Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti Clone

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B_Dub

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I tried the Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti for the first time a few months ago and ever since have wanted to come up with a clone recipe (all-grain) for it. I've got a basic recipe and some info from Great Divide, but there are still some things I'm looking for advice on and figured I would share what I've got so far and open the topic up for discussion. So here it is.....

Great Divide Yeti Imperial Stout Clone Recipe - 5 Gallon, All-Grain (BYO magazine December 2006)

OG = 1.090
FG = 1.018
IBU = 75
SRM = 98
ABV = 9.3%

- 16 lb. Rahr 2-row
- 1 lb. Crystal Malt (120 L)
- 12 oz. Chocolate Malt
- 12 oz. Black Patent Malt
- 10 oz. Roasted Barley
- 8 oz. Flaked Wheat
- 8 oz. Flaked Rye
- 1.25 oz. Chinook pellet hops (60 min.)
- ½ oz. Chinook pellet hops (30 min.)
- ½ oz. Centennial pellet hops (15 min.)
- ½ oz. Centennial pellet hops (5 min.)
- Wyeast 1056 American Ale Yeast

- Mash @ 150 Degrees F
- Boil for 60 minutes
- Ferment @ 70 Degrees F

and here is some information I got when I emailed the brewery asking about this beer....

"As far as recipe information, I’m not allowed to say much. I can say that the brewers add cayenne, cocoa nibs and French and American oak chips after fermentation and then taste it occasionally until it was the right amount of “chocolatiness” at which point they removed the nibs. I know, tough job. This was about 2 weeks. They then left the oak in there for 5 weeks. Hope that helps!"

So that's what I have so far, in my mind the biggest things still in question are:

How much cayenne?
How much cocoa nibs?
How much oak chips?
What is the ratio of French to American oak chips?

Any suggestions? Let me know what you think!
 
Sounds like a fun project.

I have had better results with cocoa powder than cocoa nibs (nibs killed my head retention), but 6 oz in 5 gallons did give me a good chocolate flavor.

1-2 oz of oak (boiled for a few minutes to sanitize) is a good place to start. I would go with more American than French oak, the more vanilla character seems like it would go better with the chocolate.

Not sure about the cayenne, but I would go very easy on it (the beer doesn't have a lot of spice). Say 1/2 tsp added to the secondary.

I am about to do something similar, but I want more chile flavor so I am going with dried anchos which are much lower on the scoville scale. I am also going to add a vanilla bean and some cinnamon, and no oak.

Good luck, and welcome to the board.
 
Oldsock,

Thanks for the response, this information should def. come in handy as I prepare to brew this beer. I will be sure to post my final recipe once it's brewed and will follow up with results once the beer is ready to drink (which I'm sure won't be for a while since I assume this beer will need considerable aging)

The beer you are about to brew sounds delicious, I'd be interested to hear how it turns out.
 
Sounds like a fun project.

I have had better results with cocoa powder than cocoa nibs (nibs killed my head retention), but 6 oz in 5 gallons did give me a good chocolate flavor.

1-2 oz of oak (boiled for a few minutes to sanitize) is a good place to start. I would go with more American than French oak, the more vanilla character seems like it would go better with the chocolate.

Not sure about the cayenne, but I would go very easy on it (the beer doesn't have a lot of spice). Say 1/2 tsp added to the secondary.

I am about to do something similar, but I want more chile flavor so I am going with dried anchos which are much lower on the scoville scale. I am also going to add a vanilla bean and some cinnamon, and no oak.

Good luck, and welcome to the board.


Should I use the cocoa powder in the boil or in the secondary?
 
I make a paste with cocoa powder and enough hot water (~150-170 F) to cover. I let it stand for 5 minutes while the cocoa powder hydrates, then rack the beer into secondary on top of it. This method is easy (it is very hard to get cocoa powder to dissolve in cold liquids) and has given me the best chocolate flavor.

Mine is aging at the moment, tastes good after a week on the extras.
 
B Dub how did this recipe come out?

