Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer Double Chocolate Oatmeal Snout

Stevo2569 said:

I knew that but I saw recipe somewhere on the recipe database that listed Cream.

Click to expand...

Unless you're adding it to the glass, that's not going to work out well at all. I'm not going to want to drink cream that's been sitting at 70+ degrees for 3+ weeks.

ChshreCat said:

Unless you're adding it to the glass, that's not going to work out well at all. I'm not going to want to drink cream that's been sitting at 70+ degrees for 3+ weeks.

Click to expand...

Gotcha, I think I'll stick to Lactose. No since in risking a bad batch. I always added lactose in the boil, obviously it's too late for that. I usually keg but am going to bottle prime this one. Add at bottling?? Recommended amount? Thanks.

Lactose can be added at any time in the process. Some folks will add a minimum amount to the boil, then add more to taste at bottling.

This was great fun. I did the original post recipe yesterday.

Being my first mash, I did not have have the proper equipment. Or at least I didn't think I did. I tried putting my oats (quick oats) and grains in two grain bags and stuffing them into a pot with 2g of water. I got the temp to about 150 and put it in the oven for an hour. The temp did not hold well and was down to about 120 by the end.

Not knowing how it was going to turn out, I dumped my sacks into the 2g water in the pot and put it back on the burner, keeping it at 150-160 for another hour.

I went to the garage and found an old cooler. I scoured it with a brillo pad and then sanitized it good. When the mash was done, I poured it through a collander - the expandable rectangular kind - that I had placed over the cooler. After the grains drained into the cooler, I sparged with 3g of 150 degree water by pouring the water over the grains, letting them drain into the cooler.

Then I put the cooler on a chair and pulled the spigot, letting the wort pour into the brewing kettle. So basically, it was 5g of water minus whatever the grains absorbed.

After the hour boil, I cooled the wort, took a reading of 1.082(!), and transferred to the carboy. It needed another 2/3g of water to get it back to 5g. I don't know how much of that was boiled off vs soaked up by the grains. Anyone know how the water addition will affect the OG? I did not take another reading after that.

This was also my first time pitching with dry yeast. I did not hydrate it beforehand - just tossed it right in. The wort was a little less than 80 degrees at the time. Should I not have done that? I forgot to check in on it this morning before I left for work to see if there was any activity.

Overall, I was pleased that I ended up being able to mash without having to purchase any new equipment. It was really quite easy.

Thanks to all of you for the last few years' worth of comments on this thread! This one encouraged to try more all grain recipes.

Adding that much water at the end is definitely going to drop your OG way down---off the top of my head, I'd guess 1.040. If you've got a pot (or pots) big enough, on your next batch you should start with 6.5 or 7 gallons of water total (split between mash and sparge) so that you don't have to add water at the end to make up for what you've lost to the grains and the boil. I end up using 3 pots during my process, even though I've got one that holds 5 gallons.

Hope it turns out for you!

Just had another bottle of this recipe yesterday (I've been Scrooge-ily saving them for months) and it's only getting better with time.

ericdaryl said:

Adding that much water at the end is definitely going to drop your OG way down---off the top of my head, I'd guess 1.040. If you've got a pot (or pots) big enough, on your next batch you should start with 6.5 or 7 gallons of water total (split between mash and sparge) so that you don't have to add water at the end to make up for what you've lost to the grains and the boil. I end up using 3 pots during my process, even though I've got one that holds 5 gallons.

Click to expand...

Ouch! I hope I didn't murder my OG that badly. It really didn't seem like much topping-off water at all, 2.5 quarts I guess. If it's really down to 1.040, then it will sap 5% off my abv!

Obviously, I should have taken another hydrometer sample after adding a little water. But next time, I'll try your suggestion of starting with more water in the mash and sparge.

Brihaus said:

Ouch! I hope I didn't murder my OG that badly. It really didn't seem like much topping-off water at all, 2.5 quarts I guess. If it's really down to 1.040, then it will sap 5% off my abv!

Obviously, I should have taken another hydrometer sample after adding a little water. But next time, I'll try your suggestion of starting with more water in the mash and sparge.

Click to expand...

Your post above had you adding "2/3g" which I took to be GALLONS. So, yeah, adding 3 gallons of clear water to get to 5 gallons really will cut your OG way down, but adding 2/3 quarts shouldn't hit it that hard. You ought to be fine. Again, off the top of my head, but I'd guess around 1.070 or so.

Sorry for the misunderstanding!

