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40th Anniversary on Planet Earth Limited Edition Beer |
With an impending 4th decade looming on Mother Earth and the vice of Winter just around the corner I decided it was time to put down an attempt at a Dry Irish Coffee Stout with higher alcohol inspired by a recent tasting of something marvellous of similar nature at the AIBA.
@Crowbz set me up right at Grain & Grape with an Artisan Ale Hopped Fresh Worth Type 2 high bitterness worth made from a blend of Australian and imported pale and Vienna malts. 45 IBU bitterness from a mild neutral hop and a small late addition of German Hallertau.
In addition to the fresh wort kit I attempted my first mini-mash on the stove top with a grain bag and the following nutritious ingredients:
200g Simpson Chocolate
150g T.F. Pale Chocolate
200g Simpson Roast Barley
250g Simpson Cyrstal
250g Simpson Dark Crystal.
Some difficulty controlling the temperature on the stove at 68 degrees for 20 mins in the pressure pot but rather happy with result. During grain straining not securing the bag tie on the cupboard hooks well enough resulted in a ka-splosh back and loss of a fair bit of my precious stout wort - ARGGGHHH!!
Addition of 15g Target and 10g Cluster hops into the pot for boiling with some additional water and 300g of Dark Brown Sugar to lift the alcohol and give some candy sugar flavour. Again lack of attention by yours truly resulted in a boil over as boiling was reached and yet more precious wort loss - DOUBLE ARGGHH!!!
10 minutes boil time and another addition of 20g Target and 10g Cluster to steep for a couple of minutes before cooling and straining into the fermenter.
SG 1065 or 8% abv which was the aim and pitched in Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale yeast into the 19 litres of ready to go wort. Colour was dark so thats a good start. Next steps will be finding some great coffee for the late addition to the fermenter in a few days time.
Racked off just under 19 liters on Sun 20 May. Nice Colour and odour. FG 1010 and temp 16c. Planning to add coffee this time next week 24 hours prior to bottling.
Picked up some small batch "Cowpunchers" espresso beans from the lovely lads @Auction Rooms North Melbourne and pestle and mortar ground and infused a generous dose of coffee into the bright beer leaving for 24 hours before bottling. Thanks @crowbz and @auction rooms for the tips on that front.
First taste after 4 weeks in bottle and signs are good! Lovely fresh coffee aroma and bold roasted malt taste and alcohol is definitely there to balance the full flavours. Goes well with a hearty chicken casserole on a cold winters night! 4 degrees forecast tonight! Another one barman then a good single malt whiskey and bed for this brewer :-)
