My Chocolate Stout Recipe...thoughts?

My love of dark beers has tempted me to try a Chocolate Stout for my third batch and would love some suggestions or thoughts on to how this should turn out. I was initially looking for something along the lines of Youngs Double Chocolate Stout, but this might suffice.

Alas, here she is!

1lb Chocolate Malt
1lb Crystal 90
1lb Roasted Barley
1lb Oats

5lb Muntons Light DME

1oz Kent Goldings 60min
1oz Northern Brewer 30min

8oz Cocoa Powder
8oz Lactose or Malto Dextrin

Secondary:

8oz Cocoa Powder or Chocolate essence from LHB

Thoughts? Suggestions? Thanks!

Personally, it seems like a lot of oats, but Im new so take it with a grain of salt. It sounds like a very smooth and heavy brew. Hope it works out for ya!

I'd up the hops. 2 oz of hops are going to get lost with that grain bill. Maybe some Fuggles?

For a sweet little kick, you could add coffee malt to the bill.

Cool, thanks everyone!

I didn't even think about the hops getting drowned out by the grain bill, nice touch! Fuggles would definitley be a nice addition for this though. A lot of the traditional styles i've seen usually incorporate either of the two hops that I have listed and then Fuggles.

Seems a little thin with only 5 lbs of DME. BeerSmith calculates it at 1.046 OG. I'd increase the DME to 7 lbs which puts you at 1.064. The specialty grains will really make this a rich, malty beer, though, and that extra Fuggles addition sounds nice. Good luck!

My chocolate stout is aging currently. I did it with:

1.5 lbs crystal 80
1 lb flaked oats
0.5 lbs chocolate malt
0.5 lbs roast barley
6.6 lbs light LME
8 oz cocoa powder
10 oz lactose
2 oz norther brewer hops, 60 minutes

I added the cocoa and lactose for the last 5 minutes of the boil.

I've sampled it and before kegging I'm going to throw in 2 oz of vanilla extract and another 6 oz of lactose. It's a little on the bitter side and I want a little more sweetness to it. The cocoa powder added a nice chocolate taste but it's very understated. It doesn't scream chocolate. More than anything it came out with an interesting cocoa bitterness...

I'm not sure if 8 oz is too much. After 1 week in the primary there was 2" of chocolate fudge at the bottom of the barrel... If that much sunk out it made me wonder if I could have gotten the same effect with less cocoa. Who knows.

Just brewed this last weekend. Currently in the primary.

3.3 lbs Coopers LME - Amber
3.00 lbs DME - Light
1.00 lb Roasted Barley
0.50 lbs Chocolate Malt
0.50 lbs Flaked Barley
0.06 lbs Black Patent Malt

1.0 oz. Amarillo 9.7% AA (60 min.)

4 oz. Crushed Cocao Beans (10 min.) (from local gourmet chocolate factory)

White Labs WLP004 Irish Stout

SG 1.062 (15.14 Plato)
Anticipated IBU: 41

Oh MAN, the cocoa beans sound fantastic, I didn't think of that either. There are a couple of candy shops in the area that do homemade fudge, candies, etc. I might have to try that instead of using powder.

To those of you that have brewed your batches thus far, have you sampled a little bit yet to see if the chocolate travels through? (Aroma or initial/after-taste)

Yea, the chocolate factory is called "Theo" and they are in the old Red Hook Brewery building in the Fremont neighborhood in Seattle. They are not as bitter as I would have imagined and have a nice "nutty" taste. Red Hook actually used them in a chocolate coffee stout at the cask beer festival this year. The beer is still in the primary and I'll probably transfer to the secondary this weekend. I'll draw a sample for tasting and report back how pronounced the chocolate is at this stage.

Well I kegged my chocolate stout and I'm not certain on it. It still taste's funny, after 1 week in primary and 3 weeks in secondary. I'm going to let it sit to see if it gets any better but I don't know. The 8 oz of cocoa added a nice chocolatey touch but it isn't overhwelminigly chocolate. Similar to the chocolate taste of rogue's chocolate stout.