It turned out really good, it has changed a lot over time. I have been drinking one a month to guage how how much it changed over time and to determine when i thought it was in it's prime for drinking. I would say that after about 10 months it was finally in it's prime and it's closest tasting to the original (up until this point it was a little too oaky). All in all I am very happy with how it turned out, the only thing it is missing is that its body is a little light (although I only noticed this when I drank it side by side with the original). If I were to brew it again I also probably would have added just a dash more of the cayenne to give it a little more presence, but I was afraid of overdoing it at the time.
 
I'm about to brew this in the next few days. I think I'm going to add 8 oz of cocoa, 1/2 tbsp cayenne, and then probably 8 oz of lactose.

I'm still debating the lactose. I would need to add it to the secondary or bb because I won't have it in time for the boil.
 
I finally picked up the lactose. The only question I'm wondering is if the lactose is even necessary. I like a good strong stout, and I'm definitely not trying to make it a sweet stout, like chocolate milk. However, I brewed it with a full pound of chocolate malt and 6 ounces of cocoa. If 8 ounces of lactose is just enough to tame the bitterness and give it some body, that's what I want to do.

I also heard that sometimes putting a little bit of lactose actually gives you the flavor of lactose, but may not sweeten enough. I hope not. I just have absolutely no experience with this stuff. I thought about taste testing, but being a bitter green beer, I'm not sure that will do much.

After all that, I'm thinking 8 ounces of lactose. :D
 
what was your final recipe? specifically the cayenne, cocoa and oak schedule.

thanks.

Sorry it has taken me so long to reply, the past few weeks have been crazy busy for me. Anyways, I brewed the recipe as described in the original post, except I used 3/4 oz. of Chinook at 30 min. instead of 1/2 oz. Then in the secondary I added 6 oz. of cocoa powder (in the form of a thick slurry), 1/2 a tsp. of cayenne pepper, and oaked it for 11 days using 1 oz. French oak chips and 1 oz. American oak chips. Also, as Oldsock suggested, I put the cocoa powder slurry and cayenne in the secondary and racked on top of it to help it dissolve and mix with the beer more thoroughly. If you have any other questions regarding what I did feel free to ask, I will try to be better about responding in a more timely manner.
 
I went ahead and taste tested the batch before bottling. This one is VERY stout. I tested a proportionate amount for 1/2 lb per batch, and it really made very little difference. So, I went ahead and put the 1/2 lb in, and we'll see how it ages. I wasn't really looking to sweeten it up, but to add some body and tame the bitterness.

BTW, the 1 tsp is probably right about right for the cayenne. It had a very subtle spice to it, but that may just be noticeable because I knew it was there. I'll be able to tell more once it ages.
 
Nice! Glad I came across this. Trying to research what others have done with the cocoa and cayenne.

Any more recent updates on tastings?
 
I finally picked up the lactose. The only question I'm wondering is if the lactose is even necessary. I like a good strong stout, and I'm definitely not trying to make it a sweet stout, like chocolate milk. However, I brewed it with a full pound of chocolate malt and 6 ounces of cocoa. If 8 ounces of lactose is just enough to tame the bitterness and give it some body, that's what I want to do.

I also heard that sometimes putting a little bit of lactose actually gives you the flavor of lactose, but may not sweeten enough. I hope not. I just have absolutely no experience with this stuff. I thought about taste testing, but being a bitter green beer, I'm not sure that will do much.

After all that, I'm thinking 8 ounces of lactose. :D

i don't know about the lactose. I've made the plain old Yeti clone based on this recipe and couldn't tell the difference between it and the real thing. It's plenty sweet as it is. I'd just do what Great Divide says and reduce the hops a bit and replace with nibs, cayenne and oak.
 
Here's my take on it. For a stout, it's very good. The lactose came out just right, but the cayenne seems like a mistake. It's just a bit too much. I finally used 8 oz lactose, 6 oz cocoa, and 1 tsp of cayenne. The beer actually has more of a coffee taste than a chocolate taste...weird. Still good.

However, the tsp of cayenne leaves an annoying tickle in the back of the throat. It also can give you heartburn. If you really feel like a potent stout, this does it. I just think backing off the cayenne or removing it completely would be a better option. If not, maybe put it in very early in the boil. My addition was probably just too late, but I'll be really hesitant to put cayenne in a beer again. I now have a ton of it in the cabinet, but it takes some strong desire to drink it. I guess if you are a stout lover, this is probably heaven. I'm more of an IPA person, so this may be why I'm critical on the cayenne. The base stout is very classic though. Really strong and flavorful.

