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So, one of the recipes I'm working out is for a belgian stout, but I'm always concerned about too much roasted Malt for my dark brews.

This is what I have so far for my Blackened Abbey recipe. What changes should I make to make it better while keeping ABV and colour right where they are?



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Blackened Abbey

Vitals
Original Gravity: 1.067

Final Gravity: 1.011

IBU (Tinseth): 37

BU/GU: 0.55

Color: 38 SRM


Mash
Temperature — 152 °F — 60 min


Malts (13.32 lb)
6 lb (45.1%) — BestMalz Pilsen Malt — Grain — 1.9 °L — Mash — 60 min
4 lb (30%) — BestMalz Munich — Grain — 6.2 °L — Mash — 60 min
0.75 lb (5.6%) — Briess Barley, Flaked — Grain — 1.8 °L — Mash — 60 min
0.75 lb (5.6%) — Briess Caramel Munich 60L Malt — Grain — 60 °L — Mash — 60 min
0.75 lb (5.6%) — BestMalz Melanoidin — Grain — 26.8 °L — Mash — 60 min
0.5 lb (3.8%) — Special B Malt — Grain — 133.4 °L — Mash — 60 min
0.4 lb (3%) — Briess Midnight Wheat Malt — Grain — 550 °L — Mash — 60 min
0.17 lb (1.3%) — BestMalz Black Malt — Grain — 450.2 °L — Mash — 60 min


Hops (2.5 oz)
1 oz (22 IBU) — Perle 8% — Boil — 60 min

1 oz (10 IBU) — Perle 8% — Boil — 10 min

0.5 oz (6 IBU) — Amarillo 9.2% — Boil — 10 min


Yeast
1 pkg — Mangrove Jack's M41 Belgian Ale Yeast 85%
Fermentation
Primary — ~68 °F — ~14 days


Carbonation: 2.8 CO2-vol

I don't think you have too much roasted malt. I have never used Melanoidin and Special B in a stout before. I personally don't like a lot of crystal malt in my stouts, but it is all personal preference. I think it is fine.

I’m not too familiar with belgian stouts, but I would think that if it’s a stout 4.3% roasted malt is not too much. I’d be aiming closer to 8 or 9 if it was me.


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amartin wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 22, 2021 7:03 pm

I’m not too familiar with belgian stouts, but I would think that if it’s a stout 4.3% roasted malt is not too much. I’d be aiming closer to 8 or 9 if it was me.


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When you include the special B, it's about 8%. Plus the melanoidan and caramunich 60, it is gonna nearly pitch black. The black and midnight are there mostly for colour where the special, melanoidan (easier to source locally than true biscuit malt) and caramunich are more for flavour while adding to the darkness.

I haven't found an actual style guide for belgian stouts, so I'm basically starting with a weak belgian dark strong ale and just adding roast malts to darken the hell out of it

In absence of a style guide, I found a couple resources that might give you some hints about the style. One from castle malting and one from craft beer and brewing.
https://beerandbrewing.com/the-curious- ... ian-stout/

https://www.castlemalting.com/CastleMal ... ecipeID=21

Both links favour more chocolate style malts over the very dark roast malts. If you want to go that route, carafa special 1 is pretty much perfect for that. It is more chocolaty and isn’t as harsh as actual chocolate malts are.

Stouts are pretty personal things so it is hard to give recommendations without veering you away from the beer you are picturing in your head. Personally I don’t like a lot of Munich and melanoidin in a stout but some other people do. Best way to figure out what you like is to brew it. If you don’t want to commit to a full batch you aren’t sure of you could do a mini batch and make a couple bottles to try it out.

I feel lucky to have stumbled on this. I'm trying out in this! Right away!