Beer Forum

I'm about to brew a stout in a few weeks, but my "local" shop (50 miles away) did not have acid malt. One of the owners of the shop was looking for a substitute, but could not find one. She then told me that she had read that people will add a can of Guinness to the secondary fermenter to get the sour flavor that should be coming from the acid malt. Has anyone ever done this or even heard of doing this? Also, would only one can be enough to do the trick for 5 gallons?

Thanks,
Tim

Never done it, have heard of it. I think they open the can the day before to let it spoil. Not sure though.

The shop I help out at I know has Acid Malt in stock regularly.

www.homebrewers.com

make a slightly acid mash.....
Take a pound or two of 2 row
Start normal mash in a bucket or something
leave uncovered for 24-36 hours
Voila... acid mash! Add as needed for souring
BUB

I guess I failed to mention that I'm only an extract brewer and plan to be for quite awhile. I'd rather get my beer on tap before I go all grain. Being a college student doesn’t suck; it's being a poor college student that sucks. I don't even know how to do a mash because I'm saving memory to cram for tests.

I'd really like to try the can of Guinness approach, but I'm too scared that it wouldn't give the correct flavor. I guess I'll just bite the bullet and pay for shipping on the acid malt. I guess I could order some brewing books while I'm at it to justify the shipping.

Thanks again for everything,
Tim

This is the recipe I finally came up with. I used the recipe from Clone Brews as a skeleton and modified it.

4.50 lb Extra Dark Dry Extract, Muntons (50.8 SRM)
0.80 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)
0.75 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)
0.25 lb Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM)
0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)
0.20 lb Acid Malt (3.0 SRM)
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [6.00%] (60 min)
0.50 oz Target [10.00%] (60 min)
White Labs #WLP004

BeerSmith estimates 1.041 OG, 1.011 FG, 3.9% ABV, 39 IBU, and 46 SRM. These are all within the style.

My question is: will that much dark specialty grain give a harsh and dirty flavor? Other comments and recommendations are very much welcome.

Thanks.

I know that I have read about souring Guiness while in the primary then put it in the secondary. I will look into it and post whatever i find

Would simply dosing with lactic acid after fermentation get close to the desired result?