BTW, I think the 1/2 lb of lactose was a good move. It was subtle, but it seemed to taste better. I did a side by side when I added the lactose (with and without, and there wasn't a whole lot of difference, but it seemed to mellow out the stout a little, without making you taste the extra sweetness. If that makes sense.
 
The Houston Beerfest is Saturday. Great Divide is scheduled to be there so I plan on trying several samples of their chocolate Yeti just to get a feel for how much cayenne flavor there is. I've only had a small taste of this beer in the past but IRCC the cayenne is extremely subtle. I don't remember much of a sting in my throat, maybe 1 tsp was too much.
 
Alright I'm bummed. Great Divide was not at the houston beerfest. Now I'll just have to keep waiting for it to hit the shelves.
 
Ravenshead said:
Alright I'm bummed. Great Divide was not at the houston beerfest. Now I'll just have to keep waiting for it to hit the shelves.

It's been at my local grocery store for a couple of months now.
 
It's been at my local grocery store for a couple of months now.

I finally found one here. I was actually a bit disappointed. I could barely detect the Cayenne when I started drinking and by the time I finished I couldn't detect it at all.

I also think I like the regular Yeti better.
 
I finally found one here. I was actually a bit disappointed. I could barely detect the Cayenne when I started drinking and by the time I finished I couldn't detect it at all.

I also think I like the regular Yeti better.


Interesting, I was just recently drinking this and could definitely notice the Cayenne. However, I couldn't detect it very well when it was served colder than it was supposed to. When the temp increased to the 50s, the cayenne added a nice warm feeling that lingered all the way down to my stomach. I thought it was the perfect touch.
 
Dammit, now you're going to make me do it again. I drank it in the mid to high 40s.

I've also been playing around with jolokia bhut peppers so I may be a bit numb. Either way, I still didn't really like the chocolate flavor as much as I expected to. Prolly just me.
 
Dammit, now you're going to make me do it again. I drank it in the mid to high 40s.

I've also been playing around with jolokia bhut peppers so I may be a bit numb. Either way, I still didn't really like the chocolate flavor as much as I expected to. Prolly just me.

I prefer the choc/oak yeti over the original, haven't had the espresso or oak, but maybe you would be interested in the just straight oak and no chocolate one?
 
Dammit, now you're going to make me do it again. I drank it in the mid to high 40s.

I've also been playing around with jolokia bhut peppers so I may be a bit numb. Either way, I still didn't really like the chocolate flavor as much as I expected to. Prolly just me.

It's probably not for everyone, but I'm a sucker for chocolate beers. I haven't even tried a shot at brewing with chocolate yet (Hoping I will soon).

Also, the cayenne did not impart what I would call spicy, it just imparted a warmness.
 
The espresso one was great, but I think I just like the original.

I do want to try the choc one again just to try it at higher temps. I love the sting of cayenne in drinks. I used to sell the hell out of a lemonade made out of lemon juice, maple syrup, H2O and bunch of cayenne. A mix of that with vodka or gin is just plain great.
 
Whats the recommended mash time? 90min? I'm just gonna oak mine(1.25oz american med, 1.25 french med for 18days). Maybe I'll throw in a pinch of Cayenne in the boil.
 
so what do people like the best, nibs or powder for this?

I ferment in a keg and was thinking about just hanging a bag of nibs with a couple marbles in it.
 
This was a huge crowd pleaser for me. I did it last year with I think 8 oz chocolate powder and 2 oz oak chips. I boiled the chips and added the powder after boil to extract the flavor. The chips were in a bag sunk with an espresso shot glass. I had everything on the bottom when I poured into the secondary.

I have read some people saying to add 1oz of oak because more is too powerful. I don't agree because after a few months the oak flavor fades a bit. With this in mind I am now ging downstairs to rack this batch to the 2nd and will be adding an extra .5 oz oak and perhaps a bit more chocolate.
 
A buddy loves yeti and we brewed this last weekend and hit the OG. Can't wait to let this one age. Might crack one bottle around Christmas to give it a try!
 
If anyone has brewed the OP's recipe recently can you comment on how close it is to the original Yeti? Is the mouth-feel similar?
 
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