My TOP 5 Tips and Tricks For Brewing EXCELLENT STOUTS and PORTERS

[@utopia.exploring]

Living in a location where its "stout season" nearly every month (The colorado high country) I probably brew more dark beers than any other! While I've been brewing, and designing, my own recipes for 10+ years, I really do enjoy watching these. Mostly for validation that I do actually know what I'm doing But also because every so often I find little tips and trips to help me get better! Thank you for constantly putting these out...I can tell you that my next stout will def be adding my dark grains in the Mash Out phase!

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

I am glad you find these videos so useful! Adding the dark grains at the end of the mash really does make a world of difference!

[@vruychev]

There are endless possibilities to brew a specific style, but these videos with general guidance and tips are absolutely essential to prevent major failures. And for a beer that can be very pricy to brew, this helps the pocket too 😉 Cheers, happy brewing and I am thankful for your channel and dedication 🍺

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

100% true, and malt is getting more and more expensive nowadays. Cheers and glad you enjoyed the video!

[@CityscapeBrewing]

My next beer is definitely going to be a porter! I need a dark beer on tap for these winter months! Great video! Thanks! 🍻👍

[@edwardmeradith2419]

It’s good to hear what the stouts are about- nutritious and delicious 😋

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Thanks Ed! I'll save some for you!

[@insaneshadow1]

Great video and happy thanksgiving! I always enjoy watching your videos. Im going to attempt your Dark Saison next! I dont make stouts that often, as I tend to focus on dark lager. My "house" dark lager is 80% Barke Munich, 5% Carafa special 2 (or 10% midnight wheat) and the rest Barke Pilsner. Its somewhere between a too roasty Dunkel and too malty schwarzbier, but its wonderful up here in cold Minnesota. I use 34/70 and get it down to 1.010 FG starting from 1.050 OG with 23 IBU.

[@bobmckoolky5346]

Bro you're a badass! I'm a new brewer, so the idea of a dark lager just blew my effing mind.

[@insaneshadow1]

@bobmckoolky5346 very kind of you! I pressure ferment in a fermzilla and it turns out awesome everytime

[@pmhartel]

Stouts are a beer I'll have one every once in awhile. When I've made them in the past, the keg basically refused to kick and over stayed its welcome. Nowadays If I'm in the mood for a stout I'll go grab some cans from a local brewery.

[@chrisnewman861]

Reducing the aging time by adding the dark grains late in the mash is an interesting concept. This alone is reason to give it a go I reckon..

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

No need to mellow the flavors for as long. Still needs a little time but not as much

[@BlichmannEngineering]

Great insights. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

[@ClausLucking]

Another option I can highly recommend is to use cold extraction of the darkest malts over night before brewday. Water to grain ration 3,5 : 1. Filter out the grains and trub and add the dark wort at boil end just to have it sanitized. You will still get all the sugar content from those malts btw. And you will have a very smooth character then from those roasted malts. Do it with all the roasted malts or with just some of them depending on your whishes.

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Great technique to add the recommendation for!

[@BeetsByHometownBrew]

I can picture this being a go-to method for introducing your darks into a tropical. I have searched the world for a clone recipe for Belikin Stout, to no avail. This sounds like it's one piece of that puzzle.

[@ClausLucking]

@@BeetsByHometownBrew Exactly. I use it also for Black IPA with great success.

[@austenbach3356]

Boil time! You want that mailliard reaction, and th length of boiling time is KEY to high gravity stouts

[@troykase9472]

Thanks for the video. I just made a stout from a recipe that I have made many times before. Similar grains and ratios as you mentioned. Previously, I did not check my PH. I checked it yesterday, and. . . it was 4.9! I did not try to adjust since I like the sharp flavors that this imparts. However, 4.9 is pretty low, and it concerns me. My efficiency was in the low 70s.

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

I'm sure it will be fine. If its in the middle of fermentation its not going to give you any real useful info. Ideally beer pH is around 4-4.2 when fermentation is complete. 5.0-5.5 for the mash pH and 5.2 going into the fermenter.

