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MriswitH · 11-02-2006, 04:14 PM

My love of dark beers has tempted me to try a Chocolate Stout for my third batch and would love some suggestions or thoughts on to how this should turn out. I was initially looking for something along the lines of Youngs Double Chocolate Stout, but this might suffice.

Alas, here she is!

1lb Chocolate Malt
1lb Crystal 90
1lb Roasted Barley
1lb Oats

5lb Muntons Light DME

1oz Kent Goldings 60min
1oz Northern Brewer 30min

8oz Cocoa Powder
8oz Lactose or Malto Dextrin

Secondary:

8oz Cocoa Powder or Chocolate essence from LHB

Thoughts? Suggestions? Thanks!

WAGNER BREWING · 11-02-2006, 04:59 PM

Personally, it seems like a lot of oats, but Im new so take it with a grain of salt. It sounds like a very smooth and heavy brew. Hope it works out for ya!

Cheesefood · 11-02-2006, 05:43 PM

I'd up the hops. 2 oz of hops are going to get lost with that grain bill. Maybe some Fuggles?

Evan! · 11-02-2006, 05:51 PM

For a sweet little kick, you could add coffee malt to the bill.

MriswitH · 11-02-2006, 09:29 PM

Cool, thanks everyone!

I didn't even think about the hops getting drowned out by the grain bill, nice touch! Fuggles would definitley be a nice addition for this though. A lot of the traditional styles i've seen usually incorporate either of the two hops that I have listed and then Fuggles.

**Yuri_Rage** · 11-02-2006, 10:02 PM

Seems a little thin with only 5 lbs of DME. BeerSmith calculates it at 1.046 OG. I'd increase the DME to 7 lbs which puts you at 1.064. The specialty grains will really make this a rich, malty beer, though, and that extra Fuggles addition sounds nice. Good luck!

debtman7 · 11-02-2006, 10:08 PM

My chocolate stout is aging currently. I did it with:

1.5 lbs crystal 80
1 lb flaked oats
0.5 lbs chocolate malt
0.5 lbs roast barley
6.6 lbs light LME
8 oz cocoa powder
10 oz lactose
2 oz norther brewer hops, 60 minutes

I added the cocoa and lactose for the last 5 minutes of the boil.

I've sampled it and before kegging I'm going to throw in 2 oz of vanilla extract and another 6 oz of lactose. It's a little on the bitter side and I want a little more sweetness to it. The cocoa powder added a nice chocolate taste but it's very understated. It doesn't scream chocolate. More than anything it came out with an interesting cocoa bitterness...

I'm not sure if 8 oz is too much. After 1 week in the primary there was 2" of chocolate fudge at the bottom of the barrel... If that much sunk out it made me wonder if I could have gotten the same effect with less cocoa. Who knows.

**Brewtopia** · 11-03-2006, 02:40 AM

Just brewed this last weekend. Currently in the primary.

3.3 lbs Coopers LME - Amber
3.00 lbs DME - Light
1.00 lb Roasted Barley
0.50 lbs Chocolate Malt
0.50 lbs Flaked Barley
0.06 lbs Black Patent Malt

1.0 oz. Amarillo 9.7% AA (60 min.)

4 oz. Crushed Cocao Beans (10 min.) (from local gourmet chocolate factory)

White Labs WLP004 Irish Stout

SG 1.062 (15.14 Plato)
Anticipated IBU: 41

MriswitH · 11-03-2006, 04:27 PM

Oh MAN, the cocoa beans sound fantastic, I didn't think of that either. There are a couple of candy shops in the area that do homemade fudge, candies, etc. I might have to try that instead of using powder.

To those of you that have brewed your batches thus far, have you sampled a little bit yet to see if the chocolate travels through? (Aroma or initial/after-taste)

**Brewtopia** · 11-04-2006, 06:08 AM

Yea, the chocolate factory is called "Theo" and they are in the old Red Hook Brewery building in the Fremont neighborhood in Seattle. They are not as bitter as I would have imagined and have a nice "nutty" taste. Red Hook actually used them in a chocolate coffee stout at the cask beer festival this year. The beer is still in the primary and I'll probably transfer to the secondary this weekend. I'll draw a sample for tasting and report back how pronounced the chocolate is at this stage.