Chocolate Wheat Beer

[SchillingBrewing]

Chocolate Wheat Beer

Extract:
-1 can Muntons Wheat Extract (40 pint kit)

Grains:
-1.0 lb crushed Chocolate Malt (Briess)
-0.5 lb crushed Biscuit Malt (Castle)
-0.5 lb crushed Carapils (Briess) - for head retention (can also use Torrified Wheat for head retention and body)
-0.5 lb crushed Caramel 60L (Briess)

Hops:
-1 oz Hallertau Hop Pellets

Adjuncts:
-2-4 oz of Cocoa Nibs (Ghana) - add in the secondary to avoid adding bitterness with the chocolate flavour

Additives:
-1 oz Irish Moss (add in last 15 min of boil)
-1 lb lactose

Yeast:
-1 vile White Labs Hefeweizen Ale Yeast WLP300

When my grain bill arrives I will get this batch brewing and let everyone know how it turns out. Keep in mind this is not only my first experimental brew but also my first partial grain brew since all I have experience in so far is all extract.

 

[jmg727]

Sounds great! I'm planning some similar brews.

 

[SchillingBrewing]

Cool what types are you making?

 

[HopOnHops]

what kind of yeast?

 

[SchillingBrewing]

White labs hefeweizen ale yeast WLP300. It is a liquid yeast. First time I've tried liquid yeast.

 

[VonRunkel]

I recently made a milk chocolate porter with 4oz of nibs and 2oz of cocoa powder. The chocolate flavor is barely there. I would suggest upping the amount of chocolate. Also, if you go the cocoa powder way it is easiest to make some 'Chocolate milk' with with it before adding to the secondary.

Just my 2¢.

 

[Xpertskir]

Be aware that while nibs contribute a nice flavor it is less "chocolatey" than you would think

 

[SchillingBrewing]

What kind of cocoa powder do you suggest? Should I just go to Wal-Mart and pick up the first thing I see that says cocoa powder? And are there sweetened and unsweetened types too?

 

[SchillingBrewing]

So I finally got the beer started. The mash and boil was a little interesting as I had never really tried it before. When I added the irish moss to the boil, it boiled over really fast. That was a nice mess I had to clean up but luckily not much of the wort was lost. I also added a small amount of dextrose and a little bit of yeast energizer and yeast nutrient. I've heard of people using it before so I wanted to try it out and see how the results changed with them.

It has been in primary for about a week and I'm about to move it to the secondary. I think I'm going to stick with just the lactose and cocoa nibs. I just want it to hint at chocolate flavor but not be a rich chocolate flavor. I'm going to hopefully move it to secondary today.

 

[BulldawgBrew]

What can be used instead of extract?

 

[SchillingBrewing]

So this one was a little weak. Probably could have done better on the boil efficiency and even used more extract.

According to Jamil's Brewing Classic Styles a dunkelweizen all grain would use about
-2 lb continental pilsner malt
-6.9 lb wheat malt
-3 lb Munich malt
Mash at 152F and do a 90 min boil

For steeping grains it is suggested to use
6 oz special b (120L)
6 oz crystal 40
2 oz carafa special II
Instead of what I had thrown together.

I've been learning a lot since I brewed this beer and have been doing a lot of reading and research. Still in the learning process but my beers are getting much better. Also I agree the chocolate in this beer was barely noticeable. I would increase that.

 

[BulldawgBrew]

Is it six ounces or pounds?

 

[SchillingBrewing]

Oz or lbs of what exactly?

 

[SchillingBrewing]

If you are talking about the stepping grains then yes they are in oz. Stepping grains really don't do much for the beer other than coloring and maybe some very light flavor/aroma profile.

For the malt grains those are for sure lbs because they are your main source of fermentable sugars.