Chocolate Coffee Imperial Stout

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jiggs262

jiggs262

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This is my first non-kit extract recipe I was wondering what everyone everyone thought. I was also thinking about adding espresso and bakers chocolate at the end of the boil, but not sure how much to add.

5 Gallons

12lb - Amber Malt (LME)
1/2lb - Chocolate Malt
1/2lb - Coffee Malt
1/2lb - Roasted Barley
2.5oz. - Glacier hops (Boil Hops)
1.5oz. - Cascade hops (Finishing Hops)
11.5g - Safale US-05 (11.5 grams)

My plan is to steep the grains at 155F for 20 min. Then add the LME for the boil(60 min.) and add the 2.5oz of glacier hops during the first 30 and the 1.5 during the last 15 min and flame-out.

I would appreciate your thoughts and input.
 
Hi there,

I like the idea of the chocolate coffee imperial. I made an Imperial not too long ago that I originally called Czar's Revenge but I have since nick named it motor oil. The reason for that is that since I boiled it longer than normal to carmelize the sugars and make it a bit thicker I ended up with what would appear to be motor oil. I got a lot of comments telling me not to use bakers chocolate cause it will kill the head or head retention but I can say with complete certainty that it WILL NOT kill head retention. I've used bakers chocolate in a few beers and it came out great with them. Back to that chocolate thing though... If you take a look at the one I made you will see that there are LOTS of fermentables in there and that is because I wanted a big sweet thick dessert beer. Here's the thing though, choose your yeast wisely, I did not and because of that the alcohol killed it before it could carbonate- adding to the motor oil appearance. Now with all that being said the beer(maybe barley wine would be more accurate) tastes great, I've had a lot of positive comments on it and can't wait to get off this deployment and try some more since it's been in the bottles for 6 months and I won't be able to touch it for at least another two. Hope that helped... at least a little:mug:

-Barron
 
BarronVonCharron said:
Hi there,

I like the idea of the chocolate coffee imperial. I made an Imperial not too long ago that I originally called Czar's Revenge but I have since nick named it motor oil. The reason for that is that since I boiled it longer than normal to carmelize the sugars and make it a bit thicker I ended up with what would appear to be motor oil. I got a lot of comments telling me not to use bakers chocolate cause it will kill the head or head retention but I can say with complete certainty that it WILL NOT kill head retention. I've used bakers chocolate in a few beers and it came out great with them. Back to that chocolate thing though... If you take a look at the one I made you will see that there are LOTS of fermentables in there and that is because I wanted a big sweet thick dessert beer. Here's the thing though, choose your yeast wisely, I did not and because of that the alcohol killed it before it could carbonate- adding to the motor oil appearance. Now with all that being said the beer(maybe barley wine would be more accurate) tastes great, I've had a lot of positive comments on it and can't wait to get off this deployment and try some more since it's been in the bottles for 6 months and I won't be able to touch it for at least another two. Hope that helped... at least a little:mug:

-Barron
Click to expand...

I have about a week for the ingredients to get here so over that time I will think about my chocolate choice(bakers or make some from coco, brown sugar and water). As for the yeast I would love to start using liquid yeast and better strands, but being stationed in Sicily I am limited to what I can get in the mail have have it still be good. I know mail will some times sit in the sun for hours on the flight line.

Thanks for your input, it will definitely be taken into consideration. Have fun on the last 2 months of deployment. I have been in for 9 years and am on operation never sail.

-Jiggs
 
jiggs262 said:
I have about a week for the ingredients to get here so over that time I will think about my chocolate choice(bakers or make some from coco, brown sugar and water). As for the yeast I would love to start using liquid yeast and better strands, but being stationed in Sicily I am limited to what I can get in the mail have have it still be good. I know mail will some times sit in the sun for hours on the flight line.

Thanks for your input, it will definitely be taken into consideration. Have fun on the last 2 months of deployment. I have been in for 9 years and am on operation never sail.

-Jiggs
Click to expand...

I have 5 gallons of a Sweet Stout in the fermenter now for a little over a week. I tasted it at one week and the chocolate was coming along. It is sweet as I used 8 oz of lactos. For the chocolate I used 2oz of unsweetened coco.

I plan to add coffee (cold brewed) at bottling time to taste.

Do let us know how this came out. So many people post recipes and get advise and then never report on the final outcome :confused: :(
 
I will be sure and keep you updated with what I decide to do and how it turns out. This will be my first high gravity beer so I am really interested in what is going to happen.
 
C-Rider said:
I have 5 gallons of a Sweet Stout in the fermenter now for a little over a week. I tasted it at one week and the chocolate was coming along. It is sweet as I used 8 oz of lactos. For the chocolate I used 2oz of unsweetened coco.

I plan to add coffee (cold brewed) at bottling time to taste.

Do let us know how this came out. So many people post recipes and get advise and then never report on the final outcome :confused: :(
Click to expand...

You might want to brew the coffee normal (hot) and weak (too much water), then boil it to sterilize it just to make sure you don't put something bad into your beer. I like that idea of adding it already brewed right at bottling time as opposed to putting beans in with the secondary or primary.

