All-Grain - Dark Chocolate Stout - Page 7

freefallnick · 11-29-2011, 05:33 AM

not sure what happened but I took a sample as i kegged it and my sample was 1.030

i had already added the choc extract to the keg so I just went ahead and connected the gas qd, going to have low abv but the hydro sample tasted pretty good. We had done a starter but I had my ferm chamber set to 17.1 which is around 63f, maybe it will just too cold for the nottingham to finish out?

**discooby** · 01-20-2012, 01:38 AM

I just ordered the ingrediants for this...gonna try for the Youngs DC version (less hops, more Lactose); any updated suggestions? I'm going to do 10 gallons so I doubled the recipe. What about water hardness? This will also be my first time using Lactose... just dump it all in the boil for the last 5 min along with the cocoa powder? I'm excited

jayh · 01-29-2012, 04:43 PM

I brewed a partial boil extract version of this last month and it ended up being a very tasty stout, but not as much chocolate as I hoped. I did learn a few things, like don't bother with a strainer when pouring the wort to bottling bucket to aerate it. The cocoa powder will just clog the strainer. There wasn't as much krausen as I've seen in other beers I've made, but I wasn't sure if that was a result of the cocoa.

My only change from the original recipe was to use 5 lbs of Pale DME instead of the 7.5 lbs of Pale Malt.

I steeped the Crystal Malt, Chocolate Malt, and Roasted Barley for 30 mins @165F, followed the listed hop schedule, and added the cocoa powder about 10 mins before flameout.

I made a starter and fermented it at 65F for 3 weeks and bottle conditioned for 2 weeks. For the cocoa powder I used Trader Joe's brand, and the Norther Brewer chocolate extract.

I'm curious how to get more of a chocolate taste in the stout?

**chairbornrangerx** · 01-30-2012, 07:07 PM

I used this recipe in the OP for the base on my chocolate stout, should turn out pretty good

10lbs Pale Malt (US 2-row)
2lbs Crystal malt (80L)
2lbs Caramel malt (80L)
1lbs Chocolate (Briess)
1lbs Roasted Barley (Briess)
1lbs DME Dark Traditional (Briess)
1oz Bersbrucker
1oz Fuggles
8oz cocoa powder (0 minutes in the boil)
13oz Lactose (0 minutes in the boil)

used 2x packages of Nottingham ale yeast rehydrated as my starter.

After 12 hours i am already seeing fermentation.

OG was measured 1.089, curious to see where this will end up. And looking forward to tasting it!

thrstyunderwater · 02-21-2012, 02:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chairbornrangerx

I used this recipe in the OP for the base on my chocolate stout, should turn out pretty good

10lbs Pale Malt (US 2-row)
2lbs Crystal malt (80L)
2lbs Caramel malt (80L)
1lbs Chocolate (Briess)
1lbs Roasted Barley (Briess)
1lbs DME Dark Traditional (Briess)
1oz Bersbrucker
1oz Fuggles
8oz cocoa powder (0 minutes in the boil)
13oz Lactose (0 minutes in the boil)

used 2x packages of Nottingham ale yeast rehydrated as my starter.

After 12 hours i am already seeing fermentation.

OG was measured 1.089, curious to see where this will end up. And looking forward to tasting it!

How did this turn out? I like that it relies on cocoa and not chocolate concentrate.

**discooby** · 02-23-2012, 07:52 AM

The chocolate extract is used during kegging / bottling.

I tasted it just before kegging and the chocolate does “pop-out” more in taste / aroma after adding the extract.

I also get a strong roasted / smoky - coffee taste followed by a good unsweetened dark chocolate taste. I did a 10g batch (going for the YDC version, as stated in op) and used 2lbs of lactose… the sweetness isn’t really there but the mouth feel is. The coffee / chocolate (more so coffee) lingers on my tongue for quite some time. IMO, it’s a pretty heavy beer though light on abv... too light, so next time I’m going to up the grain to increase the abv (mine came in at about 4.7%). I think this is a great dessert beer, not meant for more than ½ - 1 pint / session.

Thanks to BarleyWater for this recipe! I LOVE it and it’s a darn perfect YDC!

BTW, anyone use BeerTools Pro and know how to correct for Lactose? BTP treats it as a fermentable. Thanks,

**chairbornrangerx** · 02-23-2012, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thrstyunderwater

How did this turn out? I like that it relies on cocoa and not chocolate concentrate.

So far it was pretty tasty, first taste seems to hit you with the coffee sensation a bit, but finishes heavy on the chocolate notes

My OG was 1.089, and as I bottled last night it was 1.039. So an ABV of only about 6.5%... target was 10% so I'm not sure why the yeast stalled out like it did.

Carboy was kept in my spare bedroom, so at a room temp of about 69-70 degrees F.

I think if I revisit this, I will keep the carboy in a slightly colder/darker room.

I think I would swap out about .5lb of the roasted barley for more of the pale malt as well.

**JRems** · 03-26-2012, 02:03 AM

Just wanted to give a thanks, I did a slightly modified version of this and got 2nd place in catagory in a local competition.

Tonsed · 03-29-2012, 03:47 AM

Hi everyone. I am looking FWD to brewing this recipe. Some of you have a problem with FG and you think it's the yeast. IMO it's the addition of lactose which does not ferment. If you measure OG before you add lactose then you have this discrepancy because the FG will be higher then normal because of the lactose.