From the Brew Your Own recipe archive.................
Black Pearl Oyster Stout
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain with bivalve mollusks)
OG = 1.052 FG = 1.013 IBU = 37 SRM = 60 ABV = 5.0%
Despite names like Fat Spider Ale, Turkey Stout and Black Kitty Brown, only one BYO recipe has ever featured animals as an ingredient Black Pearl Oyster Stout. Weve been lucky enough to taste this beer, brewed by Joe Walton and Jim Michalk, and its delicious. The beer has a complex dark grain character and a slightly silky mouthfeel. Theres no strong oyster flavor, but you may detect a slight salty/briney character. For best results, use hard water with a moderate to high level of carbonates.
Ingredients
9.0 lbs. (4.1 kg) 2-row pale malt
0.5 lb. (0.22 kg) flaked oats
1.0 lb. (0.45 kg) roasted barley
0.5 lb. (0.22 kg) chocolate malt
0.25 lb. (0.11 kg) black patent malt
10 oz. can raw oysters (and brine)
1 tsp. Irish moss
8.6 AAU Fuggles hops (60 mins)
(1.5 oz./43 g of 5.7% alpha acids)
4.3 AAU Fuggles hops (20 mins)
(0.75 oz./21 g of 5.7% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1084 (Irish Ale) or White Labs
WLP004 (Irish Ale) yeast
0.75 cups corn sugar (for priming)
Step by Step
Mash grains for 45 minutes at
152 F (67 C). Boil wort for 120 minutes. Add hops at times indicated. Add oysters and Irish moss with 15 minutes left. Cool wort. Transfer to fermenter, leaving oyster bits behind. (Dont eat the oysters, Joe and Jim say they taste terrible.) Aerate, pitch yeast and ferment at 68 F (20 C).
Extract with grains option:
Replace 2-row pale malt with 14 oz. (0.40 kg) Briess Light dried malt extract, 3 lbs. 14 oz. (1.8 kg) Muntons Light liquid malt extract and 2.0 lbs. (0.91 kg) 2-row pale malt. In a 3 gallon (11 L) or larger stock pot, heat 1.6 gallons (6 L) of water to 163 F (73 C). Placed crushed grains and flaked oats in a large steeping bag and submerge bag in this hot water. Maintain temperature at 148153 F (6467 C) for 45 minutes. While grains mash, heat one gallon (3.8 L) of water to 170 F (77 C). Remove grain bag from steeping pot and place in colander over stock pot. Rinse grains with 0.75 gallons (2.8 L) of water from brewpot. Combine grain tea and dried malt extract with remaining hot water in brewpot and heat to a boil. Boil 60 minutes, adding hops at times remaining indicated in recipe. With 15 minutes left in the boil, add liquid malt extract, oysters and Irish moss. Stir thoroughly to dissolve extract. (Keep the clock running even though it will take a few minutes for the wort to resume boiling.) Cool wort and transfer to fermenter, leaving oyster bits behind. Add water to make 5 gallons (19 L). Aerate, pitch yeast and ferment at 68 F (20 C).
(All-grain recipe from Oyster Stout: A seaworthy stout experiment by Joe Walton, January-February 2004, p. 64.)
