Pine Stout advice?

[bluerwaters]

Hi, all. I’ve been brewing for a bit and am trying to get better at making my own recipes.

I’m looking forward to a good winter dark beer and haven’t brewed a stout yet. I’m going for a holiday-type beer but rather than overdo the spice thing (I already have a pumpkin ale going), I really want to get a good pine forest flavor and aroma. I have 3 oz of Chinook to work with - I’d originally wanted to try spruce tips but didn’t harvest any in spring. I like the idea of dark malts and herbaceous hops and figure I should try it.

I’m not sure about my grain bill here. I have a few pounds of dry amber extract I could use to bring up the gravity and a few ounces each of different leftover grains from brews past, but I don’t necessarily want an imperial monster. I thought I’d toss in some oats for a bit more body (though if anyone has used the liquid dark extract and could comment on the mouthfeel, I would adjust accordingly).

Also, I’m considering adding some juniper berries at the end…but not too sure about that.

Does anything look too far off? Any wise words to offer?

Any feedback or advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

6.00 lb Liquid Malt Extract - Dark
0.75 lb Roasted Barley
0.75 lb Chocolate Malt
1.30 lb Flaked Oats

1.00 oz Chinook (60 min) Hops
0.50 oz Chinook (10 min) Hops
0.50 oz Chinook (5 min) Hops
1.00 oz Chinook (0 min) Hops

1 Pkgs Safale 04

[brew_meister_smith]

I’m not an extract brewer so I could be way off base here.

Why would you need to use dark malt extrat when you have 1.5 lbs of roasted grains? Couldn’t (or shouldn’t) you just use pale extract for your fermentables?

Again, I have only used extracts a few times so my knowledge is week in this area.

[bluerwaters]

So I was looking at both extract recipe guidelines from Joy of Homebrewing, which does include roasted malt on top of a fair amount of dark extract (about a pound or so, but I’d also like a bit of a chocolate note), and the kit components here and saw that they can go either way…some have the light extract but some will still use dark, and on top of dark will still sometimes use roasted components. In all honesty, though, I happen to have dark extract on hand at the moment and not the light stuff. I’m actually a bit worried about overdoing it.

[brew_meister_smith]

@Bluerwaters

So I was looking at both extract recipe guidelines from Joy of Homebrewing, which does include roasted malt on top of a fair amount of dark extract (about a pound or so, but I’d also like a bit of a chocolate note), and the kit components here and saw that they can go either way…some have the light extract but some will still use dark, and on top of dark will still sometimes use roasted components. In all honesty, though, I happen to have dark extract on hand at the moment and not the light stuff. I’m actually a bit worried about overdoing it.

If you see other recipes that use the dark in this way it could be fine. My first instict would be that it could be over the top, but like I said, extract is not my thing.

Looking through Brewing Classic Styles quickly, I don’t think I see any dark beers / stouts etc that actually use dark extract for the base. All have specialty grains doing the work.

Hopefully someone else will chime in here who can be more help than I. As long as the dark malt does not throw off the ballance in any great way, you might as well use what you have.

[bluerwaters]

Ok, so here’s what I did brew day:

10 oz Chocolate malt
6 oz Roasted barley
1.3 lbs rolled oats
60 min @ 155

Then added 6 lbs Dark LME

.75 oz Chinook at 60
.75 oz Chinook at 15
.5 oz Chinook at 0
.5 oz lightly crushed juniper berries at 0

The bubbles through the airlock have made the room smell delicious, but also mostly like gin. Can’t wait to see how this ends up…

[brew_meister_smith]

[quote=“Bluerwaters”]Ok, so here’s what I did brew day:

10 oz Chocolate malt
6 oz Roasted barley
1.3 lbs rolled oats
60 min @ 155

Then added 6 lbs Dark LME

.75 oz Chinook at 60
.75 oz Chinook at 15
.5 oz Chinook at 0
.5 oz lightly crushed juniper berries at 0

The bubbles through the airlock have made the room smell delicious, but also mostly like gin. Can’t wait to see how this ends up…[/quote]

Let us know how it turns out. I’m just curious at this point. I always link stout and whisky as going well together - not stout and gin. So it should be interesting.

[bluerwaters]

Will do! I hope the juniper and Chinook play well together.

[craftbeerfan]

I’ve gotten a taste of Pine Stout from CraftBeerKings few months ago. I did promise myself I would brew this myself when I get the chance. Thanks for the recipe!