Irish stout questions!

[Jimmy78]

G'day legends!

I've been brewing for years, and just put down my first stout! I asked the HB shop for a good recipe and they have me the following:

Mountmellick Irish stout can
A fermentable mix of:
500gm amber malt
250gm Dex
250gm maltodex
15ml licorace extract
Made to 20L
OG - 1.049
Ferment at 18.5C

Now typically I use just malt extracts, but I let the bloke in the shop talk me into his "mix" and thought what the hell for my first!

My questions are this:

1. It's been down for 10 days FG is stable on 1.014 - is this high or ok? Typically my other beers finish about 1.008.
2. Should I cold crash a stout?

Thanks heaps for your help!

 

[Jack of all biers]

The higher FG is probably down to the Maltodex. 1.014 is not that high and it will be fine. As long as the FG is consistent over 24 hours you will be fine. You can cold crash any beer, including a stout.

Edit: Whether you SHOULD cold crash it is another question and a matter for yourself.

 

[good4whatAlesU]

Don't forget to add the potatoes and leprechauns

I usually just age at room temperature generally as I don't have space in the fridge, and with stouts you're not really looking for a "clear' product anyway.

Only problem with aging is you've got to watch the oxygen levels as sometimes the beer can go stale if mishandled. Purge the kegs with C02 and/or fill the bottles from the bottom up and cap on foam.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I have had my Irish stout (1050 OG) fermenting for about 16 days, I find that stout does take that little bit longer mine sat on 1014 for about 4 days then 1012 for another 2 or 3 days now I reckon its now done at 1010.
I will be interested to know how yours turns out with the licorice chips, I like a hint of licorice and was thinking of priming with dark brown sugar to get that licorice after taste.

 

[Grott]

For this recipe 1014 should be right, as said, check over a couple of days particularly if bottling.

A stout is great for long term maturing and if bottling put a dozen or so away for over 6 months and sample at will.

Cheers

 

[manticle]

1014 is possibly fine, given those ingredients.
Fast ferment test to be sure.

Yes to cold condition - it's not about clarity so much as what causes the haze. Cold drops yeast out, yeast has a flavour (one I don't usually care for).