Superior Stout
A good stout begins with a classic coffee-like flavor, says Owen Hutchins. From there it’s a matter of manipulating the recipe to include an array of subtle flavors.
Hutchins is the head brewer at The General Lafayette Inn and Microbrewery in Lafayette Hill, Pa.
He has been brewing for 10 years and has been noted as one of the more adventurous brewers in metropolitan Philadelphia. The General Lafayette Inn has has been lauded by beer critics in the Philadelphia area for its proficiency with stouts. The brewery makes four types of stout: Irish, Caribbean, imperial, and oatmeal.
The General Lafayette Inn is located in a structure built in 1732. It played a prominent role during the American Revolution as a military headquarters. In the winter of 1777, a 20-year-old French nobleman named Lafayette, commissioned as an American general, saved his detachment of 2,000 troops from an ambush by British forces stationed in Philadelphia. He brilliantly outwitted three of England’s finest generals and escaped to Continental Army headquarters in Valley Forge.
During the abolitionist era, the Inn was rumored to be a part of the Underground Railroad. The alleged escape tunnels still exist in the basement.
The current incarnation of the Inn opened in January 1997, complete with the new brewery. It features a seven-barrel (217 gallon) brewing system with a direct-fire 380,000 BTU gas burner and four seven-barrel fermenters. Storage includes six seven-barrel and three 3.5-barrel storage tanks in the cold room and three 3.5-barrel (108 gallon) tanks at cellar temperature for aging and cask-conditioning.
Last year the brewery produced around 600 barrels (18,600 gallons) of beer and is on pace to brew about 700 barrels (21,700 gallons) this year.
Nitrogen
Recently, the Lafayette added a nitrogen system to give its Irish stout a more traditional taste. Many beer drinkers can relate to the thick, creamy head that appears on such stouts as Guinness. This head is actually produced by the use of a nitrogen and carbon dioxide blend.
“Nitrogen doesn’t dissolve in water, and its bubbles are much smaller than CO2 bubbles, creating that really thick, creamy head,” says Hutchins.
And once it’s in the solution, it’s hard to get out. That’s why nitrogen handles have that little five-holed disk, called a sparkler, inside the nozzle to disperse the gas from solution as it is dispensed.
Homebrewers can use nitrogen to liven up their stouts, says Hutchins. Start by renting a tank of blended CO2 and nitrogen. Fill a keg with your favorite stout, then force carbonate it. The keg must be kept at 30 psi as opposed to 15 to keep the nitrogen in suspension. This creates a need for a restrictor nozzle on the tap. It also takes a longer period of time (around three days) for the beer to be saturated with the nitrogen than CO2.
Some Experiments
New stouts can be created easily, but certain things should be avoided.
The natural state of a stout should be coffee-like. Any new recipes should be made to enhance or play a background role to this taste. For instance coffee and chocolate enhance the basic flavor of a stout, so these often make good stouts. Other ingredients, such as raspberries, also seem to work well with the basic stout flavor.
Many spices, however, should be avoided or used as background tastes because they tend to clash with the natural flavor of a stout, Hutchins says. Experiment in moderation with such spices as nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, clove, and others.
One interesting experiment is a “stout float.” Using a scoop of vanilla ice cream with some Irish stout produces a surprisingly drinkable dessert. The coffee-like flavor of the stout mixes well with the vanilla ice cream, creating an interesting alternative to the classic soda float.
“Stouts go really well with seafood, especially oysters and crabs,” says Hutchins. “In fact I’ve heard rumors of brewers putting oysters into their stout recipes, but I’m not prepared to speculate on that. Actually, the idea of putting mollusks into my beer gives me pause.”
Finally, for malted milk lovers, Hutchins says use a stout extract kit to make a tasty malted milk.
“You know what you like in a beer. Tweak your recipe until you get it the way you like it,” he says.
The numbers used in the following recipes are not set in stone. “The homebrewer has much more flexibility then we do at a microbrewery,” says Hutchins. “You just need to be careful and clean.”
Irish Stout
(5 gallons all-grain)
“The Irish is a pretty basic stout. It’s supposed to have a dry, coffee-flavored taste and is the base for more interesting stouts,” says Hutchins. The recipe can be altered slightly to produce a malt extract syrup, which will be used in a later recipe.
Ingredients:
• 1.5 lbs. roasted barley
• 1 lb. flaked barley
• 5.5 lbs. pale malt
• 2 oz. Kent Golding hops (5.4% alpha acid): 0.25 oz. for 90 min., 1.75 oz. for 75 min.
• Wyeast 1084 (Irish ale)
• 2/3 cup corn sugar for priming
Step by Step:
Mash the malts in 2.5 gal. 150° to 152° F water for 60 min. or until full conversion occurs. Sparge with 168° F to 170° F water to collect 5.5 gal. wort.
