Stout with roasted wheat instead of roasted barley?

[JAMC]

Drying out is easy: Add sugar. Any refined sugar will do this for you. With the amount of wheat, head retention shouldn't be a problem but to tweak the recipe, you might add oats.

I thought about oats - but I'm wondering if torrified wheat would do the trick too? I hear that's good for head retention.

I have a slight hesitation when it comes to refined sugar. With one notable exception, the beers I've made with added sugar have turned out to be inferior to the grain-only batches. I suppose another way would be to use a more attenuative yeast than Nottingham?

 

[JAMC]

Also, hop aroma shouldn't be pronounced in a stout. Sounds like you're inventing something here that more has its roots in stout than is an actual stout.

That's proabably a fair summary. I'm trying to put together a recipe that has the general characteristics of a stout (colour, roasted grain) but has a more complex and varied flavour profile. Roasted wheat has a nice toasted quality but I don't think it's enough on it's own like roasted barley would be in a normal stout - it doesn't dominate in the same way.

 

[chessking]

Drying out is easy: Add sugar. Any refined sugar will do this for you. With the amount of wheat, head retention shouldn't be a problem but to tweak the recipe, you might add oats.

One thing, If you add sugar but don't want to increase the OG or jack up the ABV, be sure to trade it out. Remove some fermentables (base grain, extract) to arrive at the same ABV, but without as much sweetness.

 

[JAMC]

Thanks for the feedback guys - I'll take that on board when thinking about changes for the next time I brew this recipe.

I've just cracked open another bottle and the hop/malt balance seems to be a lot better than it was a few days ago. Also the blackcurrant note is a little stronger, which adds to the overall complexity. It's still sweet - but not excessively so. Maybe the true character has yet to fully emerge?

If that's the case, I like the direction it's heading in - it's getting much closer to my original idea of a delicate, complex and balanced sweet stout. I'll keep you posted!