Thoughts on Belgian Stout?

So I manipulated my great Breakfast Stout clone recipe and came up with a Belgian Chocolate Stout.

Original Breakfast Stout
16 lbs. American 2-row
1 lbs. American Chocolate Malt
12 oz. Roasted Barley
9 oz. American Black Patent
7 oz. Crystal Malt 120°L
22 oz. Oats Flaked

.5 oz. Nugget (Whole, 13.00 %AA) boiled 60 min.
.5 oz. Mt. Hood (Pellets, 5.00 %AA) boiled 30 min.
.5 oz. Mt. Hood (Pellets, 5.00 %AA) boiled 2 min.

2.5 oz. dark bittersweet baker's chocolate
1.5 oz. unsweetened chocolate baking nibs

Safale S-04 Top Quality Ale Yeast

Modified Belgian Chocolate Stout
14 lbs. Belgian Pale
1 lbs. Belgian Chocolate Malt
12 oz. Roasted Barley
9 oz. Belgian Black Roast
7 oz. Belgian Special B
22 oz. Oats Flaked

1 oz. Styrian Goldings (Whole, 6.00 %AA) boiled 60 min.
.5 oz. Saaz (Pellets, 5.00 %AA) boiled 30 min.
.5 oz. Saaz (Pellets, 5.00 %AA) boiled 2 min.

3.5 oz. Cote d'Or Bittersweet Chocolate added 15 min.

White Labs WLP530 Abbey Ale

Changes are highlighted... Is Belgian Black Roast the same effect as Black Patent? Also, I think subbing Special B for the 120L will work... Thoughts? All the numbers come out similar.

The ringer is to use an Abbey yeast instead of my usual S-04... I think that will make or break this recipe.

Thoughts on it? I also think this is one that needs to be done soon and laid down until early 2010...

I've never used the belgian black roast before, so I can't comment on that. I'd imagine that the roastiness of the modified recipe would be pretty similar to the original. Recipe looks good to go.

I've actually got a Belgian Stout in the kettle right now.

3# Light DME
7.5# Belgian Pale
1# Munich
12 oz Roasted Barley
8 oz Chocolate malt
4 oz pale chocolate malt
2.55 oz goldings 4.4 oz at 60

yeast is a blend of white labs bastogne ale and wyeast flanders golden ale. Looking forawrd to enjoying this in early 2010 as well!

looks good, although if you're going to use the WLP530, make sure that you leave plenty of room for the krausen, as that yeast strain is a beast. I had a 3 gallon batch in a 6.5 gallon carboy and I got a good foot of foam on top within 18 hours, that stuff is nuts.

In addition to the beginning, I always add a little bit of Fermcap towards the end of the boil... Keeps krausen in check.

This recipe sounds very interesting. Are there any commercial examples of a belgian stout or belgian chocolate stout?

Eric

I've been intrigued by the idea of a Belgian Stout for awhile now, but haven't gotten around to doing it yet. I like what you did with the yeast and the hops. As for the grains, I don't really have any experience with the Belgian Black Roast, so I probably wouldn't want to experiment with it in a totally new beer (but that just might be the scientist in me trying to keep the variables to a minimum). I think the switch from Crystal 120 to Special B is a really good choice, but I might cut back on the weight. Special B is some pretty powerful stuff and I wouldn't want for it to overpower the other things going on in the beer.

Good luck, and keep us updated!

One last thing to maybe think about is using WLP500 instead of 530. A little bit more fruitiness might make the beer more "Belgian." Comes down to personal preference, really, your call. What temp(s) do you plan on fermenting at?

EricCSU said:

This recipe sounds very interesting. Are there any commercial examples of a belgian stout or belgian chocolate stout?

Eric

Click to expand...

Ommegang's Chocolate Indulgence is a passable example, IMO. I wasn't blown away by it.

EricCSU said:

This recipe sounds very interesting. Are there any commercial examples of a belgian stout or belgian chocolate stout?

Click to expand...

