Mountmellick Irish Stout Kit.

[PetenNewburg]

  The Mountmellick website does not give specifics on their brews, but does state that this is a hoppy stout.  I was going to use two kits, but I am going to add 2.5 pounds of Plain Dark LME, but no extra hops or grains.  I'll brew this with Spring Water.  That way I can make 2 batches!

[PetenNewburg]

THESE ARE THE INSTRUCTION FOR THE MOUNTMELLICK IRISH STOUT I FOUND ONLINE.  NOTE THIS KIT IS DESIGNED FOR A 3,6 GALLON KIT.  ADD TWO POUNDS OF CORN SUGAR/ SUGAR & EXTRA HOPS TO MAKE A FIVE GALLON KIT WITH A OG OF 1.042.  BJCP GUIDELINES FOR A DRY STOUT CALLS FOR A OG OF 1.036 TO 1.050. 

   MY ADDITIONS ARE:  I am going to steep 1/2 pound of chocolate malt, 1/2 pound of roasted barley and 1/2 pound or caramalt 80.  I will also add 2 1/2 pounds dark LME, and 1 oz East Kent Goldings for 30 minutes.  I am going to use my farmed Irish Ale starter.  According to BeerSmith this will give me a 5.25 gallon batch @ bottling with a 1.050 og, IBU, Color & ABV all within BJCP standards

MOUNTMELLICK BREWING INSTRUCTIONS:

The following recipe is recommended to produce a full-bodied beer with an alcohol content of 3.5 to 4% by volume, and a mild hop character. Warm the can of malt extract in a pan of hot water to make it easy to empty. Stir the contents of the can into a one gallon container of warm tap water. Rinse the can with warm water and add the rinsing.  Make up to 3.6 U.S. gallons with tap water in a clean container, and when the wort is near room temperature, add the yeast with stirring. Specific gravity of the wort at this point should be approximately 1.042 at 70 degrees Fahrenheit. A single-stage plastic fermenter with an airlock is recommended.

Allow the wort to ferment in the covered container at approximately 70 degrees Fahrenheit is recommended. Within seven days, the wort should be fermented to a specific gravity of .008 to 1.014, with a residual fermentable sugar content of 0.1% to 0.2%. Siphon the beer off the sediment into a second clean container. Take two cups of beer and heat to a boil in a saucepan, dissolving in this one half to one cup of sugar, depending on the degree of conditioning desired. Brewers corn sugar is recommended although cane sugar is acceptable. Mix the sugar solution into the beer in the second container. Now bottle the beer, or place it into a clean draft beer pressure barrel. Allow to stand for seven days at 70 degrees Fahrenheit to condition, then age for about three weeks in a cool place. Refrigeration during ageing will speed clearing, although the beer will clear without refrigeration.

To make a stronger, lighter-bodied beer, add two pounds of brewing (corn) sugar, and increase the volume of the wort to five U.S. gallons. A fuller hop character can be achieved by adding up to 2 ounces of fresh or pelletized hops. If you do add hops boil the malt and hops in one gall of water for up tone hour before making the wort up to volume. Be careful not to add the yeast until the full 5 gallons has cooled to near room temperature.

A grain malt character can be incorporated in the beer by adding up to one pound of cracked or crushed crystal malt near the end of the boils allowing the grain to remain in the wort during fermentation.

The secret of successful brewing is cleanliness. Bottles and equipment that contact the beer should be sterilized with a mild chlorine solution (an ounce of chlorine bleach per gall on of rinse solution) or with a proprietary cleaner-steriliser like B-Brite, then thoroughly rinse with hot water.

[wvbrewer]

I hope it is not too hoppy.  I am going to add corn sugar an 3lb of dark DME to mine. That prohibition beer I made for here day is a pretty stong beer, but it does have a slight taste of the raison I used in it.  It is a nice amber color, but head leaves a little to be desired. 

