Dry Stout With Wheat...

I've been working on a dry stout recipe for some time.  I brewed this on a whim and at the time was excited about this fourth iteration.  Significant changes were replacing the 20% of flaked barley with white wheat malt, bittering with Magnum instead of East Kent Goldings, amping up the water profile with baking soda, and shooting for a higher ph.

Replacing the flaked barley with wheat was more of a personal style thing.  The wheat helps boost body just like flaked barley.

Choosing to use Magnum was because I didn't have any East Kent Goldings and since I was looking to change things up I figured why not.

The baking soda increases the bicarbonate and the sodium content of the water.  This in turn increases the ph buffering capacity of the water and rounds out the flavors.  This article got me thinking about the water profile for this beer : The Importance of Brewing Water.  In it the author discusses bicarbonate as a way to make a stout, "...rich..." in flavor and not as, "one-dimensional".  This is what I felt my previous attempts were.  A brewer friend of mine tasted this beer and without knowing the article or my intent commented on how the beer was rounded and chocolaty.

Ph was increased due to many articles suggesting this helps the roasted malts present better.

The bitterness is too much and after having a Murphy's I'm gonna lower the bittering to about 15-20 IBU's.  I'll likely not use the baking soda again and just increase the sodium to see if that helps round out the flavors.  I feel like the bitterness and the bicarbonate combine to create a mineral like flavor...sort of like a mineral water flavor coming through.

Also, the roasted grains I used were sitting in my storage for some time and not very fresh when I bought them.  I never bothered to vacuum seal them and well...it is what it is.  I'm usually pretty good at stopping myself when I feel the ingredients aren't fresh.

I judge a beer by how many I can have and enjoy it all the way to the last one.  This one wasn't so much that way.  While not bad...it's back to the drawing board.  So a rebrew and a couple changes to see if I'll like it.


Dry Stout

2.5 Gallons
O.G. 1.045
F.G. 1.010

MASH:
70% (3 lbs. 11.5 oz.) Rahr 2-Row
20% (1 lb. 1 oz.) Rahr White Wheat
5%  (4.3 oz.) Breiss Midnight Wheat ground fine in a coffee grinder
5%  (4.3 oz.)  Breiss Roasted Malt ground fine in a coffee grinder
Mash at 152 F for 60 min

BOIL:
.32 oz. Magnum @60 min for 30 IBUs

FERMENTATION:
800 ml quick starter of 120ml of Wyeast 1318

WATER (4.73 gallons of RO water):
.55 g. Gypsum 
1.65 g. Calcium Chloride
1.85 g. Epsom Salt
3.58 g. Baking Soda
22.13 ml. of 10% Phosphoric Acid for a mash ph of 5.53

For a profile of:
Ca: 32.2
Mg: 10.2
Na:54.7
Cl: 44.4
SO4: 57.4
HCO: 142.36