Hercule from Ellezelloise Brewery in Belgium is a stout of around 8 or 9% and is superb. There's also a Belgian stout called Buffalo, though I've not yet tried it.

flyangler18 said:

Ommegang's Chocolate Indulgence is a passable example, IMO. I wasn't blown away by it.

Click to expand...

+1. An interesting idea, but a lackluster example.

Allagash Black is another belgian stout example. I enjoyed it and felt like the belgian yeast definitely added something interesting to the party.

Parker36 said:

I think the switch from Crystal 120 to Special B is a really good choice, but I might cut back on the weight. Special B is some pretty powerful stuff and I wouldn't want for it to overpower the other things going on in the beer.

Click to expand...

Good suggestion... will think about that!

Parker36 said:

One last thing to maybe think about is using WLP500 instead of 530. A little bit more fruitiness might make the beer more "Belgian." Comes down to personal preference, really, your call. What temp(s) do you plan on fermenting at?

Click to expand...

I've had some damn fine brews (and one award winner) using 530... That's probably the big reason. The Special B should add some "dark fruit" as well...

flyangler18 said:

Ommegang's Chocolate Indulgence is a passable example, IMO. I wasn't blown away by it.

Click to expand...

I am definitely "inspired" by this one, and want to improve upon it.

Thanks for the responses, all!

The only problem I see is the chocolate. Using chocolate bars are probably not the best idea. A normal chocolate bar contains cocoa solids, cocoa butter, vanilla, emulsifiers and sugar. A darker chocolate will contain more cocoa solids to cocoa butter.

A lot of people have success with nibs. Nibs are actually the fermented, roasted and dehusked cocoa beans. In normal chocolate production, the nibs are ground into a paste. They are high in fat, so they don't make a powder like coffee beans would. It used to be my belief that nibs wouldn't really work in a beer. Since they are used whole, or slightly cracked, not much fat gets out.

DubbelDach said:

I've had some damn fine brews (and one award winner) using 530... That's probably the big reason. The Special B should add some "dark fruit" as well...

Click to expand...

Ya, like I said, personal preference, I'm more of a 500 guy, but they are pretty similar and with all the strong flavors going into that beer already, you may not even be able to tell the difference in the end anyway. When are you planning on brewing?

Edcculus said:

The only problem I see is the chocolate.

Click to expand...

I have used Hershey's bittersweet baking bars in beers before... I was thinking this was the "Belgian" equivalent, but:

Ingredients:
Cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, fat-reduced cocoa, milk fat, flavourings, emulsifier (soya lecithin).

Hmm....

Weyerbacher's 13 is a pretty fine example of a Belgian-style IS.

so did this beer ever get brewed? Just wondering how it turned out. I was thinking of giving it a shot.

steinsato said:

so did this beer ever get brewed? Just wondering how it turned out. I was thinking of giving it a shot.

Click to expand...

Maybe all five gallons were drunk in one sitting and no one is left alive to tell us how great it was.

Only took me a year and a half to brew this!

Here's what I did.

Here's the HBT recipe thread.

Turned out pretty well! Only thing is I might use more nibs in secondary. Double up those 4 ounces.

Well, I know this isn't exactly a current thread, but I recently brewed a beer that I wanted to be a Belgian stout. Turned out to be more what I would call a chocolatey Belgian Dubbel. But, in the end I'm happy for it. I think too much roast would clash with or overpower the Belgian yeast. Here is the recipe I brewed. I thought it was delicious, and will probably be emptying the keg tonight or tomorrow at the latest.

Grains/DME
6.75 lbs Light DME (3.75 lbs added at 60 minutes. 3 lbs at 15 minutes)
2 lb Pale Ale (Castle)
8 oz De-Husked Carafa III
8 oz Chocolate Wheat
8 oz Special B

Hops
1 oz Magnum @ 60
2 oz Hallertau @ 5

Yeast
Belgian Ale WLP550

Readings
OG - 1.069
FG - 1.017
ABV - 6.9%