Most dark or high alcohol content beers are better with age, my recommendation would be 60 days minimum in the bottle before drinking. Just my opinion.
Wreck99 said:A good buddy of mine wants me to brew him something close to the Youngs Double Chocolate Stout, but more creamy and with a hint of strawberries. I came across this recipe, which looks delicious and might be close. Would I achieve this by simply bumping up the Chocolate Malt to like 1lb, Lactose to 1lb, and adding strawberries to the secondary? Or is this stout creamy/chocolately enough?
I think if you want more chocolate go with coco nibs. It won't change the OG since your not adding more grains. The extra lactose won't hurt either. Most of my stouts usually have a whole pound anyway.
As far as strawberries go I would avoid the actual fruit and go with natural extract. trust me on this one. When I make strawberry wine it has to age along time for it to mellow and even then it doesn't have that traditional strawberry flavor I think your buddy wants. Plus, you are adding fermentable sugars which again will change your gravity. That's only half of it. You also have wild yeast on the strawberries that could potentially change the flavors or even contaminate the whole batch. You'll have to get campden tablets to kill the wild yeast and pectic enzyme to get more juice and flavor out. Even then I don't know if I'd want to put them in there. Most grocery store strawberries really lack any flavor. I'm almost certain It would be over powered by everything else going on in there. I guess you could boil them and see if that works. Pectin haze isn't going to be a problem in this one.
Not sure if anyone has successfully done it but it does sound good. Chocolate covered strawberry?? Anyway that's my 2 cents. good luck. Keep us posted.
You don't mash the coco nibs they are put in secondary fermenter like a dry hop, I would add 4-8 oz
Wreck99 said:Thanks for the feedback. If I were to add real strawberries, I was going to blend them with a shot of rum. That's usually what i do to "sanitize" fruit I add to beer and its worked thus far. However, I see your point, I can try the extract.
As for the coco nibs, how much would you recommend? When would those go in? Mash? Boil?
Thats kinda like making an extract. But I don't think alcohol draws out flavors of berries very well. Do you let it sit for a couple hours or days? Do you crush or blend them? I've never done strawberries in beer but I'd like to try it. I know the wine has a delicate flavor. I always use pick-your-own berries from some local farms instead of the grocery store stuff. much better flavors.
You could try making a coco nib/strawberry tea. Boil strawberries for 30 mins then add coco nibs for 3-4 min. dump the whole thing in secondary. I would start with 4 oz crushed coco nibs. If you do boil them don't boil for too long. They will add some bitterness. This works great for oak too.
Wreck99 said:The couple of beers I've added fruit to, I've blended with a shot of rum (just to sanitize it - might be overkill but I'm anal when it comes to sanitization) then just dump into secondary and let the beer sit on it for a while
I like the tea idea. I already bought strawberry extract though and I have 5 oz cocoa nibs on hand. So would it be best to just plan on dry hopping the cocoa nibs?
What's everyone using for mash temp? I'm thinking about 154, so as not to dry it out too much. Any opinions?
tgmartin000 said:What's everyone using for mash temp? I'm thinking about 154, so as not to dry it out too much. Any opinions?
I brewed this with extract, so the extract version is the real thing. The AG conversion should be dead on. Both are included. I used Wyeast 1450 PC - Denny's Favorite 50. This is a summer seasonal strain, originally the discontinued BrewTek CL-50, made famous by Denny Conn. Wyeast suggests 1056 as a good substitute, but I would use Wyeast 1028 or 1084. Mine finished out at 1.020 with Denny's - just a tad higher than it is supposed to.
Coffee and chocolate hit you up front intermingled with smooth caramel flavors that become noticeable mid-palate. Nice roasty finish rounds it out. Balanced and not cloying at all, but obviously leaning slightly to the sweeter side. Very smooth and creamy. You would think at least a little coffee or chocolate is actually used in this brew, and that is where it gets the name - Deception.
Brew it. Seriously. Do it. You will not be disappointed. It will be one of the best stouts you have had.
Extract:
4.50 lb Amber Dry Extract - 53.76 %
1.5 lb Wheat Dry Extract (60% Wheat) - 16.37 %
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L - 8.96 %
0.75 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) - 8.96 %
0.50 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) - 5.97 %
0.50 lb Lactose 5.97 % (Boil 10 min)
0.75 oz German Magnum [13.40 %] (60 min) - 27.0 IBU
1.00 Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 10 min)
1.00 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Boil 5 min)
Ferment 1 month @ 67 degrees F
I carbonated 2 volumes, but I suppose you could go higher
Enjoy!
rebrandsoftware said:One question though, if it's so good now, why are people waiting 30 days after bottling?
Perhaps I wear my impatience on my sleeve.
Enter your email address to join: