Take a peek at my recipe? Chocolate Milk Stout

Greetings,

This is my first recipe I've ever played with so be nice .

Decided to play around with hopville some today just because and put together a Milk Stout with bakers chocolate added (I saw this done and it looked interesting and I want to try it).

Recipe is below, I'm sure it needs some work so thanks to anyone who lends a hand!

Malt & Fermentables
LB OZ
6 0 Dark Malt Extract Syrup

1 0 Milk Sugar (Lactose)
0 8 Black Malt Steep
0 8 Briess Caramel 80L Steep

Specific Gravity
1.053 OG
(1.047 to 1.055)
13.1° Plato
1.013 FG
(1.011 to 1.014)
3.3° Plato

Color
30° SRM
60° EBC
Dark Brown to Black

Steep Efficiency
37.5%

Hops
Use Time OZ Hop Variety AA » IBU
boil 50 min 1 German Northern Brewer ~ pellet 9.6 » 34.5

Bitterness
34.5 IBU
10 HBU

Yeast
Danstar Nottingham Ale Yeast

Alcohol
5.3% ABV
4% ABW

Calories
174
per 12 oz.

Miscellaneous Ingredients
Use Time Amount Ingredient
boil 1 min 8 ounces Chocolate, Baker's


Cheers

Just a bump, still looking for some (hopefully constructive) criticism from anyone willing to lend a few minutes. Thanks!

Hey I'm no expert as I've never used chocolate before but I have read that racking over the chocolate in the secondary works well. Also im wondering if there is a form of chocolate that would not introduce extra oils. Maybe using cocoa powder? I know when i use peanut butter i either press all the oils out or use PB2 (powdered peanut butter).

Not sure about the chocolate bc I've never used it, but you are probably overdoing it with the dark ME and the dark specialty grains. Dark ME has the dark grains already it it, so if you use both, not only will it most likely be darker than you want (ie black), but also have more dark flavors (burnt, roasted, etc.) try using mostly light ME and a little dark with the specialty grains. Using ME in general, as well as doing partial boils (which is the norm for extract) will also darken the wort. Good luck.

guldalian said:

Not sure about the chocolate bc I've never used it, but you are probably overdoing it with the dark ME and the dark specialty grains. Dark ME has the dark grains already it it, so if you use both, not only will it most likely be darker than you want (ie black), but also have more dark flavors (burnt, roasted, etc.) try using mostly light ME and a little dark with the specialty grains. Using ME in general, as well as doing partial boils (which is the norm for extract) will also darken the wort. Good luck.

Click to expand...

I agree with you. I actually did an oatmeal milk stout and used light dme instead and the steeping grains imparted a whole lit of color and flavor.

I'm not a fan of using chocolate as an adjunct. I'd be worried about oils. I'd suggest you get the chocolate taste more organically. The key to getting the chocolate taste is adding Munich malt to the recipe. Use like 1.5 lbs Munich 10L. I would not add black patent malt because of hard roast coffee flavors. To get dark color add 4 oz. of Midnight Wheat malt which will also do something for head retention. An alternative would be to use a less astringent than black malt - Carafa Special II malt. You'll get your dark color and not the burnt taste. You don't need a lot of dark malt since you're using dark malt extract. But I figure a half pound of black malt will give you some harsh flavor when you want sweet. You can get away with a light LME if you really want to with using the Midnight Wheat malt or Carafa Special II. I'm not a fan of lactose either but if you want a milk stout, go for it. Hope it helps.