Dry Irish Stout

[Roosterbrews]

Hi Brewer's, I am fairly new to all grain brewing with only 3 brews under my belt so far. I am thinking about brewing BeerSmith Dry Irish Stout but I have a few Questions to ask before I start. Firstly I live in the UK and my local Home Brew shop only keeps Safale yeast's so can I substitute Wyeast Lab Irish Ale 1084 yeast  for Safale S- 04 English Ale yeast and still get a good result, I bottle my beer so it will be bottle conditioned?
Also I brew in small Quantities to end up with 16 x 500mls bottles so can I mash out by just raising the mash temp without adding  extra  water? or may be not mash out at all. Thanks Guys any help is appreciated.

 

[prj28]

Wyeast 1084 is a good choice. The last Dry Stout I did I used White Labs WLP004 Irish Ale. I think they are pretty much interchangeable.

 

[BeerNut]

You can use safale S-04.  It will turn out fine. I like the S-04, it flocculates out nice and tight on the bottle bottoms when you bottle condition.

 

[Roadrocket]

You can't go wrong with Safale S-04. I've used it many times. It's an excellent yeast and should be perfect for your stout. It was originally a Whitbread strain and the same as Wyeast 1099. My personal favorite, White labs WLP007, is a different Whitbread strain and attenuates more to produce a dryer beer.

It was a sad day when Whitbread stopped brewing after 260 years. My favorite beer of theirs was Mackeson. My father used to drink a bottle every day with his dinner. InBev still sell cans filled with a thin, metalic tasting black liquid they call Mackeson but it's nothing like the original so I never buy it. I have great memories of Whitbread because I left school at 15, moved to London and started drinking in a pub at the end of my street that served Trophy Bitter at 17p a pint (yes, I'm that old). A lot of pubs are closing nowadays which is sad but hardly suprising. I went into a small pub in Cheltenham last year where they wanted £4.99 for a pint of ordinary draught IPA. I told the barman to shove it up his arse and walked out. A lot of people must have done the same because it's now a pizza restaraunt.

Anyway, getting back to the subject, I don't bother doing a mash out unless I've got a thick mash or a recipe that includes more than 15% rye or 25% wheat or oats. It stops all enzyme action and makes the grain bed more fluid by raising the temperature. It's a bit like heating up oil to make it thinner and easier to pour.

If you ever need to expand your range of ingredients I can thoroughly recommend The Malt Miller. His range is one of the best in Europe. I find his mail order service very easy to use and I always get a fast service at a reasonable price. All of his grains are freshly milled to order and they are always the best quality. Before anybody asks, I have no connection and my recommendation is based purely on my own experience.