Bayou Beer

All about beer brewing and drinking in South Louisiana.

Sweet Stout – AKA Benedict Arnold Stout

November 27th, 2013

Or Milk Stout if you please. This beers brew day was actually November 15th and I just realized when logging in to note it’s final gravity that I forgot to even add the entry. This beer was the final beer in my dutch oven style brewing marathon of Safale-05. I brewed an IPA, Imperial Stout and finally this sweet stout. I’d heard from podcast before that 05 had a distinct subtle peach/pineapple/tropical/biting type character and that’s definitely evident. It’s interesting and good if you like that character. I do like the yeast and enjoy the beers. I think the best part about it is it just works as expected every time. Also it needs to be noted that I ended up using US Goldings instead of East Kent Goldings.

The most interesting part of this experiment was tossing the sweet stout on top of the cake after the larger Imperial stout. The theory was added complexity by some blending.

The sweet stout although it was targeted OG of 1.057 ended up closer to 1.065 as my unpredictable efficiency woes continue. The final gravity was about 1.012 as desired. The mouthfeel is right and the lactose is definitely there. With some age this should be very interesting. I need to re-note this post after I try it carbonated.

Dutch oven brewing as I am calling it is pitching on top of the same yeast in the same fermenter. Essentially I take one beer out and 15 minutes later pump the second in. As with cast iron cooking the seasoning adds a little something special to the beers. After the primary fermentation I quickly remove the beer to minimize any chance of harsh off flavors. Obviously this won’t work for all flavors but I think with things like Stouts and Barley wine I can produce some nice complexity.

Update 12/7/2013

This’ll be called Benedict Arnold Stout because it’s a British beer made with US ingredients. I found it funny at least. 😛

Update 3/10/2014

This beer ended up winning Best of Show in the Louisiana Club Homebrew Competition.   I came back to read my notes before sharing the recipe with people and realized I forgot to add the water treatment I use.   Essentially I treat 10 gallons of Baton Rouge tap water with  the same treatment I used for the Russian Imperial Stout.

Interesting enough this beer didn’t place at the Bataille des Bieres yet it did get low 40’s marks.   The marks from that competition were that it was slightly too bitter which I agreed with at the time.   As with most stouts a little time fixed that problem in about a month.   I really look forward to getting my scoresheets from the LCHC.

Recipe Details

Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV
6 gal 60 min 29.0 IBUs 33.8 SRM 1.057 1.012 5.9 %

Style Details

Name Cat. OG Range FG Range IBU SRM Carb ABV
Sweet Stout 13 B 1.044 - 1.06 1.012 - 1.024 20 - 40 30 - 40 2 - 2.4 4 - 6 %

Fermentables

Name Amount %
Pale Malt, Maris Otter 11 lbs 73.33
Black (Patent) Malt 1 lbs 6.67
Cara-Pils/Dextrine 1 lbs 6.67
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L 1 lbs 6.67
Milk Sugar (Lactose) 1 lbs 6.67

Hops

Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha %
Goldings, East Kent 2 oz 60 min Boil Pellet 5

Yeast

Name Lab Attenuation Temperature
Safale American (US-05) DCL/Fermentis 77% 59°F - 75°F

Mash

Step Temperature Time
Mash In 156°F 45 min
Mash Out 168°F 10 min

Notes

Pitching this on top of the Russian Imperial Stout cake that was pitched on top of the Tomahawk American Pale Cake.

Bayou Beer

All about beer brewing and drinking in South Louisiana.

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