Double Chocolate Coffee Stout (aged 10 months?)

5 Gal Recipe:
12lbs belgian pils
1/2lb chocolate malt
1/2lb roasted barley
1/2lb flaked barley
1/2lb crystal 120

1/2lb lactose
22oz bottle of hersheys chocolate syrup
1/2lb of coffee brewed to 1 gal (added to the secondary)

My question is; can I age this beer for 10 months as my winter brew? My concern is the coffee do I add it now and let it age with the beer, or should I add it later? I know I don't like coffee that sits out after couple of day, but it will be mixed in with some nice stout. I'm just looking for a few opinions on this, even the recipe if you like. This will be my first Chocolate or Coffee stout.

Two things that I see. First don't use Hershey's chocolate syrup. It has too much other crap added in it. Most people use cocoa powder, and some use bakers chocolate. Those are your two best options. Second I think you're calling for too much coffee. A gallon is a ton of coffee in a 5 gallon batch. If it were me I'd cut it to a quart. Other then that though, it looks like a really tastey brew. I think the lactose should add a sweetness that should go quite nicely with the chocolate/coffee flavors. What yeast are you thinking of using?

or cut it to a cup or two and read up on cold brewing the coffee. Also since it will have a lot more residual sweetness than most brews I would say no, it won't age well.

I read up a little about the syrup, its not recommended because of the HFC but it has been used. I have some powder, if I use that how much should I use?

I've read a little on cold brewing; why do residual sugars keep it from aging well?

Just add the coffee (ground as finely as you can, I use 1/2 pound) to a one liter water bottle and let it sit in the fridge for a few days, then filter it out. Cold brewing gets rid of a lot of the acids that are produced when you brew it hot. As far as the chocolate, I use 4 oz. of unsweetened bakers chocolate, I guess it would be about the same for the powder.

I used 4 oz of cocoa powder, in addition to chocolate malt, in my mint chocolate stout and it was plenty for me. Any more and I think it would have been overpowering...

But maybe someone else can chime in on their use of more and how it came out for them?

Thanks for the input, anymore opinions on aging this beer?

Disclaimer: I've never made a chocolate beer or a stout, and I'm not much of a stout fan to begin with.

I'd go with the cocoa powder rather than the baker's chocolate simply because the powder will have less cocoa butter (fat). I don't know if the cocoa butter dissolves in the beer (I doubt it, unless you add an emulsifier), or if you skim it off the top, or if it sticks to the trub and sinks (again, I doubt it would sink). Then again, the aromatic components of chocolate are in the butter.

Can anyone who's brewed with baking chocolate say where the cocoa butter ends up? Also, I wonder if the fat from the chocolate provides those unsaturated fatty acids that olive oil would and spur on the yeast's aerobic activity.

Yeah, Ive got the powder I've decided to use it instead of the syrup.

Here is a BYO arrticle on chocolate. I read it before I tried using chocolate. I hope this helps:

http://***********/feature/333.html

I used these in secondary for my Russian Imperial Stout. 8 oz, busted up just a bit in a coffee grinder and then oven roasted for about 20 min. It has a very noticeable chocolate aroma and flavor.

If you have a good health food store around you can probably pick up a smaller amount and save money or buy a smaller package from amazon.

go with 1 cup of cocoa powder and 1/4lb of coffee cold brewed as Prof Fink suggested. You are adding a fair amount lactose so that is going to mask the bitterness of the cocoa and coffee.

-J

I made a coffee porter recently. I added 1/2 lbs of light roast in while steeping my grains. I strained the beans before my boil. The coffee didn't burn and the flavor came through nicely. Prior to putting the coffee in i Crushed it with a rolling pin, if wasn't as fine as ground coffee but certainly smaller than whole bean.

I would love to make a chocolate coffee stout. I have been thinking about it for awhile now. However, I do not have the equipment or knowledge to do an AG recipe yet. Can anyone suggest an extract recipe for this style? I would really appreciate it a lot. I want to brew beer like this soon, and I won't be doing all-grain batches for awhile.