[@gerardnatale2387]

I have perfected my Chocolate oatmeal stout recipe and I am now following your last bit of advice. I'm being patient and waiting for T day to tap into it. Have a nice Thanksgiving Steve!

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Cheers! Hope you have a great Thanksgiving!

[@ZukaraTheGame]

I have a porter chilling in my garage and I can't wait to bottle it up. Hoping it tastes similar to founders Porter

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

You'll have to let me know how it turns out!

[@BeetsByHometownBrew]

Recently tried "Forged" Irish Stout, and it was excellent. Even better was that I only paid 4 bucks for that pint. Now, all this stout talk has me wanting to plan a trip to Belize. If you haven't been, you ought to. Belikin stout is hands down the best macro stout I've ever had. It hits by the poolside, or on the beach. Smooth & crushable. Real deal. I reached out to them, but got no response. It's my holy graille of recipes. Help me out if you know any dudes, who might know some dudes..

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Tropical stout!! Something I have yet to really brew or dive into but sounds awesome!

[@BeetsByHometownBrew]

@@TheApartmentBrewer All your help would be greatly appreciated. I think, the reason I failed at my first attempt at a stout, was because I was trying to get too specific, before having the basics down. Looking forward to a possible Tropical Stout video. It's a way underrated, and underappreciated stout style, but probably my fave.

[@curtpick628]

Happy Thanksgiving, Steve ! 🦃🦃 🍺 🍻

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Happy Thanksgiving to you too!

[@oliverekeland7003]

I really want to brew an imperial stout with Belgian yeast, maybe Lallemand Abbey. But it might be a good idea to start with a 5-6% version first to test the flavors. If I do that, can I just double the malt while keeping the same ratio? And what about the IBU? Is it a bad idea to add 5-10% sugar to the imperial version?

[@wheelsnipe-chelly1221]

Awesome video and just in time for me to make my first porter. Quick question when you say to let the dark malts steep for 15 mins, do you mean the 15mins of mash out (170f) or 15 mins left in the mash? Thanks for the awesome video!

[@BeetsByHometownBrew]

I like to collect some wort at around 40 minutes, and let my dark grains steep on the side, @140-150, in a seperate pot. I'll add the steeped liquid back into the tun before knock out, if I'm doing one. I avoid knock out addition, because excess heat could also lead to astringency with the darks.

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Whatever your mash schedule is, just don't steep them in the mash for the whole time. Whether its mashout or just the end of a single temperature mash it should be fine.

[@BeetsByHometownBrew]

Just spotted this little gem. Credit to: @ClausLucking 4 hours ago *Another option I can highly recommend is to use cold extraction of the darkest malts over night before brewday.* Water to grain ration 3,5 : 1. Filter out the grains and trub and add the dark wort at boil end just to have it sanitized. You will still get all the sugar content from those malts btw. And you will have a very smooth character then from those roasted malts. Do it with all the roasted malts or with just some of them depending on your whishes.

[@markteeling8598]

Is it better to cold condition or is it alright to condition at room temperature😁

[@markluxton3402]

My well water PH is around 7 due to calcium. I noticed the drop in PH while mashing after already correcting the PH of my water. I wonder if it would be wiser for me when making a porter to simply not correct the PH and allow the acidic dark grains to do the correcting? Will the mash bring down a PH of 7 enough? Maybe just correct my PH a little bit; down to 6? For pilsner I will need to filter, distill or purchase "RO" water which I think is made locally from a very bad town water supply. I will have to dig deeper into this local source. I do not want water stored in plastics in any case.

[@victorvannatter312]

I did one just a few weeks ago. A bit different than yours though. 54% pils 18% 2 row 11% chocolate malt 11% flaked oats. 5.5% crystal 30L I have since learned that 11% chocolate milk may have been a bit too much. Lol. There is some astringency but this is a very tasty beer. It came out to 5.4% and finished at 1.014. Bitter with Centennial And aroma with Spalt. Came out to 36IBU. I used verdant yeast so it's quite fruity

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Yummm that sounds delicious. There is quite a wide range of chocolate malts, could be fun to try it with pale chocolate/coffee malt next time!

