OK so hands down this marks my biggest brewing gaff yet. Maybe. I kinda ruined my own efficiency by... forgetting the second batch of sparge water. In my defence we were watching Twin Peaks at the same time so... that kinda takes priority over all my other thought processes.
Anyway down to business - this beer is for yorkbreweryhomebrewclub‘s May challenge - Ruiseart’s ‘Favourite Band/Song/Film/Book/Whatever’ challenge. A tough one, and one that required some thought and consideration - we didn’t want to just brew a rauchbier and say we like Smoke on the Water after all (mainly because it’s so far from our favourite song it’s not even funny).
So after much consideration, Annis and I reached the conclusion that a beer inspired by the Isis track ‘Grinning Mouths’ might be in order, and quite fun. Also it’s an incredible song that closes out what is, pretty much, the closest to a wholly perfect album we've found to date.
You can listen to it here, if you’re curious.
The main things we wanted to express were the considered, layered complexity of the song, it’s rhythmic, rumbling rounded bass lines, it’s crisp, melodic lead guitar parts, and overall sense of substance. It’s a heavy, multi-faceted song that gathers momentum and ends in a blaze of glory. The conclusions we made were, it should be dark and full bodied, with bright aromatics, and a surprising, energetic finish. But we’d just done a black IPA so a fruity BIPA was not an option. Instead we opted for something far more adventurous.
A kaffir lime, toasted coconut, and chilli oatmeal stout.
The lime leaves were intended for a witbier at some point, but we have tonnes of them at the minute, so they need using up. They will hopefully add the brightness, complexity, and delicate layering of the song, tying themselves to the oatmeal’s silky body with their characteristic smoothness. The coconut will bring depth, character, and toasted aromatics, while the chilli will add fruitiness and a subtle zing - the gathering momentum and energy of the song as you drink.
Anyways, enough waffle - the recipe:
Maris Otter - 70%, Flaked oatmeal - 15%, Caramalt - 5%, Crystal Malt - 4%, Chocolate Malt - 4%, Black patent malt - 2%. We didn’t want this one too roasty or acidic, smooth and full bodied is the name of the game here.
These were mashed in at 50c to break down the oatmeal’s notoriously gummy protein, we didn’t want a stuck mash. 6 litres of mash were then drawn off and brought to the boil and returned to the mash to reach 69c for the sacch. rest - full bodied, like I said. This stage was only 30 minutes, so all being well the FG should be nice and high.
Somewhere between here and the sparge I forgot one water addition - not sure if it was the mash out or the sparge liquor itself, either way I ended up with far less wort than anticipated, and I didn’t notice until post boil. Eurgh.
Hops were a pitiful 10g of Centennial pellets as FWH then boiled for 60 mins. This should provide around 25 IBUs.
Finally after the boil I ran the beer through a fistful each of toasted coconut, kaffir lime leaves, and dried chillis in the hop rocket. This has added some beautiful aromatics, mainly of the lime leaves, which will probably mostly get scrubbed off during fermentation. I’m planning on adding more of all elements in secondary, and possibly even a lime leaf tea at bottling just to provide a final fresh lime push at the finish line.
I ended up with about 5l of 1.070 wort, which I’ve liquored back to 7.5l of 1.046. Depending where the FG ends up, this might be a table oatmeal stout :P Hoping for somewhere in the 1.016-1.018 region, but we’ll see. Using Saf-04 so it’s not a crazy attenuator anyways. Fingers crossed!
