#33 Irish Dry Stout

Eureka, it time for another recipe review. Today’s recipe is my third attempt to brew an Irish stout. I had a lot of sparging troubles in my first attempt, second one turned out not the way I expected it to taste like and the third one was pretty awesome. Unfortunately, this particular brew got no name… Hence the name Irish Dry Stout. However, there is this black beer brewed in Ireland that I used as an inspiration. Lets go through the recipe.

Recipe:	Irish Dry Stout
Numbers:	Volume [L]	20 (5.3 gal)
	Original gravity	11.5°P
	Terminal gravity	3.8°P
	Color	Around 100 EBC
	IBU	34 IBU
	ABV	4.2 %
Grains:	Pale malt (6.5 EBC)	2.7 kg
	Barley flakes (0 EBC)	0.6 kg
	Roasted barley (1150 EBC)	0.34 kg
	Crystal (120 EBC)	0.15 kg
	Acidified malt (5 EBC)	0.085 kg
	Oatmeal rolled (0 EBC)	0.23 kg
Hops:	Target (8.5% AA)	20 g and boil for 90 min
	East Kent Goldings (5% AA)	14 g and boil for 90 min
Yeast:		#1084 Irish Ale
Water:	Burgdorf	Mash: 12 L (3.2 gal), sparge: 12 L (5.3 gal) @78°C (172°F)
Rest:		Mash in @66°C (151°F), 90 min @ 66°C (151°F), 10 min @ 78°C (172°F)
Boil:		Total 90 min
Fermentation:	Primary	7 days @ 20°C (68°F) in plastic fermenter
	Secondary	None
Maturation:	Carbonation (CO2 vol)	2
	Maturation time	3 weeks

Fig 1: Used my stirrer once again to make the conversion more efficient

05/21/11: Another brew day begins. All the malts went through the mill except the barley flakes and oatmeal. The barley flakes and oatmeal are in this recipe to give the beer a more pronounced body and get the creamy head you expect from a stout. The acidified malt was to lower the pH of my brewing water. Mashed in at 66°C and let the mash rest for 90 min. I used my stirrer to improve the efficiency a bit and the iodine test was negative after the 90 min rest. Then proceeded with the fly sparging process and added the hops as mentioned in the protocol above. After the boil, I transferred the hot wort into my whirlpool kettle and cooled it down to approximately 20°C (68°F).

I then pitched a healthy Irish ale yeast and off went the fermentation.

05/27/11: Transferred the beer into a keg after the yeast reached the final gravity of 3.8°P. I then added table sugar (90 g to approximately 19 L of fresh beer) to reach a carbonation level of 2 vol. I left the keg carbonate for one week and stored it cool for three weeks.

07/03/11: First tasting after four weeks of maturation.

Aroma: Could detect a lot of coffee and chocolate notes. Roast notes are pretty easy detectable. No fruit notes. Typical dry stout aroma.

Appearance: Black appearance with hints of opaque. Beige, frothy head. Brilliant and good long-lasting head. I have to mention that I do not dispense the stouts with nitrogen.

Flavor: Roast, coffee, chocolate and licorice as well. Finishes like a well made coffee. Pretty dry and way to easy to enjoy… Slight sourness on the tongue.

Mouthfeel: Light to medium body, average carbonation level, short and very smooth aftertaste.

Overall Impression: Well, this is a typical dry stout. Very refreshing! A bit too dry for my taste. I would love to have a more pronounced backbone. However, a dry stout is dry… Really like it though!

08/16/11: Second tasting. This time against Guinness Draught. I just noted the differences below.

Fig 2: Guinness Draught on the left side, my own version in the glass on the right.

Aroma: The original Guinness had a very pronounced metallic aroma. Way less roast and coffee notes. Maybe the Guinness Draught (from a can) was not the freshest example anymore… Although I could pick up the metallic aroma in previous Guinness tastings as well.

Appearance: The Guinness was a bit lighter in color and the head was way better. I have to mention, I bought the Guinness in a can with the nitro widget and do not use nitrogen to dispense my stouts.

Flavor: The Guinness was a bit sweeter and less roasty. Both stouts had a hint of a sourness and were pretty easy to drink.

Mouthfeel: Same body, same carbonation level. My version had a more bitter and roasty pronounced aftertaste.

Overall Impression: Both stout were very similar. The only difference I could pick up were some minor differences in the color and the freshness. In my version, the aroma and flavors were much more pronounced. I would not say that my recipe above is a clone recipe for the Guinness Draught but it gives you a beer that is quite similar to the commercial example.

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