Author: Phil Rusher

What is Pastry Stout? There’s no hard and fast criteria for this newfangled style of beer, but over the past several years the distinction has become widespread among craft brewers and homebrewers alike, and the lack of a clear set of “guidelines” has made for a variety of interpretations. Given the base style, most versions of Pastry Stout end up being dark, sweet, boozy, and reminiscent of something other than beer, like s’mores or coffee cake.

There are many ways to go about getting “pastry” flavors into beer, the easiest and perhaps most intuitive being to simply add the actual pastry thing during the brewing process. However, there are a variety of reasons this can be folly, particularly because pastries usually possess high concentrations of lipids that may have deleterious effects on the final product. One way to get around this is to carefully consider grain choices when brewing such a beer, opting for those known to impart rich characteristics that might emulate certain pastry-like qualities.

I’ve had the joy of using Mecca Grade Estate Malt for my last few batches and have found all of their offerings to be very flavorful. One of the sacks I have on-hand is a malt they call Opal 44, which comes with the following description:

Opal 44 is your next secret ingredient. Sweet, moderately-toasted, with hints of chocolate and raisin; its wort is reminiscent of homemade Almond Roca. The typical usage rate is 2.5 – 5%, but at 44 DP, it can be used up to 100%.

I’d been kicking around the idea of brewing a Pastry Stout for awhile, something my wife might enjoy, and the Brü Crew can make fun of me for. Wanting to keep things interesting, I decided that my first Pastry Stout would be made using a base of Opal 44 with various adjuncts added along the way to amplify the flavor.

| Making Elevenses Pastry Stout |

Along with the sensory descriptors of Opal 44, its high SRM and relatively high enzymatic power seemed like a perfect fit as the foundation of a lusciously sweet Stout. Wanting to enhance the rich malty flavors, I also included a generous portion of Vienna-style Rye malt as well as Opal 22 for a supportive graham cracker flavor. Unlike typical Stout, I opted to forgo the use of roasted grains and went with a dark Belgian candi syrup instead.

Elevenses Pastry Stout

Recipe Details Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV 6 gal 60 min 15.5 IBUs 47.8 SRM 1.086 1.011 10.0 % Actuals 1.086 1.02 8.9 % Fermentables Name Amount % Mecca Grade Opal 44: Toasted Toffee Barley Malt 15 lbs 60 Mecca Grade Rimrock: Vienna-style Rye Malt 4 lbs 16 Mecca Grade Opal 22: Graham and Cocoa Malt 2 lbs 8 Candi Syrup, D-240 1 lbs 4 Milk Sugar (Lactose) 8 oz 2 Candi Syrup, D-180 1 lbs 4 Brown Sugar, Light 1.5 lbs 6 Hops Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha % Hallertau Magnum 15 g 60 min Boil Pellet 11 Miscs Name Amount Time Use Type Cinnamon Powder 0.50 tsp 5 min Secondary Spice Cacao Nibs 9.00 oz 7 days Secondary Flavor Vanilla Beans 2.00 Items 7 days Secondary Flavor Yeast Name Lab Attenuation Temperature Flagship (A07) Imperial Yeast 75% 60°F - 72°F Download Download this recipe's BeerXML file

PROCESS

Given the intended strength of this beer, I made a starter of Imperial Yeast A07 Flagship a day ahead of time.

Later that evening, I continued my pre-brew preparation by collecting the full volume of RO water and milling the grain.

The following morning, I warmed up the strike water then incorporated the grains, checking to ensure it hit my target mash temperature.

After a 60 minute mash rest, I performed a quick vorlauf to set the grainbed then sparged while collecting the sweet wort.

The wort was boiled for 60 minutes with hops added as indicated in the recipe.

With about 10 minutes left in the boil, I added the lactose and D-240 Belgian candi syrup.

When the boil was finished, I quickly chilled the wort with my IC before racking it to a sanitized Brew Bucket.

A hydrometer measurement showed the wort was sitting at a respectable 1.082 OG.

The filled fermenter was placed in my chamber and allowed to finish chilling to my desired fermentation temperature of 65˚F/18˚C, at which point I pitched the yeast starter.

Fermentation kicked off quickly and was roaring away after 2 days. At this point, I dissolved the brown sugar in boiling water and allowed it to chill for a bit before adding it to the beer.

I also added the D-180 Belgian candi syrup.

The following evening, I roasted some cacao nibs, which along with a couple chopped vanilla beans, were placed in a mason jar and covered with vodka.

After a day of soaking, I added cinnamon to the mix and gave it a good shake before pouring the entire jar into the beer.

The beer was left to finished fermented for another 4 days before I took a hydrometer measurement showing it had settled at 1.020 FG.

The beer was racked to a sanitized keg and placed in my keezer where it was burst carbonated then left to condition for a couple weeks before serving.

| IMPRESSIONS |

Part of what keeps me interested in this hobby is novelty, and the very idea of a Pastry Stout is in and of itself pretty novel. Elevenses was not only my first attempt at brewing a Pastry Stout, but it was also the first time I’d ever used what is essentially a crystal malt, Mecca Grade Opal 44, as a base malt, as well as dark Belgian candi syrups in place of roasted grains. A non-traditional approach to a rather non-traditional style.

My first unexpected observation came post-boil when I discovered the OG of the wort quite a bit lower than intended. While I tend to get slightly lower extract when brewing bigger beers, the 0.017 SG point hit in Elevenses a lot more than I’d seen, leaving me convinced it had something to do with my choice of base grain. It’s because of this that I decided to bump things up during fermentation by adding brown sugar and Belgian candi syrup, which I figured would also contribute to the pastry-ness of this Pastry Stout.

Admittedly, I was equally as nervous about how this beer would turn as I was excited. In the end, I felt the gamble paid off. To my senses, the chocolate character bordered on overwhelming yet was nicely supported by a lush malty sweetness and rich dark toffee flavors. The mild warming sensation from the higher alcohol content paired well the cool Upstate New York weather this time of year, and helped to cut through some of the richness of the beer. Generally well received by those I shared it with, I am my own worst critic and felt Elevenses may have benefited from perhaps a bit more lactose, something to add a more defined cream character.

To be clear, I’ve no plans to start swapping out standard base malts with crystal malts like Opal 44, but for an intentionally sweet style like Pasty Stout, I felt it worked out better than expected. Elevenses was one of those beers that served as my first iteration into a new style, and while I won’t be making Pastry Stout as often as I do more traditional beers, I was pleased enough with this recipe to use it as a source of inspiration for future versions.

If you have thoughts about this recipe or experience making something similar, please feel free to share in the comments section below!

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