I'd like to try a mint chocolate stout

I'm thinking of doing a mint chocolate stout next and I want to get some feedback from some of you guys.

I'd like to add cocoa powder and mint to a base recipe, but I'm not sure what would be a good style to begin with. I don't want anything bitter like an imperial stout so I was thinking about using an oatmeal stout as a base recipe.

Also, I'm thinking of using peppermint extract for the mint portion of this beer, but have no idea how much I should add. I can get 2 oz. and 4 oz. bottles. Has anyone ever used peppermint extract before? Any tips are welcome.

I actually just brewed one of these a few months ago. it worked out pretty well, but there are definitely some tweaks i'd make. i used a basic stout recipe, it was something along these lines:

4 kg Dark LME
227 g Crystal 60L
227 g Roasted Barley

1 oz Galena @ 60 min
.75 oz Fuggles @ 30 min

I added .75 lbs of cocoa powder with 5 minutes left in the boil, and made a tea out of about 2 oz of fresh mint leaves and added it to the bottling bucket. next time, i'd go with less cocoa and more mint. when it was first carbed, it was almost unbearably bitter. that's mellowed out a ton, but its still very dominated by cocoa. next time i might back off on the hops a bit, as well as the cocoa, and add more mint. possibly a dry-hop with mint leaves in secondary or something.

also, it took a loooooooong time for all the cocoa to settle to the bottom of the fermenter, and if you look at a glass of the stuff in the light, it still has a brownish tinge from the cocoa. definitely not a bad beer though

good luck!

I made a Mint Julep Stout. Using fresh leaves did very little; 3 tsp of mint extract got me what I wanted. It is VERY strong; add it little by little before bottling/kegging until you reach your desired level of minty-ness.

Wow.. this sounds good..

Can cocoa and mint be used with IPA's and APA's too, or will such flavors only work with stouts?

r8rphan said:

Wow.. this sounds good..

Can cocoa and mint be used with IPA's and APA's too, or will such flavors only work with stouts?

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im far from an expert, but i don't see why not. an ipa with some mint extract sounds like it could be good. i'd imagine the chocolate would work better with dark beers. but a nice bitter minty ipa could be really good if done right... not that i know what right is haha

mikebowman said:

but a nice bitter minty ipa could be really good if done right... not that i know what right is haha

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That's what I'm thinking! Gonna be trying a banana IPA real soon.. or at least APA.. will be my first foray into 'flavorings'...

Gonna use real fruit and go a little on the light side to start with.. I've heard a common theme that extracts can be overpowering..

Maybe I'll try a mint version afterwards, and if both are good, I'll get really brave and try a banana mint...

I decided on an Oatmeal Stout as my base recipe. I still plan on adding peppermint extract, but have no clue how much is enough.

so i took a leg from your idea and ran one step more with it and decided to do a mint chocolate oatmeal stout.

3.3#briess amber LME
3.3#briess gold LME
1#chocolate malt
.5#caramel120L
.5#flaked oats
4oz roasted barley
.5#lactose
.5#cocoa powder
.5#milk chocolate chips
1oz cascade(30)
1oz paele(10)
nottingham yeast

This is my recipe not sure what the OG and stuff would be. Im either going to use mint leaves or mint extract in the secondary, but i havent figured out which i wanna use yet. If anyone has any comments or questions please let me know. This is my first recipe i have done myself.

martn55 said:

so i took a leg from your idea and ran one step more with it and decided to do a mint chocolate oatmeal stout.

3.3#briess amber LME
3.3#briess gold LME
1#chocolate malt
.5#caramel120L
.5#flaked oats
4oz roasted barley
.5#lactose
.5#cocoa powder
.5#milk chocolate chips
1oz cascade(30)
1oz paele(10)
nottingham yeast

This is my recipe not sure what the OG and stuff would be. Im either going to use mint leaves or mint extract in the secondary, but i havent figured out which i wanna use yet. If anyone has any comments or questions please let me know. This is my first recipe i have done myself.

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I can't comment much on the rest of your recipe - but generally flaked oats need to be mashed to get much anything useful out of them. Add some base malt to them and soak at ~153 or look at minimash articles on here for more info.

To get the OG I think the easiest way is to use free online calculators (you can find some free tools on here as well as elsewhere, or buy.. I tend to use free hopville.com) If you'd prefer to calculate yourself or set yourself up a spreadsheet/system check out palmer's howtobrew.com for his recipe design calculations/equations.

cheers!

I'd like to find out more about this mint julep stout... got the recipe?