More Ovaltine please!

[jcobbs]

I couldn't find a section on HBT for "Half-baked Wild Ideas" so I wasn't really sure where to put this, so here goes.

I had a pound of extra light DME that was just lying around begging to be fermented, and two packs of generic lager yeast that came in a kit but I hadn't used, and they were going to expire if I didn't do something with them. So....

I was strolling though Wally World and came across a can of Ovaltine chocolate malt mix. Hmmmm..... chocolate....malt.... yeast....???

So I grabbed a 2.5 gallon water bottle and proceeded to assemble a Disposable Beer Kit with the DME, Ovaltine, and 2 cups of sugar. Stuck on an airlock per the instructions....

And was promptly hit by two weeks of below freezing weather which kept my unheated workshop/brewshed well below fermentation temps. When it finally warmed up I ventured to look, and was rewarded by a nice set of bubbles in the airlock. The warmup lasted just long enough for primary fermentation to wind down, and then dropped back into the 30's-40's again. Ahhhh....good thing I used lager yeast....

So the other day I ventured out to the shop again and got ready to bottle my efforts....the results were....

....not bad! Nice taste of chocolate, maltiness, and even a little hint of carbonation, even though it was under no pressure. I attribute that to the cold temps holding some CO2 in solution. So...

...now I have two dozen bottles primed and waiting for warm temps to return so it will carbonate. Ovaltine with a kick--can't wait...

 

[Pappers_]

Wacky is the word that comes to mind :cross:

 

[Palefire]

Hate to say it, but ... subscribed! Post tasting notes in a few weeks!

 

[mordantly]

intriguing... i wonder how much chocolate flavor was metabolized.

 

[fineexampl]

logic tells me this should taste like crap. i really hope i'm wrong because i'll make some this month.

 

[jjones17]

logic tells me this should taste like crap. i really hope i'm wrong because i'll make some this month.

LMFAO! I was thinking the same thin. Too bad I have never felt the need to purchase ovaltine, or I might try it as well.
Subscribed!

 

[Grimster]

LMFAO! I was thinking the same thin. Too bad I have never felt the need to purchase ovaltine, or I might try it as well.
Subscribed!

Same here, jumping on the 'this will taste like crap, but if not I just might try a gallon or two for the helluvit" bandwagon.

Let us know how it is after bottle conditioning and carbing up!

 

[jcobbs]

Can't believe all you guys are interested in this craziness! Did the world suddenly run out of beer and everybody's desperate? Or is chocolate-flavored hooch going to be the next big craze? Nevertheless I will let you know how it goes. At the moment I still have it stored in my shop, but considering we are under a winter storm watch and it's not supposed to get above freezing tomorrow, I may have to bring a few bottles in to get them up to Revvy's proverbial 3/70 conditioning situation.

 

[mordantly]

you could also sleep with them to keep them at "conditioning temps"

 

[Quaffer]

Can't believe all you guys are interested in this craziness! Did the world suddenly run out of beer and everybody's desperate? Or is chocolate-flavored hooch going to be the next big craze?

Everybody loves chocolate, but the double-chocolate stouts I have tasted never live up to their promise in my opinion. If you are on to something good, a lot of people will be paying attention, myself included. I have made a batch of chocolate mint stout, and it was not bad, but where is that rich creamy chocolate flavor? Not in the beers I have tasted so far, that's for sure. I am still trying to find that perfect chocolate brew. Crazy ideas have lead to great inventions throughout history. Don't be bashful, go for it with gusto! We live in an extraordinary time of experimental beers. You can do it!

 

[jcobbs]

Crazy ideas have lead to great inventions throughout history. Don't be bashful, go for it with gusto! We live in an extraordinary time of experimental beers. You can do it!

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I really hope it turns out tasty. I only took a quick sip and it wasn't bad--yes, I could taste the chocolate quite well. It still had some residual sweetness. The sample I tasted had a bit of trub stirred up so it was hard to tell much else over the yeast. I'm hoping after it settles and conditions that it will have a nice balance of chocolate and malt. On the other hand...

My other thought was that if it really does taste like crap, we keep it to ourselves and build up this huge thread, like EdWort's Apfelwein. For some reason it amuses me to imagine folks trying to make the stuff taste good and going "What the h--- is wrong with those people?!?!"

