Dark of the Moon Cream Stout

Classification: stout, cream stout, extract

Source: Steve Slade (sslade@ucsd.edu) Issue #764, 11/20/91

I had originally planned for a single stage fermentation, with bottling a week after pitching. However, there was no time to bottle after a week, so I racked to a secondary glass carboy to get the beer out of the primary, which does not seal very well. The dry hopping should have been done in the secondary, but at the time I had no plans for using one. I suspect the hops did not spend much time in contact with the beer in the primary, as they got pushed up by the krausen and stuck to the walls. When I bottled 2 weeks after brewing, I tried what might be called "wet hopping." On the suggestion of sometime brew partner Mike Fetzer, I made a hop tea by steeping 1 ounce N. Brewer in 2 cups water after the water had just stopped boiling. This was kept covered for about 10 minutes. I bottled half the batch, then added the hop tea and bottled the second half. The bottles aged in my closet for two weeks before tasting.

This turned out to be a very nice dry stout. It is dark and thick, with a brown head that lasts to the end and sticks to the side of the glass. The "no tea" beer is not terribly aromatic, and has a noticable bitter aftertase. The "hop tea" beer is more aromatic, and has a smoother finish, with what I think is a better blend of flavors. My fiancee likes the "hop tea" beer better as well, but a friend who only likes dark beers likes the "no tea" beer better.

Ingredients:

5 pounds, dry dark malt extract
2 pounds, crystal malt 40L
1-1/2 pounds, crystal malt 20L
12 ounce, chocolate malt
4 ounces, roasted barley
6 ounces, dextrin powder
1/2 teaspoon, calcium carbonate
1/2 ounce, Eroica hops (20 BU)
1/4 ounce, Chinook hops (12 BU)
3/4 ounce, Nugget hops (12 BU) (subst. N. Brewer (? BU))
1 ounce, Cascade hops (5 BU)
1 ounce, Eroica hops (4 BU)
Wyeast #1098 British Ale yeast
1 cup DME for priming

Procedure:

Made a yeast starter 3 days before pitching. Used 2 tablespoons DME and 1 cup water. Next time use 2 cups water. Crack all grains and steep for 30 minutes at about 160 degrees along with the calcium carbonate. Strain out grains and sparge into about 2-1/2 gallons pre-boiled water. Total boil about 5 gallons. Add dry malt and dextrin and bring to a boil. Add 1/2 ounce of Eroica and 1/4 ounce of Chinook when boil starts. 30 minutes later add 3/4 ounce Nugget hops. Chill with an immersion chiller. Rack to a carboy, fill to 5 gallons and let sit overnight to allow the trub to settle out. The next morning rack it to a plastic primary, pitched the yeast starter, and add the 1 ounce of Cascades and Eroica hops.

Specifics:

O.G.: 1.053
F.G.: 1.020
Primary Ferment: 1 week
Secondary Ferment: 1 week