Double Chocolate Coffee Stout, Extract – Makes 5 Gallons

I recently purchased a double chocolate stout extract kit to which I made a few modifications. Though I’ve brewed a number of specialty wines before this will be my first time with beer. Does everything look right/good? Any tips/suggestions? What S.G. should I look for before racking to secondary or bottling? How long do you think it'll take to reach that SG?

Thanks,
evenstill

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Double Chocolate Coffee Stout, Extract – Makes 5 Gallons
Ingredients:
• ¾ lb Chocolate Malt
• ½ lb 2-Row Malt (Rahr)
• ¼ lb Crystal 40L
• 1/8 lb Black Patent
• 1/8 lb Roasted Barley
• 5 oz ground coffee
• 2 oz unsweetened Cocoa
• ½ lb Malto Dextrin
• ½ lb Lactose
• 2 lb Amber Liquid Malt Extract
• 5 lb Dark Liquid Malt Extract
• 1 oz Galena Pellet Hops
• 1 oz Real Vanilla Extract
• 4 ½ oz Priming Sugar (corn sugar)
• 1 capsule of BrewVint Yeast Fuel (nutrient)
• Yeast: White Labs London Ale WLP013

Directions:
2 days prior to brewing the beer you need to prepare some cold brewed coffee. Do this by adding 6 cups of water to 5 oz coarsely ground coffee beans and 1 oz unsweetened cocoa powder then allow it to soak for about 48 hours.

In a 16 – 20 quart stainless stockpot, bring 2 ½ gallons of water to 155°F and turn off the heat (leaving the pot on the hot burner). Put the crushed ¾ lb Chocolate, ½ lb 2-Row, ¼ lb Crystal 40L, 1/8 lb Black Patent, and 1/8 lb Roasted Barley into a grain bag and soak in the hot water for 15 minutes. Lift the grain bag in and out of the water as if it was a tea bag. After soaking the grains, lift the grain bag out of the water and allow most of the water to drip out then discard the grains and turn the heat back on until boiling.

Turn off the heat once again and move the stockpot to a cool burner. Add the malt extracts, malto dextrin, and lactose. Stir constantly until completely dissolved then return heat to the mixture stirring occasionally. Heat until boiling then reduce the heat in order to maintain a roiling boil without boiling over.

Add 1 oz of Galena hops and set a timer for 60 minutes.

Add 1 capsule of BrewVint Yeast Fuel for the last 10 minutes of boiling.

Add 1 oz unsweetened cocoa powder for the last 5 minutes of boiling.

After 60 minutes of boiling, remove the wort from the heat and cool down quickly to about 80°F. Once the wort has cooled, pour it into your primary fermenter (6.5 gallon glass carboy) and add cool water to make 5 ¼ gallons. Check the specific gravity. Aerate well. Shake the container of yeast then pitch (note: allow the yeast to warm up to 72°-78°F for about 24 hours prior to pitching). Aerate again.

Attach your airlock/blow-off tube. After 12-36 hours you will see signs of fermentation. If you do not see any signs of fermentation within 24 hours then remove the airlock/blow-off tube and aerate again.

After about a week the fermentation should have significantly slowed down and the excess proteins and dead yeast will settle at the bottom of the carboy. Rack to secondary (5 gallon glass carboy) and let clear for about another week.

Rack to tertiary (5 gallon glass carboy) and check the specific gravity. Add 1 oz real vanilla extract. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil and add 4 .5 oz priming sugar (corn sugar), stirring until completely dissolved (about 1 minute). Remove from heat and cool to about 80°F or cooler. Pour the sugar water unto your beer and mix gently but thoroughly.

Bottle and age 3-4 weeks.

Brew Log:
03/10/2008
Initial Fermentation: 12:30am Monday morning 03-10-2008
Original Gravity: 1.0951
Sugar by weight: 22.67° Plato
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Here is my BeerSmith entry (still figuring it out):

Double Chocolate Coffee Stout #1
Sweet Stout

Type: Extract Date: 3/10/2008
Batch Size: 5.00 gal Brewer: Nathan Konzelman
Boil Size: 2.50 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Brew Pot (4 Gallon)
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0 Brewhouse Efficiency: -
Taste Notes:

Ingredients
Amount Item Type % or IBU
2 lbs 1.3 oz Coffee - Cold Brewed (500.0 SRM) Adjunct 18.77 %
5 lbs Dark Liquid Extract (17.5 SRM) Extract 45.13 %
2 lbs Amber Liquid Extract (12.5 SRM) Extract 18.05 %
12.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 6.77 %
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 2.26 %
4.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 2.26 %
2.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 1.13 %
2.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 1.13 %
1.00 oz Galena [12.20 %] (60 min) Hops 24.5 IBU
1.00 oz Cocoa Powder - Unsweetened (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1.00 oz Real Vanilla Extract (Bottling 5.0 min) Misc
1.00 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
8.00 oz Malto-Dextrine (Boil 60.0 min) Misc
8.0 oz Milk Sugar (Lactose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 4.51 %
1 Pkgs London Ale (White Labs #WLP013) Yeast-Ale


Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.055 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.095 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.015 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.050 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.18 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 5.91 %
Bitterness: 24.5 IBU Calories: 461 cal/pint
Est Color: 75.5 SRM Color:
Color


Mash Profile
Mash Name: None Total Grain Weight: 10.00 lb
Sparge Water: - Grain Temperature: -
Sparge Temperature: - TunTemperature: -
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE Mash PH: -

Steep grains as desired (30-60 minutes)

Mash Notes: -
Carbonation and Storage
Carbonation Type: Corn Sugar Volumes of CO2: 2.5
Pressure/Weight: 4.5 oz Carbonation Used: 4.5 oz
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 70.0 F Age for: 28.0 days
Storage Temperature: 70.0 F
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This looks like a nice recipe. I'm new to making recipes myself so I can't really comment on how this is going to turn out.

As far as looking for your predicted OG and SG I'd check out www.BeerTools.com and put your recipe in the calculator and see what those values are. It will also help you to know if you are in style guidelines, but those can be stretched

Ok, here’s my updated brew log. I use the brewing calculator found at http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/brew/widgets/intro.html.

Brew Log:
03/10/2008
Initial Fermentation: 12:30am Monday morning
Original Gravity: 1.0951
Sugar by weight: 22.67° Plato

03/16/2008
Racked to secondary 11:00pm Sunday night
Added 1 oz unsweetened cocoa powder to secondary.

03/21/08
12:15pm: I re-suspended the sediment using a home made Lazy Susan table.

03/23/08
8:15pm: Specific gravity is 1.0259. Smells pretty good.

03/30/08
10:00am: Final Gravity reading was 1.0352.
Racked to bottling carboy and added the priming sugar and vanilla extract as stated in the recipe above.
O.G.: 1.0951
F.G.: 1.0352 (8.82° Plato)
Real Gravity: 1.0464 (11.52° Plato)
Apparent Attenuation: 61%
Real Attenuation: 49%
ABV: 8%
ABW: 6.1%
Calorie Content for 1 oz = 28; for 12 oz = 332
Residual Sugar Content for 1 oz = 3.27g; for 12 oz = 39.2
Freezing Point: 25°F

I bottled it this morning and had a couple of questions:
1) I show that the gravity actually went UP between the last time I checked it and today . . . What’s up with that? (no pun intended)
2) What’s the difference between the measured FG and the “real gravity”?
3) When figuring the residual sugar should I use the FG I measured “1.0352 (8.82° Plato)” or the “Real Gravity: 1.0464 (11.52° Plato)” (which is the one I’m currently using)? I’ve been calculating it like this: 28.35g x 11.52% = 3.27g sugar per ounce . . . is this correct?

Thanks,
evenstill

1.035 sure seems like a high fg to me. What was your expected fg? Was your OG really 1.095? That sure is high, too.

Of course, the lactose would increase the fg, but I'm having trouble reading and understanding all of that. You didn't follow the recipe that came with the kit, right? What was their expected OG and FG, and what were your changes? I'm having a little trouble understanding exactly what is going on and what your questions are. If your attenuation was 61%, I'd expect some bottle bombs unless your readings were incorrect or you had much more unfermentables than I see.

It's really hard to read all that "stuff" and figure it out from my end.

The kit had an expected OG of 1.056 and FG of 1.012.

The only changes I made to the kit’s recipe are:

1) I cold brewed 5 oz of ground coffee and 1 oz unsweetened coco powder in 6 cups of water which was added to the primary.

2) I added 8 oz of lactose to the boil.

3) I added 1 oz of unsweetened coco powder to the secondary.

4) I added 1 oz vanilla extract before bottling.

I’m pretty sure that the fermentation had stopped since I haven’t seen any activity in the airlock for several days.

Does this help with the above questions?

3/23/08
8:15pm: Specific gravity is 1.0259. Smells pretty good.

03/30/08
10:00am: Final Gravity reading was 1.0352.

Click to expand...

wait a minute...did your gravity go UP? did you take the reading after adding the priming sugar or something?

i'd say with all those unfermentables you're probably ok bottling at that point. my friend's coffee porter was in the 1.035 range and it came out fine, tasted great.

i like your lazy susan idea for rousing the yeast.

So given all the above information:

1) Any idea why the gravity went up?

2) What’s the difference between the my measured FG and the “real gravity” the calculator gives?

3) When figuring the residual sugar should I use the FG I measured “1.0352 (8.82° Plato)” or the “Real Gravity: 1.0464 (11.52° Plato)” (which is the one I’m currently using)? I’ve been calculating it like this: 28.35g x 11.52% = 3.27g sugar per ounce . . . is this correct?

Thanks,
evenstill