As the earth darkens and the winter solstice nears, my tastes are bending towards the opaque beers. Most recently I enjoyed Samuel Smith’s oatmeal stout and Victory Brewing Company’s Storm King Stout. I am not usually a big fan of uber-sweet, high alcohol beers, but Storm King is balanced on the bitter side (for a Russian Imperial anyway).
Currently in the magic bucket I have a stout that will be ready to be bottled at the end of the week. If it were a paler brew, it might be ready to drink in 2 or 3 weeks, but stouts and porters typically take longer to bottle condition. This one will be ready in perhaps two or three months. This is a lot of waiting. So, to relieve my existential stout angst, I was perusing recipes of memorable stouts that I’ve made in the past. I immediately remembered batch #43: Catskill Coffee Stout III.
When I first brewed this in 2005 I believed that I was doing something original. Combining my two favorite beverages, beer and coffee into one delicious concoction - what a novel idea! Turns out that it’s not really novel at all. There are plenty of coffee fortified brews on the market. Regardless, I am particularly fond of this stout, so I’ve listed the recipe below and some of the basic brewing instructions. For full instructions on how to brew your own beer using extracts and specialty grains, you should pick up a copy of The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing, by Charlie Papazian and you should check out the pictorial brewing instructions at www.byo.com. My recipes are based on 5 gallons which produces about 2 cases of beer.
Catskill Coffee Stout III
3 lbs Dark Dry Malt Extract (DME) 2 oz. Fuggles Hops (bittering)
3 lbs Extra Dark DME 1 oz. Tettnanger Hops (aroma)
⅓ lb. Dark Crystal Malt Grains 1 package of Ale Yeast (Safale US-05)
⅓ lb. Dingman’s Belgian Malt ¾ cup of corn sugar (priming)
½ lb. Chocolate Malt
⅓ lb. Roast Barley
⅓ lb. Flaked Wheat
¾ cup ground coffee (Green Mountain Coffee Breakfast Blend)
Place crushed malts and flaked wheat in water and steep at 155 degrees for a half an hour. During this time make coffee (12 cups will do). Remove the spent grains, add coffee, malt extract and 2 ounces of Fuggles Hops. Boil for 30 minutes. Add 1 oz Tettnanger Hops. Boil for another 30 minutes. Cool the wort. Pitch the yeast. Ferment for 10 to 14 days. Bottle with corn sugar and age for 3-4 weeks. Enjoy.
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