Only problem is, it tastes a bit off. Hard to describe, but it is kind of tangy, almost acidic. Not sour, more like a sweet tang, I dunno.... I'm not sure if it's the alkalinity of the cocoa powder or what. I measured the PH and it came in at a little over 6, so it is slightly acidic, but I have yet to find out what the normal ph for a beer should be...

I'm not sure of the exact pH of beer but I do know that it is slightly acidic (the carbonation will certainly lower the pH). So, ph of 6 doesn't sound that bad...

I'm thinking of having a big St. Patty's day paty this year with friends and such. I'd like to brew a batch of chocolate stout for just this occassion. After reading this thread it seems that there is a great deal of debate over chocolate stout recipes. Does anyone know which of the listed recipes has come out closest to tasting like Young's Double Chocolate Stout?


I want a Chocolate stout very closely resembling Young's but with maybe more chocolate and a little vanilla. Wow this is a hodgepodge of a post. I guess my big question is how did your chocolate stouts turn out? Chocolately enough? Too bitter? Hopefully they were all great!
-Ben

So MriswitH, How did this turn out? I've got a Chocolate Stout in primary right now (recipe is from the 150 clones book) I was really tempted to try this recipe but didn't bring it with me when I went to the LHBS so I went with the clone.

Really curious to see how this one turned out.

Hey bud! I brewed this on New Years Eve with my sister, her boyfriend and my girlfriend and its actually in the secondary right now. I modified the recipe a little bit, it is as follows:

1lb Chocolate Malt
1lb Crystal 60
1/2lb Roasted Barley
1lb Oats

5lb Muntons Light DME

1oz Kent Goldings 60min
1oz Northern Brewer 30min

10oz Ghirardelli Cocoa Powder
8oz Lactose

Nottingham's Ale Yeast

Secondary:
Cannot find cocoa nibs, so i'm going to go with a chocolate essence from LHB.

OG was a dissapointing 1.050 and FG so far was 1.019-1.020, making it about 4%; was in the primary for 8 days. The taste test going into the secondary was actually very good. Strong chocolate/cocoa flavor, almost reminded me of cocoa-puffs more than a chocolate bar flavor, ala Young's; still good though. The color is more of a really dark brown too, instead of a typical stout black.

A couple of problems I ran into (resulting in low OG, etc.) was the fact that my scale was fubar'd, so I probably ended up with something like 4lbs of DME. On top of that, its obviously a ton of grains and the nylon bag that I thought would work was a bit stuffed to the brim. Also, who the hell brews on New Years Eve, if you get my drift, haha. In any event, i'm pretty happy how it turned out so far. You live an you learn and keep good notes. If I repeated, i'd probably due the same recipe, making sure the bag issue was corrected so the grains were looser and also make an even 5lbs of DME. For secondary, i'd probalby do 4-6oz of cocoa nibs as well.

Anywho, i'll keep you updated on how it turns out in the keg. I got another couple of weeks before I can try a glass, but its looking good so far.

I just racked my Mocha Stout to secondary this evening... and so far, it tastes great! My wife was a fan, and she's not normally a stout fan.

I started with one of the chocolate stout recipes on HBT, then changed a few things (minor changes) and added 28 oz of cold-brewed coffee.


Here's what I brewed, and am calling my Mocha Stout:

6 lbs dark DME

Steeped 45 minutes:
1 lb 60L Crystal
1 lb Pale Malt
0.5 lb Roasted Barley
0.25 lb Chocolate Malt
0.25 lb Oatmeal

1 oz Norther Brewer (60 min)
0.5 oz Tettnang (60 min) - left over from a previous batch
1 oz Fuggles (20 min)

1 tsp Irish moss
8 oz Lactose (put in boil with 15 min left)
0.75 cup dark cocoa (put in to boil with 5 min left)

London ESB Ale (Wyeast 1968)

Edited to add: added 28 oz cold-brew coffee to secondary!!

Anyway, can't wait for this one to be ready to keg and then drink later!