Total boil time is 90 min. Add 0.25 oz. hops and boil for 15 min. Add 1.75 oz. hops and boil for remaining 75 min. Cool to 68° F and pitch yeast.
Ferment at 68° F for about 10 days. Then drop the temperature to 40° F. This drop to 40° F will drop the yeast out of suspension for harvesting. Hutchins recommends that homebrewers ferment for four to five days and then rack to a secondary fermenter to clear it out more for the remainder of the fermentation period. Prime and bottle.
Imperial Stout
(5 gallons, grain with extract)
This Imperial is cask conditioned and served at cellar temperature at The General Lafayette Inn.
It’s interesting that none of the roasted barley that normally is in a stout is used in this recipe. Instead, a malt syrup extract is used. (Hutchins makes his own extract by following the same steps as the Irish stout but using 6 lbs. of pale malt with 1.5 lbs. or roasted barley and deleting the flaked barley. A simpler method for homebrewers is to use the malt extract from a stout kit.) This stout has a very full body. Hutchins calls it a cross between an Irish stout and a barley wine.
Ingredients:
• 13 lbs. pale malt
• 1.5 lbs. flaked barley
• 1.5 lbs. dark crystal malt, 80° Lovibond
• 1 lb. chocolate malt
• 3.3 lbs. (stout) malt extract syrup
• 3.5 oz. Kent Goldings hops (5.4% alpha acid): 1.5 oz. for 90 min., 2 oz. for 5 min.
• Wyeast 1084 (Irish ale)
• 2/3 cup corn sugar for priming
Step by Step:
Mash the malts in 5.25 gal. water at 152° F for an hour or until full conversion, and then sparge to collect 5.5 gal.
Add extract. Total boil time is 90 min. Add 1.5 oz. hops and boil 85 min. Add 2 oz. hops and boil five min. Cool to 68° F and pitch yeast.
Ferment at 68° F for 21 days. At the General Lafayette, this particular stout is then cask conditioned at 58° F for three months to allow for mellowing, blending, and conditioning. It is served at cellar temperature and is not carbonated, making for a little different drinking experience. At home, prime the beer and bottle condition as you normally would, or to emulate the cask-conditioned carbonation cut the priming sugar in half.
Caribbean Stout
(5 gallons all-grain)
The Caribbean stout is a lighter, sweeter stout, so light in fact that a little black malt is added purely for color adjustment. The body of the beer itself is lightened by the use of sugar cane or, in this case, corn in the mash.
Ingredients:
• 8.5 lbs. pale malt
• 1.25 lbs. flaked corn
• 0.75 lbs. dark crystal malt, 80° Lovibond
• 0.75 lbs. roasted barley
• 0.25 lb. chocolate malt
• 1 oz. black malt
• 1.5 oz. Kent Golding hops (5.4% alpha acid): 1.25 oz. for 90 min., 0.25 oz. for 5 min.
• Wyeast 1318 (London ale III) or something more fruity such as 1742 (Swedish ale)
• 2/3 cup corn sugar for priming
Step by Step:
Mash the grains in 3.5 gal. water at 152° F for 60 min. or until full conversion. Sparge to collect 5.5 gal. of wort.
Total boil is 90 min. Add 1.25 oz. hops and boil 85 min. add 0.25 oz. hops and boil 5 min. more. Cool to 68° F and pitch yeast.
Ferment at 68° F for eight to 10 days, then drop the temperature to 40° F to crash the yeast, just as was done in the Irish recipe, and ferment four more days. Prime and bottle. Cellar for as long as desired.
Oatmeal Stout
(5 gallons all-grain)
This velvety smooth stout has a full body and the traditional coffee-like taste of a stout. It has a much fuller body and is not as sweet as the Caribbean. It uses more roasted barley and oats (instead of corn, the lightening agent) to make it heavier.
Ingredients:
• 6.5 lbs. pale malt
• 1 lb. roasted barley
• 1 lb. flaked oats
• 1 lb. flaked barley
• 0.5 lb. dark crystal malt, 80° Lovibond
• 2 oz. chocolate malt
• 1/3 lb. light crystal malt, 20° Lovibond
• 2 oz. Kent Golding hops (5.4% alpha acid) for 90 min.
• Wyeast 1318 (London ale III)
• 2/3 cup corn sugar for priming
Step by Step:
Mash grains with 3.25 gal. water at 150° F for 60 min. or until full conversion. Sparge to collect 5.5 gal. wort.
Total boil time is 90 min. The Oatmeal is the most hoppy of the four stouts listed. Add hops at the beginning of boil. After 90 min. boil, cool to 68° F and pitch yeast.
Ferment at 68° F for 10 days, then cool to 40° F for crashing yeast and ferment for five more days. Prime and bottle. Cellar for as long as desired.
