Chocolate Mint Stout Critique

EDIT: Final Cut Recipe

So I'm making a chocolate mint stout for Christmas gifts and want ya'lls opinion. Yup, ya'll. I'm from the south. Anyways, I had some Southern Tier Creme Brulee Stout and was amazed at how much it tasted like Creme Brulee, so I thought I would make a beer that tasted like a Thin Mint Girl Scout cookie. I've never made a sweet stout before but after searching for a few days I decided on this.
Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated.


chocolate mint stout
Foreign Extra Stout


Type: All Grain
Date: 9/4/2008
Batch Size: 5.25 gal
Brewer: Mike
Boil Size: 7.11 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Brew Pot (15 Gal) and Igloo/Gott Cooler (10 Gal)
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0 Brewhouse Efficiency: 73.00
Taste Notes:

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
14.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 80.00 %
1.00 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 5.71 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 5.71 %
0.50 lb Black Patent Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 2.86%
1.00 oz Warrior [15.00 %] (60 min) Hops 39.5 IBU
1.00 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (45 min) Hops 13.3 IBU
1.00 lb Milk Sugar (Lactose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 4.35 %
1 cup of chocolate powder at 10 min
1 airplaine bottle of Mint Extract at secondary



1 Pkgs Safebrew Ale S-33 EDME


Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.088 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.090 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.022 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.022 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 8.58 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 8.92 %
Bitterness: 51.5 IBU Calories: 418 cal/pint
Est Color: 43.1 SRM Color: Color


Mash Profile

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge Total Grain Weight: 16.50 lb
Sparge Water: 4.73 gal Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F TunTemperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE Mash PH: 5.4 PH

Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge Step Time Name Description Step Temp
45 min Mash In Add 20.63 qt of water at 167.1 F 155.0 F



Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).

Carbonation and Storage

Carbonation Type: Kegged (Forced CO2) Volumes of CO2: 2.4
Pressure/Weight: 9.2 PSI Carbonation Used: -
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 36.0 F Age for: 28.0 days
Storage Temperature: 52.0 F

Notes



Thanks

Mike

I might cut down a little on either the roasted barley or chocolate malt. You are running close to 14% dark roasted malt. I've never made a higher gravity stout before though, so I'll let more experienced comment.

I can comment on the mint leaves. I made a Mint Blonde 2 summers ago with fresh mint leaves. Do not expect to get a very minty flavour from boiled mint leaves. For a stout, you will need a LOT more fresh mint to even begin to taste it. From my experiences, you can expect a fresh green taste (in a good way). It will not have that cooling peppermint/spearmint sensation.

I'm not sure what you are looking for, but keep that in mind. For a green/fresh flavour, use fresh mint. For a cooling "minty" taste, use mint extract at bottling.

I kind of want that minty refreshing cooling sensation. I want it to taste like a thin mint. Thanks for the mint extract tip. I'll definitly make that change.

Mike

instead of buying an extract, you could make your own. take a mason jar and fill it with fresh mint leaves. then fill with vodka and leave it in a cool dark place for a couple months. strain the mint out and youve got homemade mint extract.

KingBrianI said:

instead of buying an extract, you could make your own. take a mason jar and fill it with fresh mint leaves. then fill with vodka and leave it in a cool dark place for a couple months. strain the mint out and youve got homemade mint extract.

Click to expand...

That sounds good!

King, thanks for the help. I want to brew the stout soon so it'll have plenty of time to age before Christmas, so I don't really have 3-4 months to make mint extract. I am going to stash some vodka and mint for the next time I brew this beer.

Thanks,

Mike

See final recipe above.

Looks pretty good, I made something similar yesterday (although if I had to give a base style for my recipe I'd say it was more of a baltic porter than a stout). I used almost 2 oz fresh spearmint and 8 oz cocoa powder for 5 min. The recipe and gravity are similar, but I didn't use any black malt. Didn't use lactose either. Recipe is in a thread floating around here somewhere.

So how did this come out? Interested in trying something kind of similar.