Afterlab wrote:
Yeah like Dirk said for your initial fermentation of the Stout you will use whatever ale yeast. Your original gravity is probably going to be around 1.060 for your Stout so you shouldn't need to necessarily do what Steamworks did with their 1.080 original gravity beer.
Steamworks did their initial fermentation with a Belgian yeast blend that didn't flocculate out too well and when they racked onto the raspberries they added a lager yeast to make sure all the sugar from the raspberries fermented out and to make sure all the yeast in the beer fully dropped out. I wouldn't worry about all of this "advanced" stuff at this point. Just focus on more of the brewing basics and you will be on a quicker path to brewing better beers.
I agree to an extent. I wouldn't be brewing if I could have purchased good craft beer locally. I started experimenting with my second batch. You want to brew a raspberry stout? Brew that MoFo. It's your beer. Share your results with us, and with everyone who follows after you. That's Brewers Code.
There ain't a better bunch of guys (and gals) here, and a bunch of them (not me) a great brewers. Always listen to what Bugeater says, and brew every recipe he posts. Ask questions. We'll answer. Sometimes we'll tell you to slow down, but always follow your taste buds. But never, ever let us discourage you.