Honey Chocolate Stout

Hello, all! I'm new to homebrewing, and I want to start brewing my first beer soon. I've already decided to go with an all-grain sweet stout, with chocolate and honey, and I used a recipe formulator to help me figure out the details. I'd love to have some input as to how I did for my first recipe, as well as any suggestions on improving it.

I'm looking to make a smooth, rather sweet, but not too cloying stout. I'm also brewing this in a one-gallon batch, since it's my first time and I live in an apartment.

Boil Volume: 2 gallons
Boil Length: 45 minutes
Target Volume: 1 gallon
Style: Sweet Stout
Type: Ale

Fermentables
Maris Otter: 1 lbs 5 oz
Clover Honey: 5 oz
Chocolate Malt: 3 oz
Roasted Barley: 2 oz
Crystal 120: 2 oz
Honey Malt: 2 oz

Hops
Fuggles (UK): 1.5 oz. Boil Time: 5 minutes

Yeasts
English Ale WLP002
Min Temp: 68 degF
Max Temp: 73 degF
Attenuation%: 72.5

Adjuncts
Maltodextrin: 1 oz
Lactose: 2 oz
Cocoa Powder: 1 oz
Add in last 10 minutes of boil

Priming
Brown Sugar: 1 oz. Add at bottling

Type: All-Grain
Original Gravity: 1.058
Final Gravity: 1.016
Color: 41 SRM
IBUs: 27
ABV: 5.5%

Mash Efficiency: 75%
Mash Method: Single Infusion

I love using honey and honey malt in my beers. I would add the honey to the fermenter after primary, otherwise it will just up the gravity and dry out the finished beer without much or any flavor or aroma. Haven't used cocoa powder before but I would be worried about the honey being overpowered. Looks tasty though. Let us know how it turns out. And welcome to the habit/addiction

Thanks for the advice. I reworked the recipe a bit, adding the honey after the boil, and using cacao nibs in the primary instead of using cocoa powder. I also reduced the amount of hops to .5 ounces and split the boil times to half at 30 and 45 minutes into the boil.

I think it'll help. And thanks for the welcome.

I'd toss the brown sugar out and use either standard priming sugar or honey there. Increase the honey malt if you want something that actually has honey flavor to it. Honey will be easily overpowered by the other malts in the brew. Plus, you'll blow what little contribution it will have right out the airlock. I would also consider changing the chocolate to pale chocolate malt. It's less harsh, but has great flavor contributions. I use it, and kiln coffee in my mocha porter (along with honey malt) and it's really good.

I only see a 5 minute hop addition of 1.5oz of Fuggles... Generally speaking you use bittering hop additions (60 minute) and maybe a flavor addition (15 or 20 minute) for a stout. Rarely do they have anything after a 15 minute addition (no more flavor or any aroma hops).

I'd suggest going with a kit for your first few batches, until you get a better idea of what different malts and hops will actually give you. Jumping in like this is how many get discouraged at the start. Learn to crawl before you try to run a marathon.

Yeah, I changed the hop additions to 30 and 45 minutes into the boil. And I was thinking about using honey instead of brown sugar for priming.

And yeah, maybe the kit route is a good idea. Brooklyn Brew Shop has a Chocolate Maple Porter that I want to try.

FabulousVagabond said:

Yeah, I changed the hop additions to 30 and 45 minutes into the boil. And I was thinking about using honey instead of brown sugar for priming.

And yeah, maybe the kit route is a good idea. Brooklyn Brew Shop has a Chocolate Maple Porter that I want to try.

Click to expand...

Do either an all grain or partial mash kit first. Maybe a couple, then use what you learn from that to start making your own recipes. I did two kits (mostly stock) then heavily modified another before starting to make my own recipes. I've been cooking for longer than a good number of people (on these boards) have been alive, so it's pretty easy for me. I almost never use other people's recipes when cooking, so (again) pretty easy for me to get creative.

Been getting great results BTW. Learn the basics and go from there.