Recipe for "stout-double"

NAME

     STOUT-DOUBLE - Double stout beer
     I would not recommend making this as your first beer, but if
     you  are  into  brewing,  and like a strong stout, then give
     this one a try.  Don't be in a hurry to drink it, though, it
     really  benefits  from  a  long  aging.   I got the original
     recipe from Peter Lester in rec.food.drink, and formatted it
     for  my  local  brewfriends.  Then I thought that the net at
     large might enjoy it, too, so here it  is  with  some  addi-
     tional notes from my experience at making it.

INGREDIENTS (Makes about 2 cases)

     12 liters water
     800 g     Bullion hops
     5 kg      dark malt extract
     500 g     black patent malt
     1 kg      crystal malt
     250 g     flaked barley
     100 g     roasted barley
     1/2          licorice stick (see note below)
     5 ml      ascorbic acid
     2.5 ml    citric acid
     5 ml      Irish moss
     50 g      Golding hops
     10 ml     yeast nutrient
     21 g      ale yeast (three standard packages)

PROCEDURE

          (1)  Combine water  and  Bullion  hops.   Boil  for  20
               minutes.
          (2)  Add dark malt extract.  Boil for 20 minutes.
          (3)  Add black patent malt through  Irish  moss.   Boil
               for 5 minutes.
          (4)  Remove from heat and add Golding hops.  Steep  for
               5 minutes.
          (5)  Cool and add yeast nutrient and ale yeast.
          (6)  When fermentation has "stopped", add priming sugar
               and bottle.

NOTES

     Lester's initial specific gravity was 1.086  and  his  final
     specific  gravity was 1.020 (alcohol about 8%).  His fermen-
     tation time was 11 days (a slow batch).
     My batch fermented in about a week (house temperature  rang-
     ing  between  60  and  68).  It was barely drinkable after 6
     weeks, but delicious after 3 months.  As far as I can  tell,
     it's  still  getting  better  (a  year later), so try not to
     drink it all up right away.
     Ingredient note: I didn't know what a "licorice stick"  was,
     until I asked the clerk at my brewstore.  The one he gave me
     was about 1 cm in diameter and  8  cm  long.   It  was  dark
     black,  and not sweet to the taste at all.  It seems to be a
     standard brewing ingredient.  Sorry I can't be more specific
     about it.

RATING

     Difficulty: For experienced beer brewers only.  Time: 1 hour
     preparation, 2 weeks fermenting, 6 months aging.  Precision:
     measure the ingredients.

CONTRIBUTOR

     Spencer W. Thomas
     University of Utah, Computer Science Department, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
      thomas@cs.utah.edu