Remove
grains, and prepare to boil wort
Recipe Notes
Make starter at
least 2 days before brewing day.
Bring 1 gallon water to 155F. Add specialty
grain in sack to water and steep for 45 minutes. Remove grain sack and let drain
into wort. Add UME, bring wort to boil and add hops at appropriate time
intervals. Boil the brown sugar and peppermint for the last 5 minutes.
Cool
in ice bath to less than 80F, and then add to fermenter. Top off with water to
8.5 liters. Aerate and pitch yeast as usual.
Ferment 2-3 weeks.
Batch
prime with 2.25 oz table sugar.
| Date | Note |
| 01/05/2010 Tues | Made starter with 1/2 cups DME and 2 cups water with the top-cropped yeast from Tweedle Beetle ale. |
| 01/09/2010 Sat | Mixed it up in Rutt. Decided on the peppermint at the very last second. Hope I do not end up regretting the decision. Measured 1.056 OG. Decided to leave out of the cooler. Started at right on 62 F. Will let it go wherever it wants for the temp. |
| 01/16/2010 Sat | Snuck a taste. The peppermint is still there. Probably too strong, but I think I like it. We will see how it turns out. If too much peppermint, I can always mix with my Tweedle Beetle Stout. |
| 01/31/2010 Sun | Bottled it up with 1.5 cups water and 2.25 oz sugar. FG at 1.020 which is pretty bad attenuation. My ABV is 4.69. The peppermint in my sample was not nearly as strong as the last taste. Still there, though. It will be interesting to see how strong it is when I taste this for St. Patrick's day. Got 3 liters and 14 12 oz bottles. Probably could have gotten 15 with an LB, but decided to drink the whole sample. |
| 02/13/2010 Sat | All the bottles are in the conditioning cooler. Put one in the fridge for a QA sample. |
| 02/14/2010 Sun | Tried the QA sample. Actually quite good. Tastes a lot like a girl scout thin mint cookie with the peppermint and the dark chocolate of the stout. Not sure a bunch of people would like this beer, but I think I do. It will be very interesting to see how a month of conditioning makes the beer taste. |
| 02/24/2010 Wed | Put another 6 in the beer fridge. |
| 02/27/2010 Sat | Another test. About the same. Certainly not an everyday beer, but pretty good seasonable. |
| 02/28/2010 Sun | The rest of these went into the beer fridge. |
| 03/04/2010 Thur | Really a nice little treat tonight. Think I should save the rest for St. Patrick's day. |
3/13/2010 As I type this into my phone, I am drinking one of these. It is a beautiful black colored beer with a thick rich tan head. It has a decent mouth feel ... not too heavy and not too light. It really tastes like a peppermint patty or thin mint. Today I am in the mood for this beer. It really seems balanced perfectly right now. It probably wont last the month.
3/18/2010 Boy, I planned this perfectly for St. Patrick's Day. The mint was exactly what I would consider perfect for a beer that contains peppermint. And the Mr. Beer stout was a perfect compliment to the minty flavor. Great beer.
4/3/2010 Finished off the last of this last night. Will absolutely have to brew this again some day. Might be a good thing to have around for Christmas.