Chocolate Mint Stout Question

OblivionsGate · 10-24-2007, 04:44 PM

So I was on my 3rd batch of beer and I was getting a little "eh" with the specific instructions. So when I made my 4th (thread title) I decided to make some alterations:

Instructions:
6oz. Chocolate
1/2 lb Malted Barley
1/2lb Malt (forgot what kind, don't have specifics in front of me)
6.7 Dark Malt Liquid
1.5 oz. Bittering Hops
.5oz. Aroma Hops
Put fresh Mint in Secondary.

What I did:
7oz. Chocolate
3/4 lb Malted Barley
3/4 lb Malt
1/4 lb Chocolate Malt
7.4 Dark Malt Liquid
2 oz. Bittering Hops
1 oz. Aroma Hops
Fresh Mint boiled in wort during last 15 minutes (and will probly put it in Secondary too)

The final product was very thick (damn near oil) and took forever to cool.

Obviously its sitting in my basement fermenting away, so there isnt much I can do now, but when I jumped on here and read a "my beer kinda sucked" thread, I became very paranoid that I may have made a poor tasting beer.

Thoughts?

**david_42** · 10-24-2007, 05:49 PM

Mint can be a bit odd if you boil it, more in the secondary is a good idea. Really depends on how much mint you used.

OblivionsGate · 10-24-2007, 06:35 PM

Only one oz. of fresh mint.

The list called for 5 or 6 oz., it was an accident that led me to decide to just throw it in the boil.

persinger · 10-24-2007, 07:24 PM

I have zero answers to your questions, but hot damn if that recipe doesn't sound delicious. Good luck with it!

Madtown Brew · 10-24-2007, 09:18 PM

I can tell you right now that you probably won't even taste the 1 oz. of mint in the final product. For one thing, it's just too small of an amount. Additionally, most of the delicious aromatic compounds in the mint will have been either boiled off in the boil, or will be scrubbed out by co2 during primary fermentation.

My suggestion would be to add in another small handful of fresh (lightly chopped or torn) mint leaves into the secondary (or after fermentation subsides if only using a primary). If your paranoid about contamination from the mint, you could soak it in some 150 dF water for about 15-20 minutes, but I'd avoid boiling it if possible.
You could also soak it in some high proof alcohol, but you'd have to add in all of the liquid from that because many of the minty compounds are alcohol soluble.

If it were me, I'd just rinse the leaves well in some clean water then tear 'em up and throw them into the carboy. Post fermentation, there should be enough alcohol in there to inhibit most "bugs" that might be on the mint.

On a side note: any idea what type of mint your using? They do have quite different flavors, you know.

OblivionsGate · 10-25-2007, 06:14 PM

I was worried about contaimination, thank you for the tips.

I didnt know there were different kinds of mint, its just regular fresh mint from my grocery store's fresh spice section.

BadKarmaa · 11-27-2007, 11:37 PM

Don't know if this thread is dead already or not, but here it goes anyway. I too have a choc mint stout. This is the second time I've made it, and I use 3/4 - 1 oz of dried peppermint leaves. I just pop em in a hop sock and throw it into secondary for 7-10 days. It comes out just the way I like it. Thick and chocolatie with a hint of mint after it goes down.