Espresso Stout

This is my attempt at cloning Laurelwood Brewing's Espresso Stout.  I had this a month or two ago and it really stood out to me.  It was fantastic actually, so I figured I'd give it a shot.  I brewed an 11 gallon batch to split with my buddy, so that's why the amounts will be so high.  I stuck with my oatmeal stout recipe, I just took out the oatmeal.  I'll add some cold brewed Portland Roasting Espresso to the secondary, which will be soon since I brewed this last week.  I still have to figure out the amount of coffee and how that's going to happen.  I'll put what I did in the notes, like usual.

Recipe:
11 Gallon

Grains:
25lb 2-Row (GW)
1.3lb Crystal 120L (GW)
1lb Chocolate
.6lb Roasted Barley

Hops:
1.5oz Cascade (6%) for 75m
1.5oz Cascade (6%) for 75m
2oz Cascade (6%) for 30m
2oz Cascade (6%) for 1m

Yeasts:
5.5 gallons with Wyeast Pacman
5.5 gallons with Wyeast 1056 slurry

Notes:
Brewed last Saturday.  Smooth brewing (I did this plus the Bitter American in one day).  Gravity came is right at 1.068 (75% efficiency).  Fermentation on the Pacman bucket was fast and furious.  I had to set up a blow off hose since the airlock was close to popping.  The pressure on the bucket was unreal, like nothing I had seen before in person (although here's a video of an airlock popping).  The 1056 bucket is slowly going, it started after a day or two (probably time to ditch that slurry).
Update 4/24/12: Added 1/2 gallon of cold brewed coffee to each bucket at secondary.  For the cold brewed coffee, I added a bunch of medium grind coffee and filled the growler with water and stuck it in the fridge for a couple days.  I then filtered out the grinds and added the coffee to the secondary bucket before I transferred the beer.  I used two 8 cup grind amounts for the amount of coffee.  It smells really good.  First bucket is bottled and I'll bottle the second bucket in a day or two.

Taste Update 7/17/12: So this turned out amazingly good.  The coffee flavor was perfect, the cold brew method really brought out the flavor of the coffee without the acidity.  The balance to the stout was dead on.  The Pacman yeast was definitely better than the 1056 yeast.  It's such a good strain, especially for stouts.  This is one I'll be making again for sure.  Also, I did a side by side with the Laurelwood Espresso Stout, which was the inspiration for this one, to see how they matched up.  I used the Pacman yeast version in the comparison.

Body: Extremely similar.  The Laurelwood version kept a better head (the one on the right), but otherwise these were very close.

Flavor: Again, very close.  The coffee in my version was a touch stronger, but a touch smoother in the Laurelwood.  It was really hard to tell the difference.

Hops: Too hard to discern.

Overall: This was very close.  I think the Laurelwood might edge out my version overall, but just barely.  I honestly couldn't tell them apart in a blind tasting, so that should tell you something!  If you're looking for a good coffee stout, brew this up and enjoy!

Bitter American Clone, Round 4

I'm a really big fan of 21st Amendment Brewing's Bitter American Ale.  The lighter body ale with a big hop flavor is quite good.  That plus the lower alcohol makes for a great spring/summer ale.  I'll most likely be bottling this one, so it should last quite a while (I hope!).  Here's the details.  I've altered the recipe again from previous attempts (1st, 2nd, 3rd).  Hopefully this one hits a little closer.  One problem is that Simcoe is in huge demand hence there's not too much around.  Luckily I still had some in the freezer, but this will use it all up.  Hope it's worth it!

Recipe:
5.5 Gallons

Grains:
5lb Golden Promise (Simpsons)
5lb 2-Row (GW)
.8lb Munich Light (Briess I think?)
.8lb Crystal 40L (GW)

Boil Hops:
.75oz Warrior (17%) for 60m
.25oz Warrior (17%) for 15m
.5oz Warrior (17%) for 5m
1oz Centennial (10%) for 5m
1oz Cascade (6%) for 5m

Dry-Hops:
1oz Centennial (10%) for 7 days
2oz Simcoe (13%) for 7 days
.5oz Warrior (17%) for 7 days

Yeast:
White Labs American Ale (WLP001)

Notes:
Brewed this last week actually along with an Espresso Stout, I've just been busy and pre-occupied with other things since to post.  Brewing went well, except for hitting my gravity.  I was targeting 1.054 (75% efficiency) but got 1.060 (82% efficiency).  Oh well.  That will lose some of the session ale quality, but that's how homebrewing goes sometimes!  Fermentation is still going strong and even overflowing at times (a week later).  Not sure what to think about that.
Update 4/24/12: Racked to secondary and added the dry hops.  FG was 1.014, so looks like about a 6% ABV, which is higher than my anticipated 5.5%.  Oh well.