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Just Brewing's Sneaky Stout

For a "proper" Old British stout, this is a great recipe from Just Brewing Co. in Johannesburg. 

 

The Vitals
Ferment Volume: 20L (depending on efficiency)
Efficiency: ~71%
Target OG: 1051
Target FG: 1013
Target ABV%: 5%
Target IBU:  33

 

 

HERE’S WHAT YOU WILL NEED

About the process:

Stouts are supposed to be stronger than a Porter, the process is slightly different and there are many debates on how and when the styles changed. What you want from this brew is a grainy beer with low hop aroma. The body should be full and you should aim for bold roasted flavour akin to coffee. 

Ingredients:

Water: Finest water you can source. If you are using municipal water which has been chlorinated, you will have much better results if you are able to filter out the chlorine (using an active carbon / charcoal filter). Boil water for 20 mins to remove chlorine if you do not have a filter. 

Malt Bill: This malt bill is nice and complex for layers of flavour and aroma. The Roasted Barley helps gain the colour. The Chocolate Wheat, Cafe Malt and Biscuit malt adds nice head retention and low fermentables, for body, mouthfeel and sweetness. 

Malt / Adjunct Weight Type
Pale Malt 3.8 kg (80.2%) Base
Roasted Barley 43g (0.9%) Specialty
Carafa II 43g (0.9%) Specialty
Chocolate Wheat 286g (6%) Specialty
Castle Chateau Malting Café Malt 286g (6%) Specialty
Biscuit Malt 286g (6%) Specialty

 
Hops Bill: The Fuggle hop is a go-to hop with stouts, so it makes up the flavour / aroma addition of this recipe. 

Type Weight % alpha Duration Why?
Fuggles 9.5g (4.5%) 60 mins Bittering
Northern Brewer 14g (7.8%) 60 mins Bitterning
Fuggles 9.5g (4.5%) 30 mins Flavour
Northern Brewer 9.5g (7.8%) 30 mins Flavour

 


Yeast: 

Mangrove Jack Empire Ale M15 This is an English strain yeast used in conventional stout recipes.


Brewing Process:

  1. Add your malts (excluding the adjuncts) to the mash at 68C.
  2. Mash for 60mins.
  3. Remove grains and sparge to volume with water at 60C. 
  4. Bring to a boil. 
  5. Add Fuggles and Northern Brewer bittering hops at start of boil.
  6. Boil for 30mins and add Flavour Hops.
  7. Boil for 30mins and turn off heat. 
  8. Cool to 24C and pitch yeast. 

Pitching the Yeast and fermentation: Ferment at 20C for 14 days.  

Carbonation:

Medium level of carbonation: 2 to 2.5 volumes of CO2.