Irish Stout

5 gallon kit from Stein Fillers Brewing, Long Beach California

This kit cost $28 and contained:

6 lbs pale malt extract
1 lb flaked barley
.5 lb roasted barley
.5 lb black malt
.25 lb chocolate malt

2 oz Willamette boiling hops

White Labs WLP 004 Irish Ale yeast

OG 1.051 FG 1.015 SRM 44 IBU 50 ABV 4.8%

5 gallon batch:

Steep grains in 2 gallons water for 30 min at 155 F:

Sparge with 2 quarts of 160 F water;

add LME; bring to roiling boil; add hops and boil 60 minutes.

Place pot in sink in tap water; cooled to 86 F;

Sanitized two MB kegs with Star San. Added 1 quart cold tap water to each. Tap water is about 52 F. Poured wort into kegs onto the cool water;

added tap water to “liter/quart” mark;

Aerated briskly with whisk.

Vial of yeast nearly exploded when I uncapped it. It had been out 4 hours to room temp, and then sitting in a cup of 75 F water. I let all the runoff dribble back and forth into the 2 kegs. Hope each received the same amount.

Wort temp 74 F; room temp 63 F.

Capped kegs and will let ferment 2 to 3 weeks.

From White Labs site:

WLP 004 Irish Ale Yeast: From one of the oldest stout producing breweries in the world. It produces a slight hint of diacetyl, balanced by a light fruitiness and slight dry crispness. Great for Irish ales, stouts, porters, browns, reds and a very interesting pale ale. Attenuation: 69-74; Flocculation: medium to high; Optimum Ferm. Temp: 65-68

OG 1.054

Tasting Notes
At brewing: Pretty good. Sweet and rich!

isnt whitelabs irish ale strain from the st james gate brewery?
the one time I used it I got an infection and the bugs and oak chips took over any flavors from the yeast

I'm looking at the empty vial now and it says it is from White Labs Inc. in San Diego ... but where the strain came from I don't know-- Is St. James Gate the biggest brewery in Dublin?

I think they are the ones who brew Guinness.

Hmmmmm Guinness!

I need to go there.

Had a pint of this last night and another tonight. Might be the best I've ever made.

Carbonation was subtle. I cut in half the amount of priming sugar I've been using.

I use a measuring scoop, and trusted it. One of those with the 3/4 tsp on one side and the 1.5 tsp on the other.

But when I calibrated it when priming this batch-- I filled to "3/4 tsp" then poured it into a teaspoon, and found it was more like 1.5 teaspoons--- I realized I've been double priming the last dozens of batches. Hence the gushing and overflowing.

Mr Beer equipment I'm afraid to say.

Congrats! I just tapped my AG Dry Stout last night and found it quite tasty as well. Glad this is a tasty recipe for you.

How do you like the Willamette hops? You just did one hop addition at 60 minutes?

No, no additions-- just bittering hops.

You added the bittering hops and boiled for 60 minutes, right? I think that's what Dan_Hills he means by one hop addition at 60 minutes...not that you added hops AFTER 60 minutes, but you added them with 60 minutes left in the boil.