--edit-- I was referring to the size of the Apfelwein thread, not the taste. Apfelwein is delicious; I have some aging right now.

 

[Grimster]

but considering we are under a winter storm watch and it's not supposed to get above freezing tomorrow, I may have to bring a few bottles in to get them up to Revvy's proverbial 3/70 conditioning situation.

They sure missed their forecast on how much snow we were gonna get I'd call that "a dusting" not 2-4" damn. So much for making a snowman with the kid today.

 

[Quaffer]

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I really hope it turns out tasty. I only took a quick sip and it wasn't bad--yes, I could taste the chocolate quite well. It still had some residual sweetness. The sample I tasted had a bit of trub stirred up so it was hard to tell much else over the yeast. I'm hoping after it settles and conditions that it will have a nice balance of chocolate and malt. On the other hand...

My other thought was that if it really does taste like crap, we keep it to ourselves and build up this huge thread, like EdWort's Apfelwein. For some reason it amuses me to imagine folks trying to make the stuff taste good and going "What the h--- is wrong with those people?!?!"

--edit-- I was referring to the size of the Apfelwein thread, not the taste. Apfelwein is delicious; I have some aging right now.

I will be interested to see how this turns out. Lol at the 'Apfelwein' idea!
(Note to self: Experiment failed; Jägermeister does not drink like beer, it is considerably more potent. Best not to post while experimenting with that schytt.)

 

[joety]

subscribed

 

[Revvy]

No more unique or wackier than using malted milk balls or the other stuff we did in here'

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/gap-grocery-produce-beer-experiment-69313/?highlight=grocery

Except we didn't use ANY conventional beer ingredients.

 

[joety]

That's interesting, and while a couple people mentioned trying Ovaltine (including you), I didn't find any threads where someone actually did and posted results. I'm sure you old farts have tried everything under the sun at some point.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

I Have a jar of Horlicks (Malt drink mix) that runs and hides at the back of the cupboard everytime it sees me coming.

 

[Heckle]

Subscribed.

And I agree with the thread idea as well. The world could always use more humor!

 

[l1ranger]

yup, i wanna hear the results on this one too.
bet it would be a real crowd pleaser

 

[Chips]

I've always wondered what would happen if you threw a 'coffee substitute' into a mash. It's usually got one or two ingredients on it...mainly roasted malted barley & sometimes roasted chicory root.

Please keep us posted how the olvaltine goes!

 

[jcobbs]

No more unique or wackier than using malted milk balls or the other stuff we did in here'

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/gap-grocery-produce-beer-experiment-69313/?highlight=grocery

Except we didn't use ANY conventional beer ingredients.

I don't know how I've missed this thread. Gee, I feel pretty normal now....

 

[jcobbs]

I have one that didn't quite get filled and I tasted a sip from it today--very green; still, it has potential. I do have one suggestion for anyone thinking of trying this; I think it does need a bit of hops. I had hoped that once the sugar fermented away the chocolate would provide enough bitterness, but just from my initial sampling I'm not sure it's going to be quite enough. I'll know more as it conditions over the next few weeks.

 

[PatientZero]

Everybody loves chocolate, but the double-chocolate stouts I have tasted never live up to their promise in my opinion. If you are on to something good, a lot of people will be paying attention, myself included. I have made a batch of chocolate mint stout, and it was not bad, but where is that rich creamy chocolate flavor? Not in the beers I have tasted so far, that's for sure. I am still trying to find that perfect chocolate brew. Crazy ideas have lead to great inventions throughout history. Don't be bashful, go for it with gusto! We live in an extraordinary time of experimental beers. You can do it!

Apparently you haven't tasted Young's Double Chocolate. It's Chocolate velvety love in your mouth.

 

[h4rdluck]

keep us informed... Once you get a nice carbed / conditioned beer...Must know how this turns out.

I'm chomping at the bit to go buy some ovaltine.

 

[Quaffer]

Apparently you haven't tasted Young's Double Chocolate. It's Chocolate velvety love in your mouth.

Oh but I have. It was Young's in particular that disappointed me. Perhaps I am expecting too much from chocolate flavored beer. That is why this Ovaltine experiment caught my attention.

 

[h4rdluck]

if youngs dissapointed you...