Advice/Questions for Mexican Chocolate Stout

[shoshin]

Greetings all,

I've been perfecting a recipe for an imperial stout that won 2nd place in the Baltimore Craft Beer Festival a couple of years ago. I typically brew this monster beer (11.5%) in the spring, let it sit in the kegerator until the winter to mature and really find itself, and then tap it when it dips below freezing. This year we decided to make it into a Mexican Chocolate Stout of some kind. I'm reading a number of recipes and coming up with a spice blend that will likely consist of some combination of vanilla, cinnamon, ancho chile, and cacao nibs. The consensus across a number of recipes seems to be to steep the ground or chopped chiles in the hot wort for 10-15 minutes after flameout, and then run the rest of the spices on secondary, with a few recipes making a departure from this and adding a spice tea after fermentation. I like the idea of steeping the chiles and adding spices during secondary, but I'm not sure how this will all behave with the aging process. If I brew today, the keg will likely sit in my kegerator for about 6 months before we tap it. If I steep the chiles after flameout and add spice during secondary (before kegging), should I expect any of these flavors to survive the aging process? My guess is that I DON'T want the beer to be sitting on spices for that entire time, so I was planning to take the beer off the spices after secondary, when kegging. I could also just brew the beer as normal (sans spice), and when it gets close to tapping time, make a tea and add this to the fermenter, but this doesn't feel like quite as satisfying of a process to me. What do you all think?

Here's the rough recipe:

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: WLP090
Yeast Starter: Yeast cake from previous large beer (has been an IPA or a barleywine in the past)
Water: Bwlmr Tap from Loch Raven Reservoir
Batch Size (Gallons): 10
Original Gravity: 1.094
Final Gravity: 1.013
IBU: ~55?
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: ~40?
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 1 month
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 6 months?

13# 2-row
13# Maris Otter
1.5# Roasted Barley
1.5# Chocolate Rye
1# Special B
1# flaked Barley
8oz C120
4oz DH Carafa III

3.5oz Northern Brewer – 60 min
2oz Northern Brewer – 15 min

 

[CodeSection]

I realize this thread may not answer all your questions, but one member's process may help.... Jalapeno Tincture Guidelines

Why not steep the spices and add them just prior to transferring to kegs or bottling? That way you can control the amount and the taste you want to achieve. Just take a small sample and mix the spices in the correct proportions until you achieve the desire affect and then scale it up to your batch size.

 

[shoshin]

Thanks, CodeSection. I could steep and add right before kegging, but my real question is: should I expect these flavors to appreciably fade over the 6 months that the beer will sit in the fridge?

 

[CodeSection]

From my experiences with a Christmas Ale and a Pumpkin Ale, the spices will mellow over time. I try to age the Christmas Ale for 6-8 weeks. It doesn't last very long.

I brewed a Pumpkin Ale last Nov 14th and added McCormic Pumpkin Spice at flame out and then again a couple of days before bottling. I doubled the amount recommended in the recipe to be added prior to bottling since I generally like the flavor of more spices in my brew. This was the first time brewing this Pumpkin Ale (with pure pumpkin) . Doubling the amount of this spice turned out to be a mistake. It was way too strong and I really did not like it. I gave some away and some liked it and others didn't. That first sip was filled with strong tasting spice. Now, six months later it is so much better.

I have not tried chile peppers or jalapeno peppers yet so I do not know if those additions would mellow over time as well. It might be wise to adjust the taste to your liking right before kegging and note the amount used so that in future batches you can adjust the dosage.

Perhaps @RCope can give some insight regarding your question.

 

[RCope]

I think that the cinnamon and the chili pepper taste will fade significantly in 6 mos. The heat will probably last. The chocolate lasts and mellows well with age, IME. But since you seem to want a more complex combination of flavors, I'd go ahead and add the adjuncts to your secondary, keg your beer and taste it green (maybe just a month in). Then taste again at the 6 month point. You can always adjust the spice if it doesn't meet your expectations at that point. You know you have a good base beer so I don't think you could mess it up too bad ;-).

But I've got no direct experience with that particular combo...keep us posted.

 

[shoshin]

Thanks folks will definitely keep you posted