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Gnaughty Gnome English Coffee Stout

Brewed: 11/09/2014   Kegged: 11/23/2014

gnaughty.jpgI've been thinking about making a coffee stout for about a year when a house guest told me that she really loved them. I'm not sure I would say it is a style I "love", but you know I am all about diversity, and part of the fun of being a home-brewer is that I can craft a beer style into just about anything I want.

My local home-brew shop has a wonderful selection of malts. I  have several pictures on my phone of the malts they have so that when designing beers I can remind myself what I have access to. One of the pictures I have is of four English malts.

To be honest, when I think of "coffee stouts", I'm not real keen on adding coffee to the brew. I'm just not sure I know how to pull that off. When I think of designing a coffee stout, I would rather work with grain malts that (theoretically) taste like coffee. So, I knew I had a picture on my phone of the English Coffee Malt. When I took a look at the picture, I thought to myself, "Self, I think these four malts can make up an awesome combination of  specialty malts to add to a beer.

Simpsons.jpg

So, I talked to my Gnome friend, Gnaughty, and together we decided to go ahead and attempt to brew a beer centered around those four malts. This might be a beer we have to experiment a bit with to get to exactly where we want it, but if nothing else, we will have fun trying.

Gnaughty_Small.jpg

Gnaughty Gnome English Coffee Stout --- Batch 1

Style
Dry Stout
Batch Size
5.50 gal
Type
All Grain
Boil Size   7.76 gal
Brewhouse Efficiency   75.00   Boil Time   90 minutes

Recipe Characteristics

Recipe Gravity
1.044 SG
Estimated FG
1.008 SG
Recipe Bitterness
27.4 IBUs (Rager)
Alcohol by Volume
4.7 %
BU : GU   0.619        
Recipe Color
30.6 SRM
Color
   
Measured OG:   1.046   Measured FG:    1.012
ADF:    74   Measured ABV:    4.5

Ingredients

Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
5 lbs 12.0 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 64.8 %
1 lbs 12.0 oz Brown Malt (Crisp) (65.0 SRM) Grain 2 19.7 %
10.0 oz Coffee Malt (Simpsons) (150.0 SRM) Grain 3 7.0 %
6.0 oz Pale Chocolate Malt (200.0 SRM) Grain 4 4.2 %
4.0 oz Midnight Wheat Malt (550.0 SRM) Grain 5 2.8 %
2.0 oz Chocolate (Crisp) (630.0 SRM) Grain 6 1.4 %
0.375 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [17.00 %] - First Wort 90.0 min Hop 7 27.4 IBUs
1.0 pkg Nottingham (Danstar #-) [23.66 ml] Yeast 8 -

Mash Profile

Mash Steps
Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Mash In Add 11.09 qt of water at 159.1 F 148.0 F 75 min

Batch sparge with 2 steps (2.17gal, 3.88gal) of 168.0 F water
Recipe Notes
Add 6g of CaCO3 into the strike water to help smooth out the dark malt flavor.
From Denver Water, this puts the water profile at:
Ca=102,Mg=8,Na=21,SO4=51,Cl=23,HCO3=210

Brewing Record

Brew Date:
 
Strike Temp:  
Mash Temps:
 
Pre-boil OG   (1.036 SG)   Pre-boil Vol   (7.76 gal)
Actual Mash Efficiency
 
Pitch Temp    
Fermentation            
Day 1: 
Day ... 
Day ... 



 
Brewing Notes:
11/06/2014 c esheppy
Bought ingredients on #StoutDay. Will brew this weekend.
11/11/2014 esheppy
Brewed Sunday. Ended up with quite a bit extra wort and put about a gallon in Rutt. Fermentation started real low, but I removed the ice and it warmed up quick. Over 70 now. Got some beer in the site lock, but not enough to clog.
11/13/2014 esheppy
Took a sample. 1.014. Hoping it gets much drier. This is only 3.9 abv. Tastes pretty good, but I think it needs lots more conditioning time.
11/15/2014 esheppy
Racked into a secondary with about 2oz of table sugar to kick up a bit more fermentation. Hoping this will help dry it out a bit. It is a little lower than it was a couple days ago, but not much. The flavor is wonderful. Not really what I would call a "coffee" stout, but that is ok.
11/23/2014 esheppy
Bottled up the Mr. Beer fermentation. FG 1.015 for a 3.8%abv beer. Sample tasted good. Like the main fermentation, not a whole lot of coffee flavor. Tastes good.
11/23/2014 esheppy
2 liter bottles. 4 bombers. 5 12oz.
11/23/2014 esheppy
And now I am kegging up the rest of Gnaughty Gnome English Coffee Stout. A bit drier in the finish at 1.012. Clarity is amazing. Flavor is awesome. Expect to start drinking around Christmas.
12/05/2014 esheppy
Gave a shot of CO2 to the keg bringing psi back up to 30. Then put it in the beer fridge. Not sure when a spot in the keggerator will open up for carbonation.
12/09/2014 esheppy
Had the lb. Lots of trub in this bottle. Hoping this taste is not typical of this beer. Way too harsh. Will have to try another bottle soon.
12/19/2014 esheppy
Had some from the keg. Not bad. Not great. It is nice and drinkable in the sense that it is not high in alcohol. It might be a bit bitter for a stout.
12/26/2014 esheppy
Really tasting nice tonight. Think I might make some Stout Ice Cream with this.
01/09/2015 esheppy
This doors seem to get better every time I drink it.
01/26/2015 esheppy
Killed the keg this weekend. Took me by surprise that it was even this close to being done.
Comments:
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