Toucan recipe help please...

[aamcle]

Evening All.

I'm trying to put together a recipe to use us some single can kits I have been given by family, they'll ask so I have to do something.

I would like to use the bitter as pre-hoped malt extract with some speciality grains to produce something like Coopers Imperial stout, preferably a dry stout.

I'd happily get some extra grains if I need them, black malt, crystal, biscuit???

Possible recipe for 20litres.

3 x Bitter + 1kg medium DME, the IBUs might be too high do you think 2 bitter + DME would be better?

500g roast barley
300g chocolate malt
300g wheat malt for head.

Does this look OK should I modify the quantities or add any other grains?

Do I need to mash these grains? If so how much base malt would I need with them?

Thanks for looking through my bemused attempt at a recipe.


ATB. Aamcle

 

[hwall95]

I haven't personally tried to the bitter can but when I was doing research for my two can imperial stout, I read that two bitter cans make a very bitter beer so I can't imagine what 3 would do. However if you're going for stout, maybe try two stout cans or a dark ale and a stout? This is what my recipe ended up being:

Ingredients

Coopers Stout: 1.7kg
Coopers Stout: 1.7kg
Light Dry Malt: 1kg
Chocolate Malt 600: 100g
Roasted Barley: 100g
Raw Sugar: 100g
Fuggles (Dry Hop): 20g


SG: 1.078
FG Est: 1.014
ABV Est: 8.5%
IBU: 77

Size: 23L

I tried it the other week and it seems it's not ready yet ( 3 month old) as the flavour hasn't come together yet. However it does leave an awesome aftertaste.

Roasted barley and choc malt won't need mashing but I'm pretty sure wheat malt does need to be (unless it's crystal wheat). Although easy way around is just use some wheat extract in replacement. I haven't had enough experience to recommend amounts of spec grains but if you use Dark ale or the stout you don't need as much.

Note: My imperial stout ended up being borderline Australian/foreign extra stout so maybe add extra malt to bring it up a bit if 8.5% is too low for your preference.

 

[menoetes]

Hi Aamcle,

Glad to hear you're trying out some new recipes and whilst I'm not really experienced enough with grains to comment on your grain bill, I have made a couple of toucans before.

I'll admit that I was a bit surprised when I saw you were thinking about toucaning with two or three bitter kits. Toucans tend to be very bitter and some people have noted that even a 2x Draught kit toucan can be a bit hard to drink. So I plugged your 2x Bitter can recipe into Ian's spreadsheet just out of curiosity and ran my eyes down the figures. It looks a little something like this.

Vol: 21lts
OG 1075
FG 1019
ABV: 7.6%
ECB: 118
IBUs: 85

That is one big-boned brew you're looking at there. She will be thick, chewy, dark and hellish bitter; near double that of most standard ESBs. Remember also, all that bitterness is coming from the tins isohops, not fresh or pellet hops that add flavor along with the bitterness to balance it out a little.

In my experience it takes few months in the bottle to smooth out that isohop bite in a toucan. I made a Australian Pale Ale + Euro Lager toucan around christmas time and IMHO it's only come into it's prime in the last 6 weeks or so (though I've been drinking it for the last 4 months).

However I should also add that I'm not a big bitter drinker. I've drunk only a few beers that were over 50 IBUs and they were all hop bombs rather than straight bitters, so I'll admit I'm not exactly impartial. If you love your thick bitter beers, go for it sir. Take notes and keep us all informed on how you go.

If nothing else you certainly are pushing new flavor territory.