Batch 2, a basic stout

Bottling #2, September 5, 2004

Malt extract:
6 2/3 pounds dark extract

Malted grain:
1 pound crystal malt
1 pound roasted barley
1/2 pound chocolate malt

Hops:
1 oz Colorado, pellets (Jan 23, 2009, I was reviewing my old recipes, and saw this. I have no idea what "Colorado" hops are. This is probably a typo, maybe I meant "Columbus"?)

Yeast:
Wyeast 1084, Irish ale yeast

Other:
1/2 pound malto-dextrin

Cooking instructions:
The minute timer starts when the water comes to a boil.
* Bring water to 155 degrees F
* Soak the grains, maintaining heat at 155 for 30 minutes
* Remove the grains, rinse them into the pot (I think this is called "sparging", one of those terms that is never well defined anywhere.)
* Bring to a boil
* 0:00 Add malt extract, hops, and malto-dextrin
* 1:00 Remove from heat

I got one of those big net bags from the homebrew store to handle the grain. I just put the grain in the bag, then set the bag in the pot to soak, like a big tea bag. That works pretty well for getting the grain back out.

This time I turned off the heat a couple of minutes before adding the malt extract. That did the trick for avoiding burning the malt on the bottom of the pan. I just stirred it in until the malt was dissolved, then turned the heat back on, and it was boiling again in a minute -- gas is great!

Bottled on September 18, 2004 with 1 1/4 cup malt extract for priming.

This beer also came out very well. Not much head on it, though, which was disappointing. Also had a more "roasted" or "burnt" flavor to it than I really like, next time I try this recipe I think I'll substitute a patent malt for the roasted barley. All in all, very drinkable, quite good.