[@victorvannatter312]

@ thanks. It was my first beer. Turned out really well. Also made a golden ale the same day. That one isn't particularly good. Lol. But still drinkable and fun making it

[@StratoJohn]

I decided to brew a black lager this winter instead of a stout, as time goes on and it lagers longer, the roast character has become a bit too powerful unfortunately. It'll still get finished off though! 🍺

[@BeetsByHometownBrew]

I just did a dark lager, as well. I went easy as I could on the dark malt to achieve the color, and added it late. It's become our go-to keg between the wife & I. I also did a Brut IPA around the same time, and the dark lager is great on it's own, it's perfectly balanced and not too roasty, but it blends famously with the IPA. It's quite the interesting combo of flavor.

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Getting that soft dark roast character is so hard sometimes. Best success I've had with it was with a very brief steep at the end of the mash with debittered roasted malts when I made my Czech Dark Lager. Alternatively you could try using Weyermann Sinamar to get the effect!

[@garagebrewingsince2020]

Killing Moon 25L 5.2 kg pale ale 550g Chocolate Crisp 50g Mandarina Bavaria 1 Lallemand Nottingham 🤖👽🍺🇧🇷

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

That sounds really delicious!

[@garagebrewingsince2020]

@@TheApartmentBrewer Sim, uma cerveja fantástica, faço NO CHILL e fermentação sob pressão, é uma cerveja viciante, temos vontade de toma-la todos os dias.

[@leroygross9144]

Would you rather use distilled water over RO water if it was easier to get your hands on it?

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

I think so. They're so similar but RO takes forever to collect, and I don't have anywhere nearby that sells it packaged

[@oliverekeland7003]

I made an oatmeal stout with kveik. The pH was correct after the mash, but I think Kveik drops the pH lower than other yeasts. It has a slight acidity in the taste that shouldn't be there. Staljen kveik.

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Yeah kveiks will do that. Could try dry hopping with something like Willamette or northern brewer to bring the pH back up

[@goodolarchie]

I feel like stouts and porters are great styles for somebody just starting all grain brewing can get great results. They are way more forgiving around oxygen, attenuation (bad yeast management), and even poor recipe design. Even my bad early stouts were good if not great after like 3-4 months of aging in bottles or kegs. I remember the third beer I ever brewed, I thought I'd be cute and bottle my malted milk chocolate stout (that's malted milk powder in lieu of straight lactose in the boil) with a Whopper (malted milk ball) in each. It was horrible after 3 weeks, and incredible after 5-6 months, I wish I still had some bottles of that.

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

It's true, if the pH works out they can be incredibly hardy and forgiving styles!

[@markcerne1313]

Will a debittered dingemans 530 lovibond add much bitterness? i plan on it in a dark beer next year

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

I have no experience with that malt, but as all dark malts, it does have the potential to increase astringency. I imagine it would be very similar to carafa III.

[@markcerne1313]

@TheApartmentBrewer thank you! I found a website that claims this malt that has no husks wont have much astringency but high roasty aromas The malt is called Mroost1400 debittered

[@vorakam3]

I think fermenting at lowest side of temperature range for specific yeast could be a good tip for these styles too. I can't think of Stout or Porter that would benefit from ester and fusel notes 😂

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Great tip to add here. I definitely agree!

[@tjf42193]

I love stouts and porters , red ales as well, I don’t like IPA

[@Wind_Ninja_Jubei]

Missed the most important thing. Your recipe that you considered your best stout

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Well, the best stout that judges think I made was my NHC medal winning Irish Stout of 2022, but the one I preferred the most was the robust porter I made last year. I am also very partial to the maple coffee stout shown in this video.

[@Wind_Ninja_Jubei]

Cheers I think I remember that porter. I haven't made it but I will check it out again​@@TheApartmentBrewer

[@Trollllsvans]

Be sure to brew enough of it, at least for aging on wood; some greedy git will be there taking samples frequently, nibbling away at your black gold.

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

Haha this is a solid tip!

[@VelkyAl]

Personal heresy, crystal malts have no place in my porters or stouts, give me a blend of biscuit and brown malts instead.

[@TheApartmentBrewer]

To each their own!