Imperial Stout Sweet Chocolate Milk Stout

Went from 1.090 to 1.030 in around 48hrs at 66F -- this one went crazy quick.

dendron8, just noticed you're in Raleigh, i'll have to let you try mine around November when it gets out of the barrel.

@degivens that sounds awesome! Did you use s33?

I'm at abs a lot, are you ever there? Are you a member of carboy?

dendron8 said:

@degivens that sounds awesome! Did you use s33?

I'm at abs a lot, are you ever there? Are you a member of carboy?

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I go by ABS occasionally to pick up supplies, but that's about it.

I used 2 packets of S-33.

I'm guessing carboy is a homebrew club? I'm not in it, but am a member of the RHBA.

dendron8 said:

@degivens that sounds awesome! Did you use s33?

I'm at abs a lot, are you ever there? Are you a member of carboy?

Click to expand...

I go by ABS occasionally to pick up supplies, but that's about it.

I used 2 packets of S-33.

I'm guessing carboy is a homebrew club? I'm not in it, but am a member of the RHBA.

Looks like i'm getting my fresh barrel next week -- really curious to see how this comes out.

I plan on brewing this in about two weeks. I'm going to use 05 because it's what I'll have on hand. I've never worried about water chemistry or ph before and I'm not sure I want to yet, but I've been reading about darker beers having the need to keep ph in check. I'm wondering if others have brewed this without tracking ph and had good results.
Thanks

Is this there a preferred brand of cocoa powder to use for this recipe?

Abrayton said:

Is this there a preferred brand of cocoa powder to use for this recipe?

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I’ve used the Hershey powder stuff from the grocery with no issues.

Put an iteration of this recipe + madagascar vanilla beans and a bit of cinnamon in a small 10gal fresh Apple Brandy barrel for a few months.

A buddy who is a BJCP judge said it’s high 30s/low 40s scoring wise.

It’s outstanding.

brewing this over the weekend, bought some unsweetened organic cocoa powder . Will be fun to see how this works out.

So brewed this baby on Sunday. Got 1.072OG, Still dialing in my mash and boil all grain system.Only my third AG. so not too bothered.

Used London ale yeast and its bubbling away, my tilt hydrometer is telling me right now it is down to 1.041.
Must say the sample i pulled off for initial reading tasted great.

UPDATE........ As of now i am at 1.025 temp at 65 checked using the tilt hydrometer, Went from 1.072 to 1.025 in 3 days, just going to leave this for another 2 weeks or so and see where I end

What are the fermentation temps? Also just to clarify the sugar and coco are added at 45 min. So is that with 15 minutes left or 15 min into boil? Also anyone try the debittered black patent malt?


Thanks,

Scott

Dockside_Brewing said:

What are the fermentation temps? Also just to clarify the sugar and coco are added at 45 min. So is that with 15 minutes left or 15 min into boil? Also anyone try the debittered black patent malt?


Thanks,

Scott

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My question as well. I’m assuming add lactose and cocoa powder with 15 minutes left in the boil?

I did 15 min left. Also I did started fermentation at 64 and slowly ramped up to 71 over the course of ~10 days.

Thanks for the response. Brewing this Saturday. Only adjustments are WLP001 and debating adding flaked oats.

also added cocoa and lactose in last 15 minutes.
Had mine at 65-67 for the first 2 weeks, My tilt hydrometer is telling me im still at 1.025 but does keep flicking into 1.024 every so often, im guessing fermentation is done but still going to leave it another week or so

Brewed last night. Added 1.5lbs oats and used WLP001. Hit all volume #s dead on but efficiency ended up pretty low and I only hit OG 1.080. Maybe crush? I’m sure it’s going to be a great beer though.

Just kegged my stout, had an epic fail over the weekend had suck back and my starsan blowoff ended up on top of my stout.

The gravity sample tasted ok and came out at 1.016 and around 7% abv

What did you guys carb this to beersmith is telling me 2.2, thinking of serving this at around 48 degrees

I agree. I am going to carb mine at 2.2 also. Let us know what the end product taste like. How much starsan did it inhale?

around a quarter of a gallon, although it was watered down

At the most you just diluted it a little.

Sitting at 1.020 after two weeks. Probably done but Gonna let it sit for two more. Sample tasted awesome!

Mine has been kegged 1 week at 12 psi, temp 45, its not carbonated yet but tastes a little watery, not much chocolate, The sample tasted better.

Bottled about four weeks ago at FG 1.020. Tastes is good but lacks the body I am used to with a big stout and seems a bit watery. I added 1.5lb flaked oats. Would adding 1.5lb flaked barely next time be a good idea for extra body?