Austin

funny how every time I google a clone recipe for a beer me and SWMBO like, I run across this site.....glad to be a member!

Can any of you who've cracked one open fill me in on how your batches turned out?

SWMBO is not a big beer fan, although she likes mixing my stouts with Irish Whiskey and Irish Cream I'd like to make something for her to enjoy with her car bombs!!!

Lookin for something to try out with my new mash/lauter tun for my first AG batch.....any suggestions welcomed.

peace, love and spare beer,

chris aka Hippiefreak
http://db.etree.org - anyone lookin for some brewing music check this out - I've got lots to share

We've been drinking off the keg and i'm decently satisfied with how this beer turned out. It is very malty as a result of the large quantity of malts that I used and almost a little too sweet for my liking. It is a very, very smooth beer though and it goes down very easily.

If I were to make it again, I would cut back on the amount of lactose I used and possibly use 1/2lb of Crystal instead of a full pound. The chocolate flavor is quite evident, but I would also suggest throwing cocoa nibs in secondary to get a more pronounced and distinct (See: Youngs Double Chocolate Stout) flavor out of it. It tastes more like cocoa puffs then it does a chocolate bar.

Hippiefreak said:

Lookin for something to try out with my new mash/lauter tun for my first AG batch.....any suggestions welcomed.
http://db.etree.org - anyone lookin for some brewing music check this out - I've got lots to share

Click to expand...

This turned out very nice and "SWMBO" friendly. I replaced Chocolate Malt instead of Roasted Barley to get a sort of hybrid less bitter stout. The addition of Quick Oats gave a nice creamy texture and the head has a nice thickness to it.

I sampled this at the Superbowl party and all agreed, this needs to be brought to the St. Patty's day parade party.

8.82 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
0.43 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM)
0.43 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)
0.43 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)
0.42 lb Quick Oats (3 Cups) (1.0 SRM)
0.27 oz Fuggles [4.50%] (60 min)
0.13 oz Fuggles [4.50%] (15 min)
8.00 tsp Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate)
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule:
Total Grain Weight: 10.53 lb

Dough in at 169 degrees for a 155 mash at 75 minutes.

Batch sparge at 170 degrees. Bring preboil volume to 6.25 gallons and boil to a 5.25 gallon batch.

I've done a chocolate imperial stout twice now and while they have turned out very, very good, I have yet to get the pronounced chocolate flavor of a Young's DCS. Here is the last one I did. I'd like to try the chocolate nibs idea (if I can just get my hands on some!). Sam Adams used them in their chococlate bock.

I was recently given some advice on using flaked oats from a brew master at one of the best brewpubs in my area. I used it on a recipe that I just sampled last night and it paid off. I'd highly recommend it. I'm going to use it for any recipe calling for flaked oats: Spread them out on a cookie sheet and put them in a 325oF oven for ~30 mins. - just until the kitchen begins to smell like an oatmeal cookie. Cool and store until brew day.

I've given up on pure cocoa for chocolate flavor, I think it needs to be kicked up a notch

Here's my latest attempt:

12 lbs 2-row
1.5 lbs Chocolate Malt
1.5 lbs Crystal 60
0.5 lbs Flaked Oats
0.5 lbs Roast Barley
0.5 lbs Black Malt

1 oz Norther Brewer - 60 minutes
1 oz Norther Brewer - 15 minutes

1 lb lactose - 15 minutes
8 oz cocoa - 15 minutes
2 oz malto dextrin - 15 minutes

4 oz chocolate extract - secondary
2 oz vanilla extract - secondary

I'm planning on throwing a pot of decaf in there too... I have an espresso machine, but it would take forever to make 20 shots and I'm too lazy for that...

I'm hoping a full mash will get rid of the odd tangy flavor I had last time, and I cut down on the oats a bit too, but added some malto dextrin to keep the body up. The chocolate extract seems to be the way to really get the chocolate flavor, it seems all the commercial chocolate beers use it anyway. I'll be doing a lot of tasting when I rack to secondary to figure out how much is needed, 4 oz is just a guess as it's in primary right now. I'm a bit concerned that a half pound each of roast barley and black malt will be too strong, but I do like my stouts with a lot of roast character.

