Whoppers Stout

So with a Friday off and the need to test my restraint and make a 3 gal batch (instead of 5-6) I took this week to plan today's adventures in brewing. Ever since reading the apex brew's kit offering for malted milk stout, I've been wondering if it's possible to make a chocolate malted milk stout that tastes just like whoppers candy. I thought this would be a great brew to have ready for halloween, you know as a little treat for the adults in the neighborhood. So today here is what I brewed up. Feel free to comment on it, tweak it a bit, or steal the idea. Just let me know about any changes you make and how it turns out.

Chocolate Malted Milk Ball Stout:
batch size: 3 gal
OG:1.065
Estimated ABV: 5.4%
Estimated FG: 1.024
SRM: 31
IBUs: 16

4.75 # Floor Malted Maris Otter
0.5 # Crystal 20L
0.5 # Pale Chocolate Malt
0.25 # Belgian debittered black malt
5/8 oz. Goldings (5.3% AA whole hops) 60 min
1/4 tsp wyeast beer nutrient 15 min
1/8 tsp supermoss 15 min
8 oz lactose 5-10 min
16 oz Carnation malted milk powder 5-10 min
6 oz ghiridelli cocoa powder (unsweetened chocolate) 5-10 min
1 tsp Pure vanilla extract @ 0 min
1 liter NB 1945 Neobritannia yeast from starter

Mash: Mashed maris otter and crystal at 149 deg F. After 10 min pulled decoction and heated that to 158 deg, held for 10 min. Then heated to boiling and boiled decoction for 10 min. Recombined to try to achieve 156 deg....Only I pulled 3 cups instead of 3 pints...Ooops! and there was a lot more heat loss due to a larger headspace from this small batch. Only hit 148. I added the dark grains to the mash at this point, then pulled another quick 2 qts, and heated to boiling. Hit 154 deg for 20 min. drain and batch sparge for 10 min at 170 deg target temp. collected 4.25 gal. Preboil gravity was 1.041... right on target.
Boil: 70 min boil. hop addition at 60 min. nutrients addition at 15 min, then slowly added lactose, cocoa, malted milk with 10 min left, being careful to stir well, and avoid clumps. Added vanilla at flameout.
Chill: siphoned over about 3.25 gal of wort, then poured it through a strainer/funnel into the carboy. Aerated and pitched active starter of NeoBritannia.

Impression so far: I wasn't certain about the aroma after I added the malted milk, but as it became incorporated the smell reminded me for freshly baking brownies. The taste sample was dead on. I was originally hesitant to add as much lactose and malted milk as I did, because I want this to be pleasant and smooth. I was afraid of it being TOO thick and syrupy. At this point now I'm afraid too much of the sweetness will ferment out and it will be too thin. I just need to relax and let the yeast do their thing. I can imagine that this will probably be good at about 6 weeks but really awesome after 3 months... this has been the trend with the sweet stouts we've made so far, and I think this one will be the same.

After letting the beer ferment and settle out, I will be bottling this tonight. Sample I pulled earlier came in at 1.022 FG. Color IS lighter than I intended, but the flavor is AMAZING! The bitterness at this point is spot on. 1/2 from the hops & 1/2 from the cocoa powder. Sample is clear. Aroma of chocolate and hint of vanilla. Ever so slight hint of almost a cherry like ester, but it is not apparent in the taste. Flavor is roasty, complex vanilla, chocolate is apparent, but not overwhelming and not too subtle. Sweetness is present, but not cloying. At this point I call it a success. I will update with tasting notes after it has conditioned. This might make a nice X-mas present. (I think my siblings will be getting a six pack sampler each)

The pic is from a few weeks ago, it has cleared a bit more.

Been thinking of brewing some kind of Whoppers stout, and saw this... was there enough maltiness in the beer as it aged to make it feel like the candy? Have you made it since? Thanks for the recipe!

Yes, please update...

I wish I had better news for you. But it ended up infected. One of my only infected batches ever. It was good when I first made it... not sure where the defect in my process came in. Good luck if you make it, let us know how it went.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

So, I finally re-brewed this... Except I was in a hurry and went extract with it, which I have to admit is great.
Here is the recipe. And the results...

Chocolate Malted Milk Stout (5 gal batch)
1 lb. Midnight Wheat
1 lb. Caramel 60L
6 lbs. Dark DME
1 oz. UK Kent Goldings (4.5% AA) @ 60 min
1.5 lbs. Lactose @ 15 min with nutrients (1/2 tsp yeast nutrients & 1/2 tsp DAP)
1 1/2 containers Carnation Malted Milk Powder @ 5 min
4-6 oz Ghirdelli cocoa powder @ 5 min
US-05 yeast packet

Steeped wheat and caramel for 20 min as water heated. 60 min boil. after chill poured through strainer into fermenter and pitched after 60 seconds of pure O2. Clean ferment. Kegged with chocolate extract.

Chocolate Extract
4 oz. Cocoa nibs (put in mason jar) covered 1/4 of the way with
Vanilla Rum (my failed attempt at Vanilla extract with spiced rum... not strong enough for baking) then filled the rest of the way with
Double chocolate vodka.
Let sit for 1 week. strain through fine mesh and add to keg at transfer.

