Exactly where it came from 
Made an oatmeal stout yesterday.
A bit of Gladfield American Ale / Maris Otter / Gladfield Munich / Gladfield Big O / Gladfield Roast Barley and Gladfield Dark Crystal. Added in some Fuggles into the boil and whirpool - will also dry hop with Fuggles.
Click for full recipe:
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Here is Ghost Chips - Itās okay. I really should have doubled the amount of hops.
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Personally I wouldnāt bother dry hopping an oatmeal stout, maybe Iām too traditional, but hops should only really be providing the bitterness (IMO, YMMV, etc.) One of my favourite beers (that I brewed) was an oatmeal stout - really should do another one.
Ha ha, if in doubt, double the hops!
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+1 to no DH on a stout. The malt should be the main character in that style.
I was actually a little hesitant to dry hop it as well as itās traditional not to with this style - it is only 30g though? Will it make that much of a differenceā¦ plus I will have 30g of fuggle sitting in my freezer if I donāt use it.
Iād leave them out, throw them in for bittering next time.
After a bit of thinking, I am going to go against the grain here and dry hopā¦ I am not trying to brew traditional beers or to style beers for competitions at the moment. I have had a few people in my beer club laugh at me when I show them my recipes, then when they actually come over to try it they are pleasantly surprised.
I think we are in a bit of change with beers at the moment and people are doing all sorts of strange and wonderful things to produce very different beers - I am all for it if it is helping progress what sort of flavours we can get from a beer. Whilst dry hopping 30g isnāt going to bring anything new to the table here, I am interested to see the results. Will it still be a drinkable beer? Probably.
Oh my godā¦A+ pun.
I bet he could barley hold it in and skipped right to it.
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You guys got in my head and now I am thinking about leaving out the dry hopā¦ But I still want to do something.
I have cacao nibs and coconut chips available to use. Has anyone used these before? I just need to get my head around if it is too late (Fermentation is at 70% done at the moment) and if it isnāt too late - what quantities will give me a good result that suits the low ABV of the beer.
I dry hopped this beer last night. I tasted itā¦ and it was already quite sweet at itās FG, so I didnāt really want to add any more sweetness.
Your beers have been looking pretty good Ezy. I once used cacao nibs in a breakfast stout, just dug out the recipe which had:
"57g of unsweetened backing choc nibs at the end of the boil. Cocoa powder may be better than bakers choc, as it has less cocoa fat which can affect head retention. Add 57g of ground coffee at the end of the boil. Let wort cool to max 89 degree before adding coffee. Add both of these in a hop bag, then leave the hop bag out when transferring to the fermenter (assuming no-chill). Add another 57g of coffee cold steeped, when bottling. Can dissolve the sugar for bottling in the cold steeped coffee. "
The stout was a winner. Itās the only beer Iāve brewed that I felt was good enough to enter into a comp. Recipe was based on Founders Breakfast Stout.
Yeah, that does sound good!
I had a thought top split this batch between two kegs. One with the āas isā beer - and the other one add some cold drip coffee into.
I had some commerical stouts over the weekend. One from Deeds which was their lamington ale, and the other from Dainton which was a coconut stout. I wasnāt really impressed with either to be honest. @Bigadz can back me up here.
and
Yep, the lamington ale was way too jammy.
Baking choc nibs? Would that be like chocolate chips? Nibs most people use in beer are crushed dried beans.
That said, Iāve used nibs a few times. Last was in a big 13% Imperial stout, so I used quite a bit.
@EzyLee Coconut can be a nice addition, but I personally havent used it. IIRC, it doesnt take loads of toasted coconut to add some smooth nutty/vanilla-y notes.
I picked up a 6 pack of these last week and really enjoyed it, bit of coconut, bit of chocolate - ti was good! But in saying that, Iāll drink and enjoy almost any stout.
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I think I would like to try the coconut at some point - I just need to work out the best way to add it in. There seems to be a few options out there:
- Add it in a hop sock for a few days along with some sort of weight so it doesnāt sit in the top
- in the mash
- soak the chips in vodka along with the nibs and pour the liquid into the fermenter before kegging
- adding chips into the keg itself
This looks like an interesting malt to play with
I used raw cacao nibs - not sure why the notes say baking choc.
I tend to steer clear of the overly gimmicky stouts - just give me a nice solid stout with a wee hint of choc or coffee. Except that time I had a peanut butter stout at GABS, that was spot on!
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