The Imperial After Dinner Stout

As long as I've been drinking beer Porters and Stouts have always held a place close to my heart. I don't know if it's because the climate is dull and gloomy and so a rich dark and sometimes warming but cold beverage is perfect, or because of some more historical reasons. There they remain. I knew I always wanted to brew a dark beer, a Porter or Stout or both or the same. Whatever you choose to call a dark, rich roasted bittersweet beer, with notes of coffee, liquorice and chocolate and sometimes with a dry and bitter finish. There is a Porter or Stout variant out there to suit any and all tastes.

After nearly ten years of neglect, I decided it was time to rediscover my love of brewing and get back into 'All Grain' home brewing as opposed to using malt extracts and other shortcuts. I wanted to create recipes from the ground up, my very own inventions so to speak. 

With a home brewing guide from the 1980s and a vast inventory of ingredients and equipment I began my task. 

With very basic knowledge of brewing apart from what I'd studied at college years ago, I used my instincts and the experience I had picked up working in the service side of the booze industry for a decade or so. I knew what I wanted my beers to taste like and being an incredibly practical person, there was only one outcome.

To save you form boredom and get to the point of this post, I'll summarise what happened next. My first Pale Ale was a disaster, I put it down to lack of preparation. My second Pale Ale, based on a classic 'West Coast APA' (American Pale Ales, Something like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale) turned out to be less hoppy, maltier and sweeter than expected and came in much higher than I wanted so I diluted it at the boil stage too much thinking I'd ruined it, then worse still I spilt all but one 330ml bottles worth on the floor. Let's just say I learned after those two mistakes and my next Pale was great, even a year on it still had something going for it. My Porter albeit a little low on the carbonation was outstanding, especially for something that was under 5%, in fact it was better than any other Porter I'd been drinking around the time so my small 5L brew lengths ran out in a matter of days. I brewed more, and again, they soon went. 

One could say that I got a bit cocky but I felt like changing things up a bit. It wasn't that I was bored of classic recipes, I'd just seen a lot of really cool and different takes of classic styles from working at Real Ale, one of the original and best bottle shops in the UK.

It was upon eating a particularly famous 'Wafer Thin' after dinner mint that I had an idea. I'm sure the style exists somewhere but I've not had one yet, so I wrote a recipe for mine.

I named it 'The After Dinner Stout', a Mint and Chocolate Milk Stout, at about 6-6.5%. I wanted to use fresh mint as I don't really like the flavour you get from extracts or essence. Some roasted cacao nibs for a real chocolatey hit and some lactose to add sweetness to balance out a potentially bitter beer. It was delicious, perfect, everything I wanted in a 330ml bottle. If you don't like the style, or mint or chocolate or lactose intolerant then not for you but if you do, it was lovely. It was deep, dark, rich, roasty, chocolatey, velvety smooth with a sweet start ending in a dry and mellow bitter finish with enough mint to clean it all up. It was simply put, a cleansing desert in a glass. I took a couple of bottles in to work to give the guys a taste and they loved it. It wasn't long until we upscaled it from 5L to 450L. 

About a year after that brew, I felt there was only one thing that I could do for my birthday beer... An Imperial version. The Imperial After Dinner Stout. Having never brewed an Imperial Stout before I was a little worried, how would I achieve my desired ABV, body, sweetness, chocolateyness and last of all, mint. The homebrew version was minty fresh, the full batch was not quite as minty but still fairly pronounced. I was still set on using only fresh mint as I feel extracts tend to taste more mouthwash like and have an almost false flavour of mint. 

Firstly it was about the mash and grain. I'd done a lot of reading into recipes, mashing techniques and the like, most of which didn't really translate over to our kit and the idea of doing a 'single infusion' mash without any steps. With severe limitations on the amount of grain we can fit into the mash tun and also the unknown of potential extract, it was a bit of a gamble to say the least. Having recently done a couple of big beers, around the 8% mark, using around 380kg of grain, we knew we could fit a bit more in, just. The recipe I'd created had 400kg, 15kg larger than our previous biggest mash. 

The grist was set, there was to be no lactose. The smoothness of the mouthfeel and body was going to come from a mix of grains and naturally from the perceived sweetness of alcohol.

