Allagash Brewing Co.’s North Sky Stout clone

Allagash Brewing Co.’s North Sky Stout clone

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.073  FG = 1.016
IBU = 45  SRM = 32  ABV = 7.5%

A silky Belgian-inspired stout, North Sky balances light notes of fruit and sweetness with a subdued roast malt character that lets the yeast esters shine.

Ingredients
11.5 lbs. (5.2 kg) 2-row pale malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) flaked oats
0.3 lb. (136 g) caramel malt (120 °L)
0.5 lb. (227 g) Caramunich® malt (57 °L)
0.5 lb. (227 g) torrified wheat
0.75 lb. (0.34 kg) chocolate malt (350 °L)
0.1 lb. (45 g) Briess Midnight Wheat malt (550 °L)
0.1 lb. (45 g) roasted barley (300 °L)
0.3 lb. (136 g) dextrose sugar (30 min.)
8 AAU Northern Brewer hops (60 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 8% alpha acids)
5.5 AAU Cascade hops (10 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 5.5% alpha acids)
1.25 oz. (35 g) Cascade hops (0 min.)
Wyeast 3787 (Trappist High Gravity), White Labs WLP500 (Monastery Ale), Imperial Yeast B48 (Triple Double), or Fermentis BE-256 yeast
3⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step by step
Keep the light and dark grains separate. Heat 20.7 qts. (19.6 L) of strike water to 166 °F (74 °C). Mix with pale malt, oats, and wheat. The mash should stabilize at about 153 °F (67 °C). Hold at this temperature for 60 minutes, then add the crystal and roasted malts. Mix until homogenized. Begin lautering by raising temperature to mash out at about 168 °F (76 °C), either by infusion of boiling water, decoction, or other means. Vorlauf until wort runs clear then begin the sparge process. Collect 7 gallons (26.5 L) and bring to a boil. Total boil time is 75 minutes, adding hop additions as indicated. 

After boil is complete, turn off the heat, add whirlpool addition and give a long stir to create a whirlpool. Rest for 15 minutes.

Chill the wort to 68 °F (20 °C). There should be about 5.5 gallons (21 L) of wort in your fermenter. Add yeast and aerate wort if using liquid yeast. Place your fermenter in a temperature-stable place in the 70–74 °F (21–23 °C) range. Bottle or keg after fermentation is complete, targeting a carbonation level of 2.65 v/v.

Allagash Brewing Co.’s North Sky Stout clone

(5 gallons/19 L, partial mash)
OG = 1.073  FG = 1.016
IBU = 45  SRM = 32  ABV = 7.5%

Ingredients
6.25 lbs. (2.8 kg) extra light dried malt extract
1.5 lbs. (0.68 kg) 2-row pale malt
1 lb. (0.45 kg) flaked oats
0.3 lb. (136 g) caramel malt (120 °L)
0.5 lb. (227 g) Caramunich® malt (57 °L)
0.5 lb. (227 g) torrified wheat
0.75 lb. (0.34 kg) chocolate malt (350 °L)
0.1 lb. (45 g) Briess Midnight Wheat malt (550 °L)
0.1 lb. (45 g) roasted barley (300 °L)
0.3 lb. (136 g) dextrose sugar (30 min.)
8 AAU Northern Brewer hops (60 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 8% alpha acids)
5.5 AAU Cascade hops (10 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 5.5% alpha acids)
1.25 oz. (35 g) Cascade hops (0 min.)
Wyeast 3787 (Trappist High Gravity), White Labs WLP500 (Monastery Ale), Imperial Yeast B48 (Triple Double), or Fermentis BE-256 yeast
3⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step by step
Keeping the pale malt, oats and wheat in one steeping bag and the crystal and roasted grains in another, heat 2 gallons (7.6 L) of water to about 160 °F (71 °C) to achieve a mash temperature of 153 °F (67 °C) once you add the steeping bag with the pale malt, oats, and wheat. Mash for 45–60 minutes, until converted. Once mash is complete, add the dark and crystal steeping bag and steep for 10 minutes. Rinse the grain bags with 170 °F (77 °C) water to top up to 7 gallons (26.5 L), remove the bags, then boil. (If your brew kettle doesn’t allow for that large of a volume, rinse the grain bags with another gallon/4 L of water, remove bags, then raise to a boil.) When boil is achieved, take the kettle off the flame and slowly add the extract while stirring. Return to the heat source and boil for 75 minutes, adding hops and corn sugar as indicated. 

After boil is complete, turn off the heat, add whirlpool addition and give a long stir to create a whirlpool. Rest for 15 minutes.

Chill the wort to 68 °F (20 °C). If you brewed a smaller volume, top off fermenter with pre-chilled water. In either case, the goal is to collect 5.5 gallons (21 L) of wort in your fermenter. Add yeast and aerate wort if using liquid yeast. Place your fermenter in a temperature-stable place in the 70–74 °F (21–23 °C) range. Bottle or keg after fermentation is complete, targeting a carbonation level of 2.65 v/v.