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Blackacre American Stout


Vital Statistics:

Batch Number:20
Style:Stout
Brew Date:3 April 2010
Original Gravity:1.049 (12.15 °Plato)
Final Gravity:1.008 (2.05 °Plato)
ABV:5.4%
ABW:4.2%
Calories per pint:211
Estimated IBU (Rager):60.1
Estimated IBU (Tinseth):47.1
Mash Temperature:151°
Mash Efficiency:70%
Days in Primary:34 (into secondary on 7 May 2010)
Days in Secondary:14 (kegged on 21 May 2010)
Yeast Used:1056 American Ale
Apparent Attenuation:84%
Real Attenuation:68%
Rating:3.90
Entirely Consumed:Yes (finished 18 October 2010)
Availability:150 days
Recipe:

8 lb 2-row pale malt
1 lb flaked barley
14 oz chocolate malt
6 oz black barley

10 AAU (62g @ 4.5% AA) Willamette @ 60
5 AAU (31g @ 4.5% AA) Willamette @ 30
5 AAU (31g @ 4.5% AA) Willamette @ 5

1 Irish Moss tablet @ 15 min

Wyeast 1056 - American Ale
General Notes:

Used yeast cake from batch #18.
Tasting Notes:

Tasting notes taken 6/1/2010. Poured into a tulip from the chilled keg.

Appearance: entirely black with a suggestion of brown hue around the edges when held up to the light. Head was a thin finger of tan foam which dissipated rapidly. Color is spot-on; head was OK but that may be due to carbonation issues. (4)

Smell: aroma is quite chocolatey with a bit of coffee. Small amounts of floral hops work their way in around the edges. The only drawback to the aroma is that it is a bit light in intensity. Still quite nice. (3.5)

Taste: flavor is toward the coffee end of the spectrum. Hops are more pronounced than in the aroma and are quite earthy and a little vegetabley. Aftertaste is coffee and a nice bitterness. I rather like it. (4)

Mouthfeel: medium body with a rather nice silkiness. Carbonation at this stage is OK and I'm getting a pretty good creaminess. I think this is among the best dark-beer mouthfeels I've achieved so far. (4)

Drinkability: quite drinkable indeed. The hops do build a little bit on the palate, but overall it's very nice for a dark beer. I'm pretty impressed. (4)

Overall score of 3.9 (B+). I rather like how this beer came out; I'm especially pleased by the malt bill. While the idea for the "American stout" was that I would hop it up with some good Northwest varieties, I think I could go a bit easier at each stage of the hopping. Perhaps it would be wise to drop each addition by 30-50%, but then dry-hop to get a little more hop aroma without adding the vegetable boiled-hop quality. I might even try using a little Cascade in there along with the Willamette.
Hops Table
Hop Variety Addition Time AAU AA% Quantity (g) Type IBU (Rager) IBU (Tinseth) Notes
Willamette 60 10.00 4.5 62 Pellet 41.9 31.7  
Willamette 30 5.00 4.5 31 Pellet 14.3 12.2  
Willamette 5 5.00 4.5 31 Pellet 3.9 3.2