Mashing in dry, physically stirring in 400kg of grist into a mash tun that you can barely reach over with steam and splashing and many other hazards made the process much harder than usual. A little over half an hour later and with my arms feeling as if they were not there, or real, as if somewhere between hauling the 25kg sacks up a couple of steps or stirring it with a paddle as it plopped onto the surface, they had falling off without me knowing. After setting a timer, we all perched on the platform and gazed into the mash tun. I made a mental note that there was enough space for at least another whole grain sack in there, I think the others did too.

A long mash time and long wort recirculation ensured the highest possible extract and conversion of starches and colour. The first runnings came in at about 1.119 and were as viscous as crude oil and shockingly sweet. Perfect I thought, I would have loved to have used only that but then we would have been left with around 500L of fermentable wort which after yeast, dumping and packaging, would have given us next to no beer at all.

The transfer was smooth, the kettle was filled just above the 1000L mark, a little extra for any boil off. The hops were fairly simple and nothing overpowering or flavoursome. The beer was about the malt, the chocolate and the mint, hops were only present for their bittering and I suppose preserving qualities, not that the 10+% wouldn't do that anyway.

The most complicated aspect of the entire brew was the yeast. We were experimenting with the White LABS Super High Gravity yeast strain (apparently from Thomas Hardy's Ale) as a secondary yeast addition. The aim was to ferment with a neutral and clean yeast, we used Safale US-05 (California Ale) yeast as the primary. Lots of oxygen is pumped through the wort as it journeys from the kettle to the fermentation vessel via the heat exchange and over an aeration stone. The flow rate was higher than usual and we used a little more yeast nutrients than we would have done for a lower ABV beer. This primary fermentation would see the beer go from its original gravity of 1.089 to about 1.045 were we would then pitch the super high gravity starter to do the rest of the work. It has a much higher tolerance to alcohol and pH so was perfectly suited to this application. The starter was made with fresh wort from another brew at about 1.052 so the yeast would in no way be shocked by a massive increase in sugars or alcohol. the partially fermented wort, which could at this stage have been called beer, albeit it a very sweet and yeasty one, was pumped full of oxygen as we added the starter. There was no immediate difference but a more steady decline in sugars ending low and finishing the beer with a neutral yeast character and leaving it sitting at 10.4%.

After collecting the yeast we added 3kg of medium roast cacao nibs and about 100g of bruised fresh mint. That was about three days before packaging. 

The beer bottled very well, a good level of carbonation, perhaps some may view it as being slightly higher than normal for an Imperial Stout but I'm happy with the mouthfeel. The kegs are divine, unfortunately we only managed to get about nine after bottling several hundred 750ml bottles. 

I am really happy with the end result. The aroma is rich, roasted coffee and dark chocolate, the mouthfeel is not so viscous like some big Stouts and is silky smooth, almost creamy with a clean and dry finish. The palate screams chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, maybe even a bit more chocolate. It is sweet but not too sweet, it's not astringent or overly bitter and I think the mint really lightens it on the finish. Overall I think it is fantastic, but then again it is one of my brews and therefor I should. My only criticism of it is that the mint is lacking. There isn't quite enough on the nose or palate and I would have loved it if the finish had an almost lingering mint feel on the tongue.

Ultracrepidarian

Noting or pertaining to a person who criticizes, judges, or gives advice outside their area of his or her expertise.

2016 was a big year for discovery, discovering how many people out there who are self professed know-it-alls even when, to be honest, they don't know their turnip from their swede. It's a common mistake but I think it also makes a quite funny joke.

I don't know much about politics so try and steer clear of any kind of political debate. I don't know that much about religion apart from what I was taught as school so I try not to get involved in debates about religion. There are lots of things that I have no idea about so I don't bother getting bogged down in a pointless argument about when I don't have any feet to stand on. The problem is, some people do. 

When I ran a pub, I eavesdropped on all sorts of conversations, more frequently than I ever thought possible was when people were talking about something they actually didn't know anything about. It was almost like they were getting heated in argument for the sake of it rather than sharing knowledge or differing views on something they know about. If I knew what they were talking about I'd leave it as long as I could, if it was really inaccurate or just completely wrong I'd have to interject or in some cases that I'm not proud of, rudely interrupt. 

