Critique - Chocolate Stout Recipe

I've been wanting to make an over-the-top chocolate stout for awhile now. I talked to a few experienced brewers, and they all said to go overkill on the flavors you want, then back off on later batches if needed. With that in mind, I came up with essentially a 6x death-by-chocolate stout. Many double chocolate stout recipes I have come across use 8 oz. of cocoa powder in the boil or 6 oz. or cacao nibs in the secondary. I have decided on 8 oz. cocoa powder, 8 oz. dark cocoa powder, and 6 oz. cacao nibs. Because many Young's Double Chocolate Stout clones call for 1.0 lb of lactose, I decided to double this to keep the sweetness intact as well.

My main concerns are if there are any unintended consequences of using this much chocolate flavor, and if the extra lactose is really needed. Any other ideas to enhance the recipe would be appreciated as well!


Style: 6x Chocolate Stout
OG: 1.071
Type: Extract
FG: 1.020
ABV: 6.67 %
IBU's: 32.5
Efficiency: 70 %
Color: 43.2 SRM
Batch Size: 5.00 L
Boil Time: 60 minutes

Fermentation Steps
Primary - 7 days @ 68°F
Secondary - 14 days @ 68°F
Bottle - 21 days @ 68°F

Grains & Adjuncts
6.0 lb Light DME
1.0 lb Roasted Barley
0.75 lb Chocolate Malt
0.50 lb Crystal 60°
0.50 lb Carapils
2.0 lb Lactose

Hops
1 oz. Cluster - 60 minutes
1 oz. East Kent Golding - 10 minutes

Yeast
1 Package Danstar Nottingham Yeast

Extras
8 oz. Cocoa Powder, Boil - 15 minutes
8 oz. Dark Cocoa Powder, Boil - 15 minutes
6 oz. Cacao Nibs, Secondary - 14 days
2.75 oz. Priming Sugar

Cut way back on the roasted barley. Half a lb is more like what you should consider the max to use.

I brewed one with 8oz of chocolate powder added to boil with 15 min left and it had a too strong of a bitter chocolate taste. I've read other recipes that call for 4oz of choc powder and they turned out well

For what it's worth, here is the recipe my LHBS and I adapted for my daughter's wedding from the recipe found here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f68/german-chocolate-stout-27895/

It turned out incredibly balanced and chocolaty, without being bitter or harsh. It is a big beer, a great warmer and awesome with dessert or AS dessert.

I Do Brew Chocolate Stout

Recipe Type: Extract
Yeast: Nottinghams
Yeast Starter: No
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter: No
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.080
Final Gravity: 1.018
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: BLACK
Primary Fermentation 2 weeks @ 68°F

6 lbs. Dark DME
3 lbs Pilsen Light DME
0.5 lbs HB Choc. Malt
0.5 lbs. HB roasted barley
2 packs chocolate nibs (2 oz.) wrapped in a coffee filter and left them in through fermentation. Make sure to add them right at flame out to sterilize.
1oz Pure Vanilla Extract
2oz Chocolate Extract
1oz Saaz Hop
0.5oz Chinook Hop

Procedure
• Place steeping grains in 2.5 gallons of water and bring to 160°F
• Steep for 20 minutes – stirring regularly and vigorously
• Pull out grain bag – sparge with ~1 gal. 170° water
• Add malt extract and Chinook Hops and boil for one hour
• Add Whirlflock tablet (or Irish Moss) at 15 minutes before the end of the 60 min boil.
• Add Saaz Hops at 15 minutes as well.
• Add Chocolate Nibs and 1oz Pure Vanilla Extract at flame out.

Ferment 2 weeks in primary with the Saaz hops and the nibs, then keg or bottle. Condition for at least a month.

Cheers!

IL1kebeer said:

I brewed one with 8oz of chocolate powder added to boil with 15 min left and it had a too strong of a bitter chocolate taste. I've read other recipes that call for 4oz of choc powder and they turned out well

Click to expand...

This is why I was planning on doubling the lactose to make up for the added bitterness from so much chocolate, but I'll keep this in mind!

Adiochiro3, what would be the difference between using 6 lb of Light DME versus 6 lb of Dark DME? My idea was to have the chocolate be most of the flavor, so I was thinking of a base malt that would hopefully interfere less. However, if the Dark DME would go better, I would love to know why so I can do it.

Way too much Lactose!

2 lbs of Lactose is going to give you 14 points on your FG. You will be lucky to get this below 1.030.

2.75 lbs of specialty grains is a lot too. Reduce the Roast to just about zero (the cocoa is going to make it bitter as it is), up the chocolate Malt and think about reducing the Crystal.

If I am using less than 2 lbs of lactose, is there an alternate way to keep the sweetness there without lowering the amount of cocoa/nibs in the recipe? Would 1.5 lb of lactose still be too much, or just go with most other recipes and use 1 lb?

1 lb of lactose would probably end you somewhere around low to mid 1.020s. That's probably sweet enough. If it isn't sweet enough you can always add some more lactose later ..... but you can't take it out.