Help me decide a hop schedule for a stout with these hops I have on hand.

TheDopeGodfather

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Hi everyone. First post here!

I'm doing a milk stout with cocoa nibs added to secondary. It's a 13.5 pound grain bill. I have a few ounces each of the following hops:

Fuggles (3 oz)

Chinook (only one oz)

Centennial

Cascade

And a few other varieties too, but they're typically NEIPA types.

Let me know how you would brew this. Thanks!

Also, should I just use S-05 or do I take a chance with one of the juicier yeasts I have like 1318, Imperial A38 Juice, or Treehouse Brewery's house yeast? (Harvested from several cans of Shimmer.) I'm thinking stick with the dry yeast, but I guess I could be convinced otherwise.
 
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Given the yeast choices, I'd go 1318, then S-05, though I'm not familiar with the others.

I love Cascade in my Porters and EKG/Fuggles combo for my Stouts. I could see a combo of Cascade/Fuggles working well or just straight Cascade. Whatever you choose though, I'd keep the bittering lowish - say around .35-.40 BU:GU. This isn't the hops beer. A little bitterness to balance the sweetness, little to no aroma. My .02.

Good luck! Keep us updated.
 
Given the yeast choices, I'd go 1318, then S-05, though I'm not familiar with the others.

I love Cascade in my Porters and EKG/Fuggles combo for my Stouts. I could see a combo of Cascade/Fuggles working well or just straight Cascade. Whatever you choose though, I'd keep the bittering lowish - say around .35-.40 BU:GU. This isn't the hops beer. A little bitterness to balance the sweetness, little to no aroma. My .02.

Good luck! Keep us updated.

Thanks for the reply! What do you think about boil times then? Maybe 2oz Fuggles for 60 minutes and 1oz cascade for 20 minutes? Fuggles is pretty low alpha acid. Would using them be enough for the bittering?
 
Not sure what your OG is going to be, but I’d use the Cascade @ 60 to bitter to your desired level. Just a wee bit of either at the end of the boil for a small dose of aroma/flavor.

I’m sure others will have ideas as well.
 
For a stout, I typically only use a 60 minute hop addition. I just try to hit the IBU target. After boiling for 60 minutes, most of the hops character is dissipated.

For British beers, I prefer the S-04 over the S-05. A bit more character. US-05 ferments really clean, maybe just a bit too clean for a stout.
 
I'm with Bubba. 60 only for me because the amount you have to add to be noticed above the malts is pretty big and fades relatively quickly. It's just a tool to balance sweetness in stouts for me.
 
I'm in the "60-minute only" club as well. My German lagers really benefit from omitting the late hop additions. Early hops produce herbal-woody flavors, the late hops are more vegetal, even the Noble hops, and tend to mask the maltiness.
 
Ok, so it seems like the general consensus is 60 minutes only. Should I just do one ounce of Fuggles and one ounce of Chinnok? Or should I bump it to 3oz total?
 
A lot of stouts are brewed in the 30-35 IBU range. For a 5 gallon batch, 1 ounce of Chinook would get you in the 30 IBU ballpark. Fuggles has a bit lower alpha acid. You would need somewhere around 3 ounces of Fuggles for the same bittering. I would stick with Chinook and save the Fuggles for finishing hops in other British styles.

Run your recipe through the recipe builder app. This will help clear things up.
 
I'd use Cascade to .30 - .40 BU:GU at 60 minutes (but Chinook is fine).
If you aren't using Fuggles to finish, then just save it for something else as Bubba suggests.
 
It's technically an Imperial Stout, I guess, given its gravity and IBU. Here's the recipe. Keep in mind I wrote this to make use of ingredients I had laying around my house (hence the name 'Frankenstout'). So whether it really fits a style or not doesn't concern me too much. I'm just happy to brew tomorrow (on my birthday, no less!). I think I'm still going to stick to the 2oz of Fuggles. I think around 55 IBU will be good in this beer. Plus I'm adding lactose and dextrose and I'm gonna use the Treehouse house yeast since it's what I have the most of at the moment. (It's real similar to the 1318). So that will impart some sweetness too. I think given all that, 2oz of bittering (especially since 1oz will be Fuggles at a low AA) should work nicely.

And if it doesn't... Well, chalk it up to experience. Here's the recipe. I'd love to hear your thoughts. I've still got 18 hours till I brew in case you guys see something glaringly horrible.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/955823/the-frankenstout
 
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.5oz Chinook @ 60 minutes & .25oz @ 30 or 20 minutes.
 

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