It does take a few rounds to tweak your process so that you start out with the right amount of water and end with the right amount of beer! One of my saddest HB moments came when I had about 3-4 quarts of extra beer that fit into my primary bucket but wouldn't go home to the secondary carboy. Painful to watch it circle the drain!

ericdaryl said:

Your post above had you adding "2/3g" which I took to be GALLONS. So, yeah, adding 3 gallons of clear water to get to 5 gallons really will cut your OG way down, but adding 2/3 quarts shouldn't hit it that hard. You ought to be fine. Again, off the top of my head, but I'd guess around 1.070 or so.

Click to expand...

Oh, by "2/3g" I meant "two-thirds of a gallon," which is a little more than 2.5 quarts I think. I'll be pleased if I didn't drop below 1.070 since that is the target.

In the future, you wanna take your gravity reading after you top up to your final volume and mix it really well. I'm sure you're doing quite well so far.

I always used to sprinkled dry yeast right onto the wort until I learned I should hydrate it first. I hydrate now and (to be honest) haven't noticed any difference in how it acts but still hydrate because it's an easy thing to do and stacks the odds of good beer slightly more in my favor.

ChshreCat said:

In the future, you wanna take your gravity reading after you top up to your final volume and mix it really well. I'm sure you're doing quite well so far.

I always used to sprinkled dry yeast right onto the wort until I learned I should hydrate it first. I hydrate now and (to be honest) haven't noticed any difference in how it acts but still hydrate because it's an easy thing to do and stacks the odds of good beer slightly more in my favor.

Click to expand...

Still shots of fermenting beer are particularly boring. But here's where it's at. I came home yesterday and the airlock was busy clicking, fermenting at 71-72 degrees. Interesting that there was almost no krausen head. It was fizzing like an active bottle of Coke. This morning it's at 70 degrees and had slowed down quite a bit until I kicked it a couple times.

I opened my first bottle this weekend after about three weeks of bottle conditioning. It wasn't carbonated yet. I do not know if I missed my measurement when adding the sugar water mix to the bottling bucket, or if maybe my house is just a little too cool.

I may have to open all of the bottles and pour them into a keg and force carb. This stuff was too good right out of the secondary, so I have to have a carbonated one.

431brew said:

I opened my first bottle this weekend after about three weeks of bottle conditioning. It wasn't carbonated yet. I do not know if I missed my measurement when adding the sugar water mix to the bottling bucket, or if maybe my house is just a little too cool.

I may have to open all of the bottles and pour them into a keg and force carb. This stuff was too good right out of the secondary, so I have to have a carbonated one.

Click to expand...

Nah, just make sure it's in the 70's and give it time. It'll carb up.

Ok, fermentation does not appear to have made it past 48 hours. It's right at 70 deg and it doesn't look like it's done. I would take a gravity reading but I just shattered my hydrometer (again)... Won't get a reading until the weekend.

Question: if the gravity is still really high (over 1.040) on day 6, should I re-pitch? Should I add yeast nutrient? Did I screw up the sugars by mashing too long (went 60 min at 120-130 in grain sacks, then 60 min at 155 after setting the grains free)?

Chshrecat - thank you for this recipe. Brew it back in Feb and still have a 6er waiting for Christmas eve. The best part id the stout float! This over a really good french vanilla ice cream is heaven. I'm about to brew this one again.

My fiancee and I tried the first bottle of this last weekend, she loved it (I'm glad, because I made it for her!!)

I've made floats with it as well. Makes SWMBO look at me funny, but I like it.

Same here. Sometimes its so rich and chocolatey that its hard to finish.

If you want to try another trick with it, get a cake or brownie mix and use this instead of the water.

Checked on the carboy last night a fee says after it seemed to have stopped fermenting after just 36 hours. Noob mistake. Last might I noticed there are still bubbles in there. Took a hydro reading and it's at 1.026. Not bad after 6 days.

Then I tasted it...holy smokes! Alcohol is pretty hot right now, but it tastes like a premium imperial stout in the making. Is it possible for it to carbonate in the primary fermenter? I swear the hydro sample had a slight head and small bubbles rising even 10 minutes after drawing it.

As the yeast ferments the beer, it's putting out a lot of CO2. The beer will absorb as much of that CO2 as it can. That's why if you do sugar additions or something of the sort, you don't want to add it dry. All that CO2 will come out of solution and create a beer volcano.

ChshreCat said:

If you want to try another trick with it, get a cake or brownie mix and use this instead of the water.

Click to expand...

Oh my, I'll try that when I get home tomorrow night!

My LHBS had pale/pilsner LME instead of amber. I grabbed 0.2 lb of black patent to make up for the difference. Is this a good idea or would it throw off the flavor? Thanks.

It'll change it some, but the cocoa dominates this beer so much it won't be that big of a difference, I think. I haven't really used black patent so I don't know from experience how strong of a flavor it imparts.

