I am an extract brewer wanting to move to partial mash. On a scale of I to 10, where a dry stout is 1 and a sweet is 10; what I want is a 4. Call it a very mellow Guinness. What I am considering is 2lbs English 2 row, 1lb of malted oats(malted not flaked), 4 to 6 lbs light or amber liquid extract, 1lb of roast barley cool steeped, strained and added to boil. Hops target 20 to 40 IBUs, preferably an English hop. White Labs Irish Ale Yeast WLP004. Any help, critique, comment, or advice appreciated.
Welcome to the forum.
Overall, it looks like you are on the right track. It is actually very difficult to get a stout as dry as Guinness, and perhaps impossible using extract. So your 4-6 lbs of LME will sweeten it some, though I don’t know if it will hit 4, 3 or 5 on your sweetness scale.
You might want to consider using less roasted barley. 1 lbs is at the high end for a beer like this - between 1/2 and 1 lb is typical. Higher amounts of roasted barley will add astringency which will be perceived by the tongue as making the beer seem dryer, and you don’t want it very dry.
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I will now admit my secret fondness for Cascade hops and chocolate malt. So Cascade may not be appropriate here but what about a 1/2lb of roast barley and 1/2lb chocolate malt? Or 60/40 roast/chocolate?
The partial mash oatmeal stout kit from NB would be an easy way to go. It’s definitely not as dry as Guinness. I’ve made it twice and it’s been excellent both times.
Paul
Could work either way. I like chocolate malt too, and it will give the finished beer more “richness” and less astringency than using roast barley by itself for the roast flavor.
Several years ago I brewed a sweet stout using cascades that turned out really well.
