Scott Morgan
I do not think there is one company such as Guinness that defines a beer style as entirely. As well as holding the majority of the market for the style Draft Guinness, or Dry Stout, it is such a powerful point of reference. But around the world, Guinness makes 5 principle versions of stout and 19 sub varieties. These are at various gravity's and brewed slightly different. The brewery makes versions other than the Dry style, these include Extra and Export (click for a full list of products) . Over shadowed by its big Dry brother and easily made at home, Imperial, Sweet, Milk and Oatmeal stouts are categories enjoyed less, but still none the less fine beers.
| Style Basics |
|---|
| Dry Stout - HA Styles
Gravity's - 1.036- 1.055 Alcohol - 3-6 % Bitterness in IBU - 25-40 |
Having tasted what some may say is too much beer on my travels, it was not till last month that I tried my first Imperial Stout and Export. Milk stouts I have made and enjoyed absolutely. A brewer from the USA had traveled to OZ to see his daughter compete at the Olympics, and bought 2 cases out with him to share with my local club brethren and I. Each beer was a different style and he really demonstrated the diversity of beers available in the USA which we sadly lack. It was within this batch that I tasted my first Imperial Stout and Export, the later being one of the most refreshing stouts I have ever had. There was a lasting Hop presence that went so well with the rest of the dark malty package. A simple twist gave a fantastic result.
Whilst this months beer style is to be made for celebrating St Patricks day; the recipe being based on a Dry Stout, I still think that a bit of garage-induced invention is required. The justification is why not? If you would like to be "all traditional" take out the hops. If you can never help but tinker like me, well go for it.
Take a look at the information on the sidebars and please make any comments or ask any questions.
Happy Brewing!
Perspective
Two things, Guinness Draft is carbonated using NO2 not CO2, and mashing flaked barley helps to give a thick dense and creamy head.
But this is all related again to the perception that stout is defined by Draft Guinness. Now lets all free our brewing minds, and leave our expectations behind. A quick run to the fridge and grabbing another "latest and greatest" from the Garage should help in this process!
Another is that as the beer is dark, then it should knock you out with one glass. Stouts do not have to be killer concoctions with enough alcohol to kill a small animal. The starting gravity for Guinness Draft is only about 1.039, not an extremely alcoholic beverage by any reckoning. I have to admit that personally I do not favor beers that are particularly alcoholic. That neat taste of alcohol is something I do not like, hence my love of beer. Being bowled over in front of the telly after a post-work beer aint much fun either.
This beer is swaying from tradition by having a hop finish and the crystal is not traditional in the Dry / Guinness Draft Style. But a little sweetness is something I like and makes for easier drinking from me personally.
| Recipe Basics |
|---|
| Full Mash
pale grain 4 kg
hops- IBU 40 |
| Partial Mash
Pale Grain 1kg
|
| Malt Extract
LME 1.5kg
(this is at a guess and might be somewhat different) |
| Yeast |
| Yeast is a defining factor in any beer, and something in kit beers
that makes them fall short on their knees ( Mauri B514 is an ale yeast
commonly shipped in lager kit beers in Oz).
The biggest improvement I have made to my beers apart from dropping
Sugar and Dextrose is the use of good yeast. I started on White Labs and
have never strayed. Perhaps Wyeast would be worth a trial some time, but
my erratic and last minute brewing never lends itself to preparedness.
I like the idea of a direct pitch, and when things go easily pear shaped
on my weekends, one never knows if things
I have used WPL013 London Ale and been extremly happy with the reuslts.
WLP004 Irish Ale seems to
White labs site has lots of product info, so head to www.whitelabs.com for a look. |
| Water |
| Sydneys water is quite soft and the water in Stouts homelands tends to be quite hard. A teaspoon of Gypsom and some salts could be added. My keep it simple priciple leaves this up to yourselves. |
Historical Perspective
The most important development was in 1817 when a devise for roasting
barley and malt was patented allowing for the production of black patent
malt and roast barley. After this date the use of black
malt and barley in both porters and stouts became widespread practice.
Other characteristics of porter still have influence over stout. The dry bitterness of the style and the practice of "vatting". This is where aged and new beer is blended to give an aged character to the final product.
Guinness is such a powerful icon to the style of beer it is hard to
ignore the breweries own history. Arthur Guinness purchased the derelict
brewery at St. James gate in Dublin in 1759. The brewery was one of the
first in Dublin to brew Porter, and in 1799 ceased production of all other
beer types to become a Porter specialist. From here the business grew with
Guinness becoming a major exporter of
the London product.
The popularity of stout grew from there, eclipsing porter which headed towards near extinction if not for the reinvention and popularity of porter in home brewing in the USA. Guinness itself continued to make porter till 1974.
From there the rest is history. One of the most interesting and poignant things is the longevity of Guinness and the loyalty that the brand demands. As a beer style to make it is hard to go past, and as a beer to drink it is ooh so heavenly.
Let's Brew
| What You Need |
|---|
| Full Mash |
|
| Partial Mash |
|
| Malt Extract |
| Same as above.
- If boiling you need a pot large enough to boil in |
Mash Method
I usually use about 4 litres of water to a kilo of grain and approx. 20-24 litres for sparge. A litre or so of water will be absorbed by each kilo of grain and I run a hard boil so I loose a lot of water. This all depends on your system, and I think its better to be short a little on volume after the boil and top up rather than have too much at the end.
Sparge with water over 70c. As soon as I have about 5 litres of wort in the kettle I fire up the gas burner, partly to cut down on time as well its a waste to loose all that temperature from the mash.
Boil for an hour and cool as best as possible. 10-15 minutes before
the boil add in the flavour hops. I have a wort chiller, one of the best
toys I ever bought.
Partial Mash
Sparge using a couple of litres of water. A colander is a good trick, put some fly screen in if the holes are too big. Folks also use buckets with holes drilled in the bottom. Depends on the amount of grain really. Perhaps just mashing the flaked barley is a good place to start!
Boil with Hops for an hour. Make sure you have a large enough pot and be generous, a pot at 10 litres or more is a good place to start. Cool down and pitch yeast.
Extract
Brewing from malt extract you can achieve bitterness in 2 ways. The natural way requires you to boil all the ingredients with hops for at least 45 minutes.
The not so natural way is to use iso-hop. Kit beers are basically malt extract and iso-hop packaged up. Iso-hop is the cheats way and you do not really need to boil. But whereas the fun in that!
Make to the volume and pitch yeast
Links
Have a look at the list below for some info re Guinness and Stout
www.brewery.org
http://crash.tig.com.au/~andrew/guinness.html
http://www.guinness.ie/
http://www.ivo.se/guinness/
http://www.whitelabs.com
References
Kitsock. G, THe Incredible Staying Power of Guinness, in Vol. 21, No. 1, Spring 1998, Association of Brewers, Boulder Colarado.
Miller, D, The Complete Handbook of Home Brewing, Storey Communications, VErmont 1998.
Papazian, C, The New Complete Joy Of Homebrewing, 1991, Avon Books New York.
Turczyn, A, Guinness Draft, in, Zymurgy, Vol 23 No.2, April /March 2000,
Association of Brewers,
Boulder Colarado.