Hey chshrecat. Thanks for the recipe. Got 2 beers out of this. Bottled half and kegged the other half with cherry extract. Choco-Cherry Stout. About 6 wks old. Delicious.

Stevo2569 said:

Hey chshrecat. Thanks for the recipe. Got 2 beers out of this. Bottled half and kegged the other half with cherry extract. Choco-Cherry Stout. About 6 wks old. Delicious.

Click to expand...

I'm racking to secondary this weekend with the vanilla bean that I have soaking in black cherry vodka (Effen). Hope I don't confuse the beer with the cherry! My options were that, regular or vanilla vodka, spiced rum, clear rum, or bourbon.

Not an urgent post:

Everything seemed to go well. I used 1 cup (about 4oz) of cocoa powder to play it safe. Initial gravity was 1.063 but may have been higher if I had stirred thoroughly (I was tired and forgot). However, it was my first BIAB partial mash. Within 6 hours, it bubbled fast and continued for 2.5 days. It smelled like fuggles which is nice but I had hoped for a chocolate cloud above my fermenter.

4 ounces of cocoa won't make it as over the top as I usually make it, but it'll still have definite chocolate flavor.

I made this at the request of my fiancée and we are just staring to break into it....damn it's GREAT,! Thanks a ton for making this up!

I bottled mine a few days ago. I was surprised when I opened the secondary to see sort of a white cloudy substance on top. I hope it's just nothing, as it smelled like chocolate liquor. Really looking forward to enjoying this by Christmas.

Thanks for the recipe Chshre! A bastardization of your recipe (forgot the oats at the LHBS and added a little lactose) placed 2nd in Stouts (8 entries) at the Badger Brew-Off. This being my second all grain batch I'm pretty pleased with it and can't wait for my scoresheet back. I'm going to definitely brew it again, the way it was meant to be. Although SWMBO really likes the lactose...and I'm on the fence. Anyway, cheers. Everyone loves it.

EDIT: By the way it was less than a month in bottles when it was judged. To me, this beer is excellent young. I think the lactose has something to do with that since it, along with the vanilla, sort of rounds out and softens the chocolate bitterness that, combined with the roastiness, could overpower a little when young.

This is excellent. Brewed it this summer and have just really started drinking it. Damn this is tasty. Props to you for this recipe!

Marking for tomorrow and my trip to the LHBS to get my specialties. Going to offshoot some with the AG way though...

Glad everyone's liking it. I need to brew some more. Went to beer storage and found I was out of this one!

Hey chshrecat. Although your recipe sounds tasty and will be going onto my to do list my question is more about Wondercocoa. I'm doing an Imperial stout tomorrow and I'm trying to judge how much to use. I was wondering what's the longest you've kept a bottle of your DCOS.I'll likely lay some of mine down for awhile so I'm wondering if the flavor fades. Although I am a big fan of chocolate I wouldn't mind if it started out strong and faded to let some of the other flavors through over time. Your thoughts.

At the amounts I'm using, 6-9 ounces, I've opened bottles after about 18 months or more and they're still cocoabombs. The Wondercocoa is good stuff.

Well I decided to just dump the whole can in. After tasting a bit of powder it was very bitter but I mashed in @ 155 so the sample was on the sweet side and chocolaty. I may add some vanilla beans or coffee for some bitterness. I haven't decided yet or oak it as I like the coconut flavor oak brings to the table.Thanks for the advice.

Hey there, so I tweaked this receipe a bit in to a chocolate coffee oatmeal stout. I got a little sip of the beer as I was racking to the secondary this evening - it tasted great. It's about 26 GU's but it's also only 4 gallons as I'm adding 1 gallon of cold pressed coffee in the next few days.

I'm not sure what to do about the vanilla bean though. How do I sanatize / pasturize the bean to avoid infections?

I just spray mine down with starsan a couple minutes before I split and scrape it.

but... it's usually done fermenting before the bean gets involved so the risk of infection is pretty minimal at that point.

Or you can make a tincure or potion as Randy Mosher calls it using vodka or any other alcohol of your choosing . Just scrape the bean and cut into small pieces add everything to a small amount of vodka and let it sit for a week or so. Many people use vodka as it has very little flavor. The alcohol extracts the flavor from the bean. Then strain and dump the liquid in at bottling or kegging. Plus the alcohol kills anything you don't want in your beer and boosts your abv slightly. But as ChshreCat said. By the time you add it the alcohol in the beer itself will likely kill anything you need to worry about.

Cool - I just let it sit in vodka for a little while and threw the bean in. We'll see what happens I guess!

This is the second time I'm making this beer, first time I'm using the bean though (and chocolate too - forgot it last time haha)