Pine Tar Stout

[EvanAltman36]

I don't want to spam the board with stuff on one recipe, but just brewed this Pine Tar Stout on Saturday and had a lot of fun with it. I more of a leap, then look brewer (I know, probably not the best), but hey, that's part of the fun with it. In any case, I used some flavor additions that may or may not work and be worthwhile, but I had FUN. Figured I'd post here though, since I posted a question in the other forum regarding my OG being way higher than anticipated.

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/r ... -tar-stout

 

[LarryBrewer]

Oops, recipe is not shared...

Pine Tar.. sounds woody. ?

 

[EvanAltman36]

Sorry, must not have save the changes. Should be fixed now...

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/r ... -tar-stout

Wanted something for the end of baseball season, some spice/leather notes, but with a little floral character from the hops as well. The name is as much from the color as anything, but my kids said it smelled like pancakes as it was fermenting and bubbling up in the blowoff bucket.

 

[EvanAltman36]

Took a sample and was really concerned at first because there seemed to be these overly-sweet and citrusy smells. Then I realized that the smell was from the clementine orange soap we have at the sink. Whew! After moving my freshly-washed hand away from the mouth of the cup, I got the nice roasty, smoky smell from the grains; color is nice and there's a really good depths, with some coffee and biscuit flavors, along with a nice clean bitterness. I changed my flavor addition process a little, knowing that the dark cocoa powder can clump. That said, I added it to 3.5oz of Grey Goose, to which I am going to add some imitation coconut flavor (natural has a ton of fatty oils that could kill head retention). That'll go in tonight!

 

[EvanAltman36]

Coming along nicely, got the FG down to about 1.022 and cold crashing now. The trouble with not having a super-dedicated fermentation chamber is that the suddenly fluctuating temps came close to messing me up.

Nice color, really good aroma of hops and also coffee/chocolate and a little coconut. Just finished my IPA so I'm really looking forward to getting this kegged and carbed.

 

[Nosybear]

Why are you cold-crashing at 1.022? Are your yeast done? What kind of attenuation do you have? If your gravity is still decreasing, you shouldn't cold-crash unless you want a very sweet, short-lived beer or worse, bottle bombs. Best thing to do is to measure the gravity and, once it's unchanged for three days in a row, do whatever you want with it. The yeast are done at that point.

Cold crashing only serves to drop the yeast out of suspension, it does not improve beer's flavor nor does it "clean" the beer.

 

[LarryBrewer]

I think a cold crash helps reduce green flavors from the yeast, so in that sense it does improve the flavor.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

Original Gravity: 1.079 Final Gravity: 1.021

should be fine, I would cold crash if you can it does helps tremendously

 

[EvanAltman36]

Why are you cold-crashing at 1.022? Are your yeast done? What kind of attenuation do you have? If your gravity is still decreasing, you shouldn't cold-crash unless you want a very sweet, short-lived beer or worse, bottle bombs. Best thing to do is to measure the gravity and, once it's unchanged for three days in a row, do whatever you want with it. The yeast are done at that point.

Cold crashing only serves to drop the yeast out of suspension, it does not improve beer's flavor nor does it "clean" the beer.

Started at about 1.080, got down and held at FG for consecutive readings after several days, so it's done moving. Also an issue of fluctuating temps in the house and fear that an incoming warm front could produce unseasonably warm temps that could be bad. I don't have a fermentation chamber that I can control to a great degree, so I wanted it in a controlled environment.
Not crashing for any added clarity; heck, it's opaque anyway, right? I normally try to stick with at least 10-12 days in primary prior to crashing and this only made it 9 days. But hey, we'll see what happens.

 

[EvanAltman36]

Nice flavors going on, strong coffee notes and the coconut is really coming through.

 

[EvanAltman36]

I like to sample my beer each day, usually only 2-3oz, to get a feel for its progression through the stages of carbonation and aging. Only 3 days in and I'm already noticing the coconut flavor fading into the background a bit, which is nice. It's still there, just more subtle. The dark cocoa is there in the aroma and aftertaste as well, a pleasant bitterness on the back end. This is a really smooth beer, with depth from the biscuit and smoked malt; it has a nose of coffee and cocoa, with flavors of the same + coconut. The mouthfeel will be greatly improved once it carbs up, of course. And you definitely sense the alcohol, but it's far from overpowering.

 

[Nosybear]

Good procedure! I generally don't taste that often unless I'm fretting over a brew but it's good to know what's going on as your beer ages. I never bottle by the calendar unless I'm up against some deadline, it's always taste that I judge against.

 

[EvanAltman36]

Thanks, I actually sampled more than just 2oz last night because it was just so good. When I first sampled, each of the flavors seemed a bit disparate, like spikes of taste that might hit you at different times. At this point though, it's much more mellow and the flavors are layered and roll together very well.