Being a beer blog, it seems only fitting that I mention beer. There have been a lot of inaccuracies, maybe even far too many than there should be. If you claim to call yourself a 'self professed' 'beer writer' then a good place to start if you don't know absolutely everything about the subject would be to do some research. Even a small amount doesn't hurt. 
I'm not calling myself an 'expert' or anything but after about two years as a commercial brewer, a decade on or off homebrewing and extensive reading into the sciences behind various processes, I know enough to get by. I've not had any education in brewing but have had the luxury of putting my reading and research into practise, sometimes on full scale brews. I don't know the chemical compositions of various esters or phenols, nor do I know all of the alpha and beta acids so I'm not going to get involved in any serious discussion about them, without doing any research beforehand. 

There are beer writers or bloggers out there that have honest opinions and do not necessarily know everything that they are writing about but don't get into enough detail to be so wrong that it verges on being silly. Then there are those that get so into it and do such thorough and extensive research that it really pays off. Pete Brown is one of the latter. I've not read any of his books but a lot of my friends have, one particular had only good things to say about his book 'Hops And Glory'. The idea that this guy (Pete) wants to know uncover the truth about the mythical IPA, so much that he journeys from Burton to India carrying a barrel of an original recipe IPA. That is a true love of beer and history, fact and fiction, anything and everything that one should put themselves through to create something truly magical. He went to such great lengths so that we the readers can have a most enjoyable experience possible. Sharing what he learned along the way with all of us. Be it a little extreme, it's that kind of thing (on a somewhat smaller scale) that we should all be doing before we chose to try and enlighten others about something we don't fully know ourselves.

The moral of this story is; if you are going to write about and have strong opinions about something, at least have the courtesy to do little research before.

There is a lot more I have to learn about beer and brewing, that it why I'm still reading, watching and listening to as much as I can, putting some to practise. There is always more to learn than what you might think, therefore there is more work for me to do. I just bought a copy Hops and Glory, that's a start.

When did the idea of a Balanced Beer Die?

About two years ago I first asked myself:

Why when coming up with a beer recipe and brewing the beer would you create something that was from the moment of conception unbalanced?

What I mean when I say that is that, very similar to food and wine, a beer should always be balanced. That is the sweetness, bitterness and any other adjuncts and/or flavours and ingredients used should all be in harmony with one another. The biggest and most popular examples can be Milk Stouts and Double IPAs. A Milk Stout will often use Lactose, a milk sugar that is non fermentable with standard saccharomyces strains so it leaves the beer with thick, sometimes syrupy sweetness, it softens and increases the body of the beer as well as giving a sweet finish. The lactose is in most cases there to balance the beer against the bitterness achieved from the use of coffee in many forms and/or cacao nibs a.k.a chocolate. Not all Milk Stouts will use coffee or chocolate but all contain lactose, sometimes it can just be used to add sweetness to offset the bitterness and astringency from roasted and kilned malts. A few great examples of Milk Stouts; Milk Shake Stout by Wiper and True, Bristol, UK. Milk Stout by Left Hand Brewing Company, Colorado, USA, or if you like them even smoother than their Milk Stout Nitro is a fantastic variant. Last but not least is Jet Black Heart by Brewdog, Scotland, UK, it was one of the prototype series that supposedly one a vote to become one of the core beers, they too do a Nitro version.

I have tried numerous Milk Stouts that haven't been anywhere near as good. Some are somehow hot with the lactose failing to compensate for the esters and boozy burn, which I thought would have been difficult to achieve from a sub 6% beer. Some are way too sweet from a what can only be described as a lack of understanding about what lactose is and how to use it. I know it can be used in secondary fermentation or even during the boil, both times get very similar results. Some of the sweet ones are so overly sweet that they become almost impossible to drink unless you have some sadistic tendencies and love to visit the dentist or just generally like sweet things. Another common problem with Milk Stouts can be from not using enough lactose, the bitterness can be too overpowering that after a few sips all you can taste is charcoal toast or burnt, overcooked coffee. I can only stress again, the importance of balance in beers.

Now another style that is way too frequently brewed with no consideration for any balance whatsoever. I'm not going to get into the debate of Clear vs Hazy at this stage but I'm sure at some point I'll get involved in the debate. I can get fairly heated on that topic but it's not the right time for that now.

