Additions to my Stout

[Dirty Horse]

Hi,

I was using up a few odd bits I had lying around in a stout. Here is what i used:

12 litre (approx 2 gallons)

1KG Maris Otter
800g oats
200g black malt
120g Roasted Barley
30g Chocolate Malt

Magnum at 60 and 10 minutes.

Its finished fermenting and tried a sample but it has a very thin body despite a decent alcohol (4.4%). Its fine as it is, just not very interesting.

Any ideas on how to 'beef' it up a bit?

My first thought is to go for a chocolate orange flavour using cocoa powder and orange oil, as I have tried a couple of these recently and one in particular was good (although very rich and full bodied). The ones which added orange zest instead of oil werent as good.

As its quite thin I would imagine it would lend itself quite well to a variety of additions as they wouldnt be masked by the beer itself.

I know vanilla, lactose and coffee are other popular additions to stouts too but never experimented with them.

Any advice welcome!

Thanks

 

[vthokiedsp]

a couple of thoughts. judging the feel of beer before carbonation can be misleading. carbonation/conditioning can change things quite a bit. i've noticed this in most of my darker/maltier beers. personally, mouthfeel is part of the drinking experience but not one of my primary focuses when drinking something. adding something like malto dextrin or lactose or maple syrup could impact the flavor and sweetness more significantly (in a bad way or at least not "type" appropriate) than being thin. risk/reward type of scenario. if it were me, i'd just ride it out and see what carbonation does for the feel. if it's still thin, make adjustments next time like bumping the % of flaked oats in the grist, adding carapils (results of doing so on perceptible feel are debatable), and/or increasing mash temp (didn't see your mash temp above).

 

[Hawkbox]

His point about carbonation is very valid. I try not to judge my beers before they carbonate. In my admittedly amateur hour opinion I would suggest going to oats for a fuller body in the future. It's probably to late for this one but next time, etc..

 

[Head First]

Hi,

I was using up a few odd bits I had lying around in a stout. Here is what i used:

12 litre (approx 2 gallons)

1KG Maris Otter
800g oats
200g black malt
120g Roasted Barley
30g Chocolate Malt

Magnum at 60 and 10 minutes.

Its finished fermenting and tried a sample but it has a very thin body despite a decent alcohol (4.4%). Its fine as it is, just not very interesting.

Any ideas on how to 'beef' it up a bit?

My first thought is to go for a chocolate orange flavour using cocoa powder and orange oil, as I have tried a couple of these recently and one in particular was good (although very rich and full bodied). The ones which added orange zest instead of oil werent as good.

As its quite thin I would imagine it would lend itself quite well to a variety of additions as they wouldnt be masked by the beer itself.

I know vanilla, lactose and coffee are other popular additions to stouts too but never experimented with them.

Any advice welcome!

Thanks

Looks like to me you have a good dry stout. I agree with other post. Carb it and let it ride. Darker beers always change with time.
You know the routine. RDWHAHB