Royal Oak Stout

Since I had such a nice, relaxing time making my Honey Amber Ale on my stove inside I was quick to do something similar. For this beer I decided to do a partial mash on the stove top using a steeping bag to mash in. I'm not sure where this beer will end up but here is how it got started. I am getting low on stouts, I only have 4 bottles of an oatmeal stout left that I made last April but am planning on saving these for a while to see how they age out.

The base wort is pretty simple, just using a few pounds of maris otter, pale LME,  crystal 80L, and some chocolate malt. I don't want it to be a sweet stout, dry stout, American stout or an export so I guess this one won't fit into any category or specific style which I think too many brewers focus on. I want to make good beers that taste good to me, not for a judge who is worried about IBUs, SRMs etc.



Rehydrating Yeast



This beer is made to focus on the specialty grains and malts. It doesn't have any finishing or dry hops, nor will it have a specific yeast character as I chose to use a very neutral strain. I am also going to be soaking some oak chips in some crown royal for a week or so before I add it to the secondary fermentor to give it that bourbon barrel stout flavor which I hope stands out but isn't over powering. To accomplish this I will only use about 3/4 oz of oak and 4-5 oz of crown. I will be taking samples almost everyday until I get the taste right where I want it. I know from sampling some other beers aged in oak that it can easily become way too oaky.



What I haven't decided yet is if I am going to funk this beer up with some Brett. And if I do, what Brett. I will use. It most likely will be Brettanomyces bruxellensis which is moderate in its flavors and intensity. Who knows, It may even get some sour cherries added to it this summer. Stay tuned to see what the future holds...

Royal Oak Stout

Brewed by: Gregg and I

Brewed on 1/14/11

3.8 Gallons partial mash

O.G. 1.061

F.G. 1.015 (anticipated



IBU 33.7

SRM 33.6

85% efficiency

3 lbs maris otter

3 lbs pale LME

10.1 oz roasted barely

5.6 oz crystal 80L

2 oz chocolate malt

1.5 oz fuggles 60 min.

.4 tsp yeast nutrient 10 min.

.4 tst irish moss 10 min.

Nottingham yeast (rehydrated)

1/21/11 Racked to secondary. Gravity: 1.014. Tasted good with lots of coffee notes.

2/9/11 Added .75 oz of oak chips that I have been soaking in 4 oz of Crown Royal. (added the Crown too)