Double Chocolate Stout??

After 7 days at 63F I racked the following recipe over to the secondary it smelled awesome but the taste of alcohol was very evident. I have brewed this before and it was a real hit but I don’t recall what it tasted like going to the secondary.
I am planning a big Halloween party and want this batch to be great. I was considering adding Lactose to give it a creamer taste any suggestions?

6 lbs. dark malt extract
1 lb. domestic special pale malt
1 lb. medium crystal malt
1/2 lb. roast unmalted barley
1/4 lb. chocolate malt
1/2 lb. oatmeal
1/2 - 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (add to end of boil)
1 oz. Northern Brewer (bittering)
1/2 oz. U.K. Fuggles (flavoring)
No finishing hops (add cocoa instead)
1 pkg. Windsor Ale Yeast (or White Labs English Ale or Wyeast #1968)
1 pkg. Bru-Vigor (yeast food)
O.G. - 1.049
F.G. - 1.012

This one sounds great! Do you have any problems with oils from the cocoa? How's the head on this one (considering you've brewed it before)?

This is similar to what I have in secondary right now. My recipe was:

6.6 lbs Amber extract
1.5 lbs Crystal 80
1.0 lbs flaked oats
0.5 lbs chocolate malt
0.5 lbs roasted barley
10 ounces lactose
8 ounces unsweetened cocoa powder
Wyeast Irish Ale Yeast

It tasted pretty good transferring to secondary, the dominating flavors were chocolate (obviously) and coffee. The chocolate wasn't overdone but added a really interesting complex bitterness.

The lactose I added to help balance out the bitterness of all that cocoa, and it helps make a nice body. I'm thinking at bottling time I'll add a few more ounces of lactose as it's still a little bitter. I'm contemplating adding some chocolate liquor and vanilla extract at bottling time.

I'd suggest that when you're ready to bottle/keg, take a few samples and play with them. Add a bit of lactose to a sample and see if you like it better.

Lactose is a good idea. Vanilla can also bring out the chocolate.

gaelone - cocoa powder has almost no fat in it, chocolate is a problem because of the cocoa butter.

gaelone said:

This one sounds great! Do you have any problems with oils from the cocoa? How's the head on this one (considering you've brewed it before)?

Click to expand...

This one had nice head and just a touch of Chocolate after taste in a good way.
I brewed this one because I really like youngs double chocolate. I was suprised how fast five gallons evaporated (lol). I just thought Lactose would make it creamier.
I got this recipe from my lhbs they have them online www.defalcos.com

Brewed this again last weekend as an all grain so we will see if it goes as fast this year. Last year this stuff evaporated!

so how did it go? did you figure out how to make it like it originally tasted to you?