This was amazing. I poured almost 4 gallons at a small festival that is known for pouring 1-2 gallons of each home-brew. Served with a Whoppers candy to each participant.

I've made a malted milk ball stout 3x now that is very similar, though all grain. This is actually what got me to start brewing. I love malt balls and I saw like peanut butter porters and creme brulee stouts from breweries, why no malted milk ones? So after I got 10 batches under my belt or so, I gave it a whirl. Last one used Irish ale yeast (my go to for stouts) a new debittered black malt called perla negra, 3 containers of malt powder (2 regular one chocolate flavored), 2 vanilla beans and 4 oz cocoa nibs

m00ps said:

I've made a malted milk ball stout 3x now that is very similar, though all grain. This is actually what got me to start brewing. I love malt balls and I saw like peanut butter porters and creme brulee stouts from breweries, why no malted milk ones? So after I got 10 batches under my belt or so, I gave it a whirl. Last one used Irish ale yeast (my go to for stouts) a new debittered black malt called perla negra, 3 containers of malt powder (2 regular one chocolate flavored), 2 vanilla beans and 4 oz cocoa nibs

Click to expand...

Would you mind posting your AG recipe? I'd like to try my hand at something like this.

Subscribed....definitely interested in this one....have been thinking about the same brew for a long time....

h0psnobery said:

Would you mind posting your AG recipe? I'd like to try my hand at something like this.

Click to expand...

Sure, here's my all-grain malted milk ball stout.

OG/FG: 1.070 / 1.020
Irish Ale Yeast

10.5 lb 2 row
1.0 lb torrified wheat
12 oz Pale Chocolate Malt
8 oz Roasted barley
6 oz Crystal 120
6 oz crystal 40
4 oz carapils

@60: 1 oz EKG
@20: 1 oz EKG

I actually had the EKG stored in a small glass container that previously had vanilla beans in it. The hops definitely picked up some vanilla character, but its hard to tell if that made it through to the end beer

2 (13oz?) containers carnation malted milk powder, unflavored & 1 container chocolate flavored malted milk powder added at flameout
(I upped the amount of malted milk powder as opposed to using lactose in this one. I assume there is a decent amount of unfermentables in the powder)

4 oz cocoa nibs & 2 vanilla beans added to primary 1 week before bottling

I think this is going to be me next stout. Sounds real good.

Thanks guys, going to be my next one as well. Prost!

I was thinking of something like this. Specific questions are should I use the oats or ditch them, and is this a good hops choice/schedule for this type of sweet stout? Maybe Fuggles would be a better choice?


HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: Chocolate Malted

Brew Method: BIAB
Style Name: Sweet Stout
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 3 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 5 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.042
Efficiency: 70% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.070
Final Gravity: 1.022
ABV (standard): 6.25%
IBU (tinseth): 32.46
SRM (morey): 31.6

FERMENTABLES:
6 lb - United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale (77.4%)
0.25 lb - United Kingdom - Pale Chocolate (3.2%)
0.25 lb - United Kingdom - Chocolate (3.2%)
0.25 lb - American - Roasted Barley (3.2%)
0.5 lb - Flaked Oats (6.5%)
0.5 lb - Lactose (Milk Sugar) (6.5%)

HOPS:
30 g - Willamette, Type: Pellet, AA: 4.5, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 32.46

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Infusion, Temp: 154 F, Time: 60 min

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
16 oz - Carnation (8 oz each reg and choc), Time: 5 min, Type: Flavor, Use: Boil
2 oz - Cocoa Powder, Time: 5 min, Type: Flavor, Use: Boil
2.5 oz - Cocoa Nibs, Type: Flavor, Use: Secondary
1.5 each - Vanilla Beans, Type: Flavor, Use: Secondary

YEAST:
White Labs - American Ale Yeast Blend WLP060
Starter: No
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (avg): 76%
Flocculation: Medium
Optimum Temp: 68 - 72 F
Fermentation Temp: 68 F


Generated by Brewer's Friend - http://www.brewersfriend.com/
Date: 2015-07-03 12:06 UTC
Recipe Last Updated: 2015-07-03 12:06 UTC

Actually, I think I would go with UK Roasted barley (550 L) instead of the American....would raise the SRM to more like 36.7.....figured I may as well stick with all UK grains...

Also debating a starter.....guess it couldn't hurt, but this is only a three gallon batch.

I think with this style... Since it's based on what we want, instead of historic or style based recipes, that you can go with what you want for the grains. I choose the midnight wheat after tasting all of the roasted and chocolate grains at Brew & Grow. It had the best "dark" flavor with the least tannin & bitterness. Plus I love supporting our hometown maltster (briess is about 1 1/2 hours from me). I selected it because I didn't want to wait additional conditioning time for the roasted malts to mellow out. I served the beer at 3 weeks old, something I don't think would be possible with a high proportion of roasted barley or chocolate malt. Carafa (debittered/husk less) would work too.