Here is my stout. Turned out great. Tapped the keg at the weekend

Figured I would post a redaction to a previous post. With a bit more time in the bottle this beer is awesome! Will be brewing it again in May and adding vanilla beans cinnamon and a touch of habanero. Also finally made the switch to kegging so no more bottles!

My keg kicked just now, This baby was just getting into its prime, and tasting even better Darn it.

Definatley brewing again but instead of the Cocoa powder, i have bought unsweetened Cholaca, how much would you use.

redarmy990 said:

My keg kicked just now, This baby was just getting into its prime, and tasting even better Darn it.

Definatley brewing again but instead of the Cocoa powder, i have bought unsweetened Cholaca, how much would you use.

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On a 5 gallon batch I’ve used half a 32oz bottle and it worked out very well. I also added 1 lb of lactose (in the boil) to keep it from being a bitter chocolate.

Just brewed this for the second time. I added 2lb oats. Undershot mash temp and ended up just leaving it at 149°. Planning to add cocoa nibs, vanilla beans, habanero and cinnamon to this one.

I think this is my first post on a thread after being a member for several years. Before I start I feel a little confused, because I was born in 73 and I believe my profile says 90. Must have been drunk, anyway, dont really care to much, but my kid was born in 94m and find it hard to relate to that generation.You can guess spears, aguillara, so on....

Anyway, I wen to my local homebrewers shop and presented this recipe to them.It's called Fermentables in Little Rock AR.They stated because of the 14 lbs of grain,I would have a high gravity, at least a 8% or above beer.
That alcohol level is a bit high for my usual beer recipes I've been buying, but ok. My issue is when I try trying to bottle it.
I'm wanting to take it to octoberfest in FT. Worth in September, not for competition, but for personal use. At that high of a lvl, yeast die off, so would kegging and bottling be a better choice.
I havent started this recipe yet, was gonna get fermentasaurus, but thinking I should wait till I have enough for pressure kit at start of month, which is payday.

txnnok said:

At that high of a lvl, yeast die off, so would kegging and bottling be a better choice.

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You’ll be fine either way. If bottling you may need a little extra time to fully carb up.

I think I found the imperial stout recipe I’ve been looking for. Thank you

Wow vanilla beans got expensive! Looks like I’ll be using pure extract instead.

Abrayton said:

Wow vanilla beans got expensive! Looks like I’ll be using pure extract instead.

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I bought my last batch of vanilla beans on Amazon, got a very good deal

When do you add the vanilla in the mash,boil or in secondary in a ticture of vodka

To date all I’ve ever used is pure extract at bottling of my vanilla cream ale. I was going to use beans for the first time in secondary, but at the current price I can’t justify paying as much for beans as my batch cost. Hopefully Madagascar has a good harvest this year!

Went from 1.095 to 1.030 where I think she has stopped. Would have liked a few more points but it taste damn good so I’ll take it. Adding cinnamon, nibs and peppers in a week, kegging in two weeks with vanilla extract. Excited about this one!

Dear brothers across the Pacific I need some advice please.
I've been looking for a stout recipe for weeks and finally found it on this site. First of all I apologise for using metric, but that's what we use here in Australia. Not that I should apologize.

I brewed this stout on the 13th which would make it 18 days ago and its a 42 litre batch. OG 1.094. I used the recipe on this thread and hit all my marks pretty well. the only thing I changed was the yeast which was recommended to me by my LHBS. I used 4 packets of Lallemand Nottingham yeast. Just to note that there wasn't any active fermentation in the airlock ever. I did used pure oxygen to oxygenate the wort after cooling it to 20 deg C. I didn't rehydrate the yeast because I never have in the past and always worked fine.
I gave it a rock on day 2 (42 Litres is quite heavy) to try and get the yeast going but still nothing. There is a small amount of krausen but no foaming at all, and the liquid in the airlock has been even. this yeast is supposed to go like a rocket and has a high attenuation. The gravity reading on day 2 was 1.046 so it has dropped 48 points,and today on day 18 it's still at 1.046. So last night I upped the temperature to 24.5C still no activity 24 hours later. Im now getting desperate so I sterilized my wooden brewing paddle and gave it a gentle stir touching the bottom of my 60l fermenter.. How can I dry this out further?
Hopefully all is not lost!
Thank you in advance fellas.

Personally I would think we need to know more about the mash?
When that happens it usually means you mashed out (and accidentally happens all the time) too soon. You have a lot of sugar but not a lot of fernentable sugar. If that's the case and you got too high of a temp during the mash, it can't be fixed...
You can finish it with a lower abv, add a bunch of corn sugar (boil and serialize first of course) to up the abv, or it is possible that the fermentation is simply stuck... But 4 packs is a lot of yeast.

And either way... As long as it's not infected or doesn't become infected.... Nothing is lost.

Sterilize..... I hate autocorrect