MacGowan’s Sweet Tooth Stout

(5 gallons/19 L, partial mash)
OG = 1.044  FG = 1.015 IBU = 25  SRM = 31  ABV = 3.8%

Ingredients

3.5 lbs. (1.6 kg) Muntons light dried malt extract
12 oz. (0.34 kg) 2-row pale ale malt
8.0 oz. (0.23 kg) crystal malt (90 °L)
3.0 oz. (85 g) chocolate malt
3.0 oz. (85 g) roasted barley (300 °L)
5.0 oz. (142 g) roasted barley (500 °L)
1.0 oz. (28 g) black patent malt
0.50 lbs. (0.23 kg) lactose (15 min.)
0.25 cup Splenda (optional, at bottling/kegging)
1 tsp. Irish moss
7.5 AAU Magnum hops (60 min.) (0.47 oz./13 g of 16% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1968 (London ESB Ale), White Labs WLP002 (English ale) or Nottingham dried yeast (1 qt./~1 L yeast starter)
2/3 cup corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step

Place crushed grains in a nylon steeping bag. In a large kitchen pot, heat 3.0 qts. (2.8 L) of water to 163 °F (73 °C). Submerge grain bag in water and let steep at 152 °F (67 °C) for 45 minutes. (If temperature drops below 148 °F (64 °C), heat to 152 °F (67 °C) again.) While grains are steeping, heat 1.5 qts. (~1.5 L) of water to 170 °F (77 °C) in a sauce pan. Also, begin heating 2 gallons (7.6 L) of water to a boil in your brewpot. When steeping is done, place a colander over your brewpot and lift the grain bag into it. Pour the “grain tea” through the bag (which will strain out most of the grain bits), then rinse the bag with the 1.5 qts. (~1.5 L) of 170 °F (77 °C) water. Heat the (roughly) 3 gallons (11 L) of wort in your brewpot to a boil, then stir in dried malt extract. (It will foam a bit, so don’t pour all the extract in at once.) Bring the wort back to a boil, add the hops and boil for 60 minutes. Add Irish moss and lactose with 15 minutes left in boil. After the boil, put a lid on your brewpot and cool the wort (either in a cold-water bath in your sink or with a wort chiller). Cool until the side of the brewpot no longer feels warm. Transfer wort to your fermenter and top up to 5 gallons (19 L) with cool water. Aerate the wort and pitch your yeast. Ferment at 70 °F (21 °F). When fermentation slows to halt, rack to secondary. Bottle with corn sugar (or keg) a few days later. (You may want to add a bit a Splenda — an (unfermentable) artificial sugar — if you want the beer to be a little sweeter. Taste an untreated sample in your botting bucket or keg before deciding.)