Leave It Out

I decided that I didn't like how the head was forming on my stout and chose to leave it at room temp for a few extra days. I put one in the fridge last nigh and opened one right now and noticed a great increase in carbonation and head retention. It still tastes the same though. I wish I could get the bitter coffee to be more in the back and the chocolate to come out more. I'll have to put this venture back on the drawing board.

Export Stout

Well, my imperial stout didn't turn out like I had planned. It is, however, still very good. The only things I don't like about it are the head and the lower than anticipated original gravity. The head is only about 3 fingers and falls quickly, but does have okay lacing. The original gravity was only 1.072 which is lower than the 1.090 I was hoping for. This left me with a final gravity of about 1.020 and an ABV of about 6.8%. Not too bad, but not strong enough to consider it as imperial.

The aroma of coffee and chocolate fill the room as soon as you open the bottle, so that seems to be a good sign to me. The chocolate never hits the palate as the bitter coffee flavor takes over. The color is very dark (no light getting through this one), and reminds me of old motor oil. Funny. It doesn't taste like any old motor oil I've ever had.

Even with the low gravity, I'm fairly satisfied with the outcome. The only thing that still gets me is that I can't figure out a good way to filter out all the little bits of fine grains that slip through.