[PetenNewburg]

  That should be good.  I read a bunch of reviews on the Mountmellick Irish Stout kit.  Some said it was too thin, some too hoppy when brewed @3.6 gallon.  Others who brewed @ 5 gallon said it was not hopped enough....  The East Kent Goldings I have is about a year or so old, it's sealed, but still likely not as potent as fresh.  EKG is said to have a spicey taste to it, so i'll use it up and see what happens!  I thought about adding a little oatmeal in it to give it some extra body, but I'm really close to the upper OG limit of the style guide with my other additions.

  Grains are ground, all other ingredients measured and ready, starter is made!  I believe I'll make some (more) beer tomorrow!!

[PetenNewburg]

  In the fermenter!  I did a 45 minute boil because of the added grains.  I also used the Water/ wort from the second sparge of the Kitchen Sink Stout  Guiness Stout is also brewed with a small amount of slightly spoiled sparge water from a previous brew.  There was no mold on the sparge water but it did have a slightly soured smell!  We will see!!

Irish Stout, medium body, mild hops.  Used grain second sparge from Kitchen Sink stout, 3/4 gallon of 1.040 wort.

 Smelled TOO malty so I added .25 oz Cascade, 45 minutes.    Added 1 oz East Kent Goldings , 15 minute boil.  Smelled awesome going into the fermenter!  OG 1.056, a little over style guidlines, likely from the added sparge water.  oops 

  I resisted temptation to add coffee to this.

[wvbrewer]

Wow, I don't know that much about beer.  Let me know it turns out.  Are going to secondary it?  bottle or keg it?  I will do mine the old way so we can do a comparison..  I see it sitting in the kitchen everyday.  I better get to drinking some beer so I have bottle for that stout....

[PetenNewburg]

  The plan is to keg it with the Kreamex Heading/ Bottling agent.  It's DME with some other stuff to make the head bubbles finer and last longer.  Blaine has it at HB4L.  Worked great in the Porter.  I'll bottle a six pack or 2 for friends and gifts.  I did two Irish Stouts last year that were huge hits.

  A friend from Allentown & 1 from Baltimore came up to fill their growlers!!  It poured exactly like a Guinness, but without the nitrogen.  It was good!  I do want to get a nitrogen set up for the stouts, especially the coffee & milk stouts!

Cheers!!

[PetenNewburg]

  Racked to secondary today, looks and smells very good!

[wvbrewer]

It is always cool making something and waiting to see how it will turn out.

[PetenNewburg]

  Yes it is!  That porter blew me away, best brew I've ever made!  This Irish Stout smells good too!  Can't wait to try this!  I'll bottle this batch, I'm going to make another batch this week to keg.

[wvbrewer]

I am going to check that pple wine in a week or so to see how the SG if it is in .998 to 1010 range I am going to stablize it and backsweeten it.  After that I am going to degass and add some sparkloid and let it clear for a coulple of more weeks then bottle it.  I don't know how it will turn out since I kind of winged it..


Dave

[PetenNewburg]

  First batch of Mountmellick Irish Stout is in the keg!  Smelled great!  I kegged it with Kreamyx for the initial carbonation.  I'll put the CO2 to it in a few days.

  Batch #2 is ready for a AM brew. Batch #2 will not have specialty grains, but will have 2.9 pounds Dark LME & a can (1.5lb) of MrBeer Oktoberfest Marzen hopped LME.  This should be interesting! 

Cheers!!

[wvbrewer]

That sounds interesting...  My kit is still sitting on the shelf till I getenough bottles together.  I have heard on other forums about mixing two kits together any ending up with a very good beer.

Dave

[PetenNewburg]

  Mountmellick Irish Stout batch #2 is in the fermenter!!  I added .5 ounce Williamette hops (15 min boil) to the other extra ingredients.  Smells good!
  Airlock activity after one hour.  I just sprinkled the dry kit yeast on the wort @ 77 degrees.
  Constant activity after 6 hours.

[wvbrewer]

Sounds good, just bottled our Chianti. Now I can turn my attention to our apple wine.