Doctor Duvel

I'm like a sommelier, but for beer.

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Location: Upstate New York, United States

Favorite Beers: Orval, Samuel Smith, Duvel, Hennepin, Oude Gueze, Chimay, Dogfish Head, Anchor Steam, and anything made by Trappist monks.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Second Runnings Stout

So last night I did cobble together a stout from the second runnings of the imperial.

The choice was simple: Having made a wort with the finest Fawcett malts, create an elegant, subtle, low-gravity, English stout, hopping judiciously and borrowing a packet of Nottingham or something delicate to ferment it. Or, clean out the specialty malt bins, throw in anything, whatever, U.S. 56, and any stray spices or inappropriate hops.

The result? "What the Fuck Stout."

It wound up being around 1064 with probably 64 IBU's so it should be decently balanced. Beyond that, who knows?

I brought the leftover wort up to 170, steeping the following asinine assortment of stuff on the way:

8.7 oz Chocolate Rye (What else was I gonna do with it?)
1 lb Dingemann's Caramunich (Old)
10.2 oz Franco-Belges Carawheat (Never really knew what to do with that malt anyway)
1.8 oz F.B. Cara-Vienne (Why not?)
1.7 oz F.B. Carmunich 60 (See above)
7.3 oz Simpson's Dark Crystal (Had that around forever)
9 oz Simpson's Medium (Same deal)
10 oz Roast (Can this beer get any blacker?)
1 lb Weyermann Carmunich (When and where did I buy that??)

I pulled all of that random grain (Yay! It's gone! Now I can find stuff!) and brought the wort to a boil, adding 7 oz of molasses. Why 7 oz? I have no idea.

I bittered it with a combination of First Gold (Some project that never came together) and Fuggle (Highly particulate, long-in-the-tooth pellets),

At shut-off, after briefly contemplating grinding up some Ancho Chilies, I restrained myself and added 1 oz of Newman's Own "Nell's Breakfast Blend," 1 oz of Sweet Maria's "Brazil: Screen-Dried Moreninha Formosa" (I am also a coffee geek), 1.5 oz of French Chicory, and 1.5 oz of the afore-mentioned Fuggle.

What is this going to come out like??

Part of me hopes it isn't that great. Because the idea of recreating this particular process, not to mention shopping for ingredients, is a little intimidating. We shall see.

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