Supercell Stout (Surefire Extract Recipe)

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OK, I didn’t have an American stout handy, so I used an old Irish dry stout picture instead. Interestingly, the foam on an American stout will be much darker as American stouts get their roast character from black malt. This colors the foam, unlike the roasted (unmalted) barley that is the dark grain in an Irish dry stout.

This is the third beer in the second series of Surefire Extract Beers. The first series presented five homebrew recipes that played to the strengths of malt extract and stovetop brewing methods. The second series continues this idea, and started with an English best bitter.

This beer is somewhat stronger than the other beers in this series, relying on the higher number of cells in a packet of dried yeast. It is an intensely roasty, aggressively hoppy stout, in some ways reminiscent of Sierra Nevada’s Stout and other similar American style stouts. I paired two distinctive American bittering hops — Chinook and Columbus — with Cascade for flavor and aroma.

With summer on its way, I named the stout after the large weather systems that tear through the American Midwest every year. As a kid, I used to love watching the lightning from a big thunderstorm. As an adult, I still love it . . . the only thing that’s changed is that now I have a beer in my hand while I watch.

 

Supercell Stout

American Stout

by Chris Colby

Extract; English units

 

DESCRIPTION

A dark, roasty, and fairly strong American-style stout, with lots of hops.

INGREDIENTS (for 5 gallons)

 

Water

carbon-filtered tap water

if you know your water to low in carbonates, add up to 1 tsp. sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to the water in which you steep the grains

Malt and Malt Extracts (for an OG of 1.064 and 28 SRM)

16 oz. black malt

3.0 oz. roasted barley (500 °L)

8.0 oz. crystal malt (60 °L)

5.0 oz. Munich malt (10 °L)

6 lb. 4 oz. light dried malt extract

Hops (for 55 IBU total)

Chinook hops (23 IBU)

0.50 oz., at 13% alpha acids, boiled for 60 minutes

Columbus hops (31 IBU)

0.50 oz., at 15% alpha acids, boiled for 60 minutes

Cascade hops (2 IBU)

0.50 oz., at 6% alpha acids, boiled for 5 minutes

Cascade hops (0 IBU)

0.50 oz., at 6% alpha acids, added at knockout

Yeast (for a FG of 1.016 and an ABV of 6.2%)

Fermentis Safale US-05 dried ale yeast

Option

1/2 tsp. Irish moss, boiled for 15 minutes

 

PROCEDURES

In your brewpot, begin heating 2.0 gallons of water to a boil. Aim to reach boiling when the grain steeping (actually a small mash) is done. In a separate, large (8-qt. or larger) pot, heat 2.8 qts. of water to 163 °F. Place crushed grains in a steeping bag and submerge in this second pot. Hold temperature around 152 °F for 60 minutes. In a third pot, heat 2.0 qts. of water to 170 °F to use as sparge water. After the grains have mashed, place a colander over your brewpot, set the grain bag in it and pour the wort through it (to filter out solid pieces of grain); then, rinse it with the sparge water. Stir in half of the malt extract and bring the wort to a boil. You should have about 3.0 gallons of wort. Do not let wort volume drop below 2.5 gallons during boil. (Top up with boiling water, if needed.) Once boil starts and the first bits of hot break show, add your bittering hops and boil for 60 minutes. Add remaining hops at times indicated. Add Irish moss with 15 minutes left in boil. Stir in the remaining malt extract in last 10 minutes. (Dissolve it in a small amount of wort first to make it easier to stir in.) Chill the wort to 68 °F and transfer it to your fermenter. Add cool water to make 5.0 gallons and aerate thoroughly. Pitch yeast and let ferment at 68 °F. Keg or bottle and carbonate to 2.5 volumes of CO2.

Screen Shot 2014-04-09 at 3.37.45 PM

 

Supercell Stout

American Stout

by Chris Colby

Extract; metric units

 

INGREDIENTS (for 19 L)

 

Water

carbon-filtered tap water

if you know your water to low in carbonates, add up to 1 tsp. sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to the water in which you steep the grains

Malt and Malt Extracts (for an OG of 1.064 and 28 SRM)

450 g black malt

85 g roasted barley (500 °L)

230 g crystal malt (60 °L)

140 g Munich malt (10 °L)

2.8 kg light dried malt extract

Hops (for 55 IBU total)

Chinook hops (23 IBU)

14 g, at 13% alpha acids, boiled for 60 minutes

Columbus hops (31 IBU)

14 g, at 15% alpha acids, boiled for 60 minutes

Cascade hops (2 IBU)

14 g, at 6% alpha acids, boiled for 5 minutes

Cascade hops (0 IBU)

14 g, at 6% alpha acids, added at knockout

Yeast (for a FG of 1.016 and an ABV of 6.2%)

Fermentis Safale US-05 dried ale yeast

Option

1/2 tsp. Irish moss, boiled for 15 minutes

 

PROCEDURES

In your brewpot, begin heating 7.5 L of water to a boil. Aim to reach boiling when the grain steeping (actually a small mash) is done. In a separate, large (8-L. or larger) pot, heat  2.7 L of water to 73 °C. Place crushed grains in a steeping bag and submerge in this second pot. Hold temperature around 67 °C for 60 minutes. In a third pot, heat 1.9 L of water to 77 °C to use as sparge water. After the grains have mashed, place a colander over your brewpot, set the grain bag in it and pour the wort through it (to filter out solid pieces of grain); then, rinse it with the sparge water. Stir in half of the malt extract and bring the wort to a boil. You should have about 11 L of wort. Do not let wort volume drop below 9.5 L during boil. (Top up with boiling water, if needed.) Once boil starts and the first bits of hot break show, add your bittering hops and boil for 60 minutes. Add remaining hops at times indicated. Add Irish moss with 15 minutes left in boil. Stir in the remaining malt extract in last 10 minutes. (Dissolve it in a small amount of wort first to make it easier to stir in.) Chill the wort to 20 °C and transfer it to your fermenter. Add cool water to make 19 L and aerate thoroughly. Pitch yeast and let ferment at 20 °C. Keg or bottle and carbonate to 2.5 volumes of CO2.

 

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Comments

  1. I wondered where you disappeared to Chris …. I’d appreciate it if you could add an AG option at the end of you extract recipe (Supercell Stout), so that those of us who can’t afford LME/DME extracts can brew an AG version – i.e. we would be able to brew the same recipe via AG rather than extracts.

  2. Almost all recipes come in both brewing types – I understand the title of the article, but I agree provide an All Grain equivalent recipe. Thanks for your time and consideration in this matter.
    Hoss

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