Triple Chocolate Coffee Stout

7 lbs Amber dry malt extract
3/4 lb chocolate malt
1/2 lb crystal malt
1/4 lb black patent malt
1/4 lb roasted barley

0.2 pounds Nebraska blend coffee (from The Mill, in Lincoln, NE), ground coarsely; this is a chocolate and Irish cream flavored coffee
1/2 cup Ghirardelli unsweetened Cocoa powder

1 oz Galena hops (13.3% α-acid), boiled 60 minutes

1 tsp Irish moss

SafAle S-04 Ale Yeast

The grains are steeped at ~155 ˚F for 30 minutes in 3 gallons water. Grains are removed and water is brought to a boil. Dry malt extract and hops are added. The wort is boiled for 45 minutes before Irish moss is added. After 15 more minutes (60 minutes total), the wort is taken off the stove. Once boiling subsides the coffee is added and the wort is immediately chilled (using a wort chiller). The wort is strained to remove the bulk of the hops and coffee, and diluted to 5 gallons with more water. The yeast is pitched.

I've brewed this stout three times now and it's turned out great every time! The coffee flavor is strong, and could be decreased if preferred, but I personally like the stronger flavor. The chocolate flavors are present, smooth, but somewhat subtle. You can almost distinguish the chocolate malt from the chocolate powder from the chocolate coffee, but they all blend together pretty well. The beer is hoppy, but there is a lot of residual sugar and so many flavors that it doesn't taste overly bitter. The finish is mostly coffee and roasted barely. The aroma is almost entirely coffee and chocolate.

It's a very strong beer, with a variety of flavors. If you let it age a few months the flavors balance very well!

Gonna sub to this recipe. I'm going to do a 1 or 2 gallon on this. Sounds more like a great dessert beer with some cake.

I like stout, but not 5 gallons of it.

So when did you add the chocolate?

I am thinking of doing something like this but instead I was going up the chocolate malt and also instead of adding the coffee to the end of the boil, adding it to secondary and letting it age on it between 14-30 days

Medevac_Chief said:

So when did you add the chocolate?

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Oops, forgot to add that! Unfortunately I can't edit the post anymore. I added the chocolate with the Irish moss, for the last 15 minutes of the boil.

Medevac_Chief said:

I am thinking of doing something like this but instead I was going up the chocolate malt and also instead of adding the coffee to the end of the boil, adding it to secondary and letting it age on it between 14-30 days

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The first time I brewed this I added the coffee at the end of the boil but let it boil for a couple minutes more. Turned out ok, but a little more bitter than I wanted. Subsequent times I added the coffee once I took it off the stove and the boiling had completely subsided. I figured that would imitate a French press brew more closely. I like the level of bitterness with this approach better.

I would think steeping the grains in the secondary would give it more of a cold brewed coffee flavor. I know people who cold brew coffee and just pour it into the fermenter. If you brew it this way I'd be curious to see how it turns out!

Any thoughts on how to convert this to all grain?

bowserm said:

Gonna sub to this recipe. I'm going to do a 1 or 2 gallon on this. Sounds more like a great dessert beer with some cake.

I like stout, but not 5 gallons of it.

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Would very much like to see how you scaled this down... I do 2 gallon batches and this sounds great.

flpevman said:

Would very much like to see how you scaled this down... I do 2 gallon batches and this sounds great.

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I put it all into my brewers friend and figured out percentages. Then you can base your recipe off the same percentages and get the same results