-Barron
 
Hot brewing coffee and adding it can add a lot of bitterness. best to boil water let it cool then cool brew the coffee. If it's imperial than the high alcohol will kill what is on the beans.
 
I agree that the alcohol should kill off the bad stuff (good point, wish I would have thought of that) but I have another question about the bitterness issue. First let me say that I am not a big coffee drinker, I like chocolate covered coffee beans, coffee flavored ice cream and the coffee notes in some beers that I have had and that is the extent of my coffee fondness. I have a cup every once in a while to warm up or to make sure I'm not missing something but not too often.

So, does brewing it hot verses cold actually bring out more bitterness or do you taste the bitterness more in the hot more than the cold because 1) it's.... well... hot so the taste comes out more or 2) because ice coffee usually has more additives to sweeten it up? I have never intentionally drank cold plain coffee but I think it would still be bitter. I may be completely wrong and if I am please tell me.

....and how would/will/does the caffeine affect the yeast?

I just want to get my ducks in a row because a chocolate coffee brew sounds really good and with the effort and mainly the time it takes to let a high gravity beer to mellow out and condition I want to get it right (or at least really close) the first time.

-Barron
 
I did a coffee stout, I cold brewed to avoid the bitterness, then boiled to kill the bad stuff, added at bottle time.
 
I made a similar beer in December and it turned out great! (I only did the chocolate not coffee in that particular batch) My recipe was fairly similar to yours, except that I was had about 1 lb of the chocolate malt and roast barley. I'm not familiar with coffee malt, however, so that may make up for it.

I added 8oz of 100% cocoa bakers chocolate with about 5 minutes left in the boil and it worked great, the beer had a delicious chocolate aroma and finish without being too sweet. The main consideration is making sure there are NO adjuncts added to the cocoa since any extra fats or oils will kill the head retention.

From what I've been reading adding already brewed coffee to the secondary seems to be the most popular method. Look up "toddy style" if you want a delicious cold brewed coffee that gives a rich coffee taste without a lot of the bitterness or acidity you get from hot brewed coffee (perfect for adding to your beer!) You don't want to add any beans or anything to the boil as you'd get a lot of harsh bitterness/tannins from boiling them.
 
nice, but I wanted a little more flavor. I used a venitia roast coasta rician, I might try something a little more bold next time, but the cold brewing is the ticket. No bitterness at all, I kept some of the coffee in the frige and add 3 tablespoons to 8oz of water, it's one of the best coffees I've had.
 
Thanks for all the inputs. After a lot of reading and thinking and drinking I have decided to use brown sugar, coco and water for the cocolate and cold brewing coffee seems to be the best idea, I am an avid coffee and espresso drinker so I really didn't think of the bitterness that would be produced. I will add the coffee during the secondary and the chocolate during the last 5-10 min of the boil. I sould have everything sometime next week and should brew it with in 2 weeks. I am thinking leave it in the primary for 10 days then put it in the secondary add coffee for 10-14 days and bottle. I will let everyone know how it turns out and post a link to my google docs for the recipe when I get it all hammered out.
 
I've been experimenting with Chocolate/Barley extract recipes with steeping grains for about 6 months now...I actually have 4.5 gallons ready to keg and bottle today. If it's okay, I think you asked for comments, I'd like to mention a few things I've learned regarding your recipe.

I steep the mixed grains at 150F for 30 minutes before removing the grain bag and add the extract to the boil with 10 minutes remaining, this helps prevent hot break disasters since the wort level is lower do to evaporation too.

Using 12lbs of Amber Malt (LME) you may want to increase the Roasted Barley malt to 1 pound (it's the backbone and character of any stout)

Stouts typically use bittering hops only to offset the malty nature of the grains and shouldn't be noticeable when drinking. I like using Kent Goldings (UK) pellet hops boiled for 60 minutes

fghyd.jpg


I've been using a package of Danstar Windsor British Ale yeast rehydrated before pitching and it's produced some pretty vigorous and fast starting fermentations.

To bring out the chocolate flavors I add 1 tablespoon of pure vanilla extract per gallon of beer when kegging and bottling. I've added espresso to other recipes at bottling using 1/2 a shotglass per bottle and it was noticeable in the stout when drinking.
 
ScrewyBrewer,
Thanks for the input, as for the ingredients I am kind of stuck with what is on my recipe since I have to have everything sent to me and it takes a week or two. So I guess I will see how this one goes and take your advice next time. As far as steeping the grains and adding the extract I think I will give that a try and see how it goes along with adding the vanilla. Also thanks for the espresso I was still a little unsure how much to add but I think I will cold brew it and add about 24-28oz of espresso. It is always great to have input from people that have experience with these things, I have only been doing this for a couple of months.
 
Sorry for all of you who have been waiting on this here are my final results and notes with what all I did with this beer. It turned out great everyone loved it. The half that I oaked did need about 45 days to blend and not be over powering or you could probably just use less oak.

I ended up calling the beer DC(SQUaReD) Double chocolate double coffee imperial stout.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/130RO4bSv_qhj55NeqoNgtZKRsWN98OurOvfCOVdjV9M/edit
 

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