New Year Stout

It was a beautiful day in the State of Jefferson. I enjoyed the sunshine all afternoon while I brewed a batch of stout. It was a simple one, with six pounds of extract, but I used the dry stuff, the powder, not the syrup. The result was a robust original gravity, 14.5 ºP or 1.059, high compared to the 12 ºP or 1.048 I usually get. I always forget that the powder gives you more yield per pound--makes sense, the syrup has all that water still in it--but I never think that way. I also reduced my brew length a bit, from 28 Liters to 26, which meant I had to tip the kettle to get all the wort, there was no excess. That pushed up the gravity a bit, too. I suppose I made the equivalent of a seven pound syrup batch, which is fine for stouts, they can handle it. I used a half pound apiece of black malt and roast barley, which I steeped in the kettle while it was heating. An ounce of Ivanhoe hops (8% α-acids) for an hour (in the 70-minute boil) provided the bittering. I don't typically add hops after that, I want the grain flavors to dominate in a stout.

The extract came from Briess, which I bought at Grains, Beans & Things in Medford. I pitched a sachet of Safale-05 from Fermentis.

Happy New Year 2014!



prid. Non. Jan.