Where do I begin, I suppose from its beginning. There probably is somewhere out there a database for the creation of every beer style, listing breweries, beers etc.. if not then there should be. You can argue all you want about who created the style, where and why but to put it most simply, there are a few stand out beers from the dawn of its creation. Pliny The Elder by Russian River, California, USA, including a lovely little write up about the beer, style and the man himself. I've not had the luxury of ever trying this beer and am still waiting for the opportunity to get my hands on a bottle, with all hop forward beers, the fresher the better. Another fine example of a beer that is often credited with being around at the time of the creation of the Double IPA is Ruination by Stone, California, USA. The link is for Ruination 2.0 which is a newer variant on the original Ruination. I have tried many bottles of Ruination which unfortunately were all old, the hop aroma had gone and the beer had started to oxidise leaving an almost unpleasant palate. It wasn't until the UK launch of the beers coming out of Stone Berlin that I got to try a fresh batch of what is now Ruination 2.0. the can must have been only three or four weeks old and oh my was it good. Intensely hoppy on the nose, some citrus fruit and pine. To taste it was equally as incredible, superbly balanced for such a big beer, by big I'm talking about the theoretic IBU's of over 100, not the abv. It is boozy but at 8.5% nothing that is gonna make you cry, you wouldn't be able to tell it has that amount of alcohol. It is such a clean beer, you can taste all the hops, the cheeky Simcoe and Citra coming through and adding a tropical fruity edge to the dankness. I've never had a bottle of Enjoy By, which I'm told is even better, a links to examples of Enjoy By. Then there's 90 Minute IPA, by Dogfish Head, Delaware, USA. Again, another beer I'm yet to try. I have had the 60 Minute IPA which is there 6% IPA and that was sublime. It's not that I haven't seen the 90 Minute IPA around, I just don't want to try one that isn't fresh as it would not be a fair taste test of what the beer really should be. 

All of the above beers, are Double IPAs with varying abvs and IBUs but have a few things in common. Big noses, big bodies and big on the bitterness. From being a pale straw to a golden or amber beer, having a malty backbone with a dry finish or light, clean and crisp, they are all massively big on the hops, so much that as soon as you open the bottles you get a big slap in the face by hops... hops, hops, hops.

The first thing you get is the aroma, massive on the hops. Quite often dank but with some tropical fruit and citrus cutting through. When you pour it out into a glass the bubbles bring the rest of the oils to the surface increasing the aroma, almost past the point you thought was possible. It's another point to argue but I feel glassware is important, especially with IPAs. There's a reason that glass manufacture Spiegelau has been working with Sierra Nevada and Dogfish Head in the development of such a glass. As soon as the glass gets close to your mouth, your nose gets right into the glass, then it touches your lips. The golden liquor slides past your now wet lips and into you mouth coating your salivated tongue. Your met with malty sweetness, a smooth mouthfeel, the kind you get from just the right amount of alcohol, fruity hops, then dankness and sweat. After the first sip you pull the glass away and the beer changes, the initial sweetness is washed away by the acids and hop oils leaving a drying and bitter finish. The right amount of bitterness is key to balance the initial sweetness and leave the finish dry. The hops remain throughout but your longing for more. After every sip it happens again and again. Each time just like the last, Groundhog day for your tongue.

That is what true Double IPAs were like, it's the style from birth, balanced yet at the same time intensely hoppy.

My problem now lies with some modern examples of the Double IPA style. The main problem being balance. Some can be so claggy that even a single can or bottle becomes a right old pain and hard to finish. These can often be thick, almost mud like, a vast majority of the hazy/murky IPAs and Double IPAs tend to be like this. Some can be cloying, similarly to the overly sweet Milk Stouts, that level of sweetness is for the sweet-toothed. On the opposite end of the spectrum you get the ones that are too dry or too bitter. Sometimes this can be from the beer attenuating further than expected so that the dryness/sweetness and bitterness is not in a state of equilibrium, much further onto the side of almost and quite often harsh and unpalatable bitterness. I can liken the bitterness and dryness to the same feeling you get from sucking on the wooden paddle you get on some ice cream lollypops. If the brewer sets out to create a beer that is far from the original style of the Double IPA then perhaps the beer should have a new name and not fall into the same category as some are already causing all sorts of confusion. 

A great piece by Mark Dredge on bitterness in beer.

http://www.pencilandspoon.com/2012/11/forgot-ibu-think-about-bugu.html

The one thing I cannot and will never be able to say with any certainty is what beer is best. There can be closest to style, biggest aroma, best mouthfeel etc... but none of them can compare to the overall balance of the beer. Everybody can and does have differing tastes when it comes to beers, some prefer them one way, say sweet, whilst others might prefer them on the dryer and bitter side.

I don't think I'm alone when I say, you can like any beer you choose but when it comes to particular styles, the best (not just in my opinion) are those that are closest to style balanced to perfection.