1 lb of lactose seems a lot, but last time I used 10 ounces and it wasn't that sweet, plus you've got a lot of bitterness from the cocoa powder and coffee to balance out, and I want something along the lines of a sweet stout.

I'll report back in a month on how it turned out

That does seem like a lot of Lactose and Chocolate Malt, but I bet it'll turn out really nice; malty, sweet and hearty. The only suggestion I might make is to possibly cut back on the roasted malts a little bit. The barley sounds just about right, but the black patent, especially if you add a lot of coffee, might be very, very roasty and bity for a chocolate stout.

Again, i'd like to pimp the cocoa nibs in the secondary, I think it'll help to bump up the pronounced chocolate flavor that we're all looking for. If you do end up going with the chocolate extract, 2-4oz seems to be about right from what i've read.

Let me know how it turns out, sounds like a great recipe!

Personally I've found that cocoa powder isn't worth the mess. It doesn't really provide a strong chocolate flavor and it can be a real pain to clean up after - chocolate extract is definitely a better way to go.

I actually don't like the chocolate extract flavor. Its got this strange aroma that I can't get over. I use 4oz of cocoa powder in my chocolate stouts, flame out, and thats all. To be "chocolate stout" it doesn't need to taste like chocolate milk. I think people go WAY overboard with the flavors sometimes. A "cherry wheat" doesnt need to taste like marciano cherries. A hint of cherry flavor is more than enough to please. You end up with beer that tastes like there is cough syrup in there...

My chocolate stout tastes like a regula dry stout, but if you swish the beer around for a second you pick up on the chocolate flavor. Its quite nice, IMHO.

Some of us want to taste the chocolate though

I racked to secondary, added a pot of strong decaf coffee, 2 oz vanilla and 4 ounces chocolate extract.

Overall it tastes pretty good, but even with the 4 ounces of extract it's not really all that chocolately. What can ya do... The amount of lactose is fine, the coffee and cocoa add a lot of bitterness that need sweetened.

Overall the biggest fault I can find is that the coffee gives it an acidic bite. Hopefully that will mellow. Next time maybe I'll use a low acid coffee bean, if I can find such a thing.

debtman7 said:

I've given up on pure cocoa for chocolate flavor, I think it needs to be kicked up a notch

Here's my latest attempt:

12 lbs 2-row
1.5 lbs Chocolate Malt
1.5 lbs Crystal 60
0.5 lbs Flaked Oats
0.5 lbs Roast Barley
0.5 lbs Black Malt

1 oz Norther Brewer - 60 minutes
1 oz Norther Brewer - 15 minutes

1 lb lactose - 15 minutes
8 oz cocoa - 15 minutes
2 oz malto dextrin - 15 minutes

4 oz chocolate extract - secondary
2 oz vanilla extract - secondary
1 pot strong decaf coffee - secondary

Click to expand...

Ok, there it is. I'm not going to toot my own horn here, but it's GREAT. When i racked it, you could really taste the acidity of the coffee and it had some of that 'extract' taste.

A month later it has mellowed out, no more acidity no more extract flavor. Good solid mocha flavor. It's a sweet stout, and has the same amount of sweetness as other sweet stouts (which is not really sweet, you'd have to try one to get a sense of the taste). People have different tastes, but to me it is a nicely balanced sweet stout with good chocolate and coffee flavor, but not beat you over the head with chocolate. It's really really good. I think it needs to age a bit more and it will be even better.

I have a chocolate stout sitting in secondary right now. When I bottle it, I will be priming with chocolate liqueur instead of sugar or DME. I am not sure if the chocolate will be over the top or not...we will just have to see. :fro:

i'm sure my question reflects my short experience with homebrewing: why do you need lactose when adding chocolate/cocoa? does the sugar help bring out the chocolate flavor? why can't you just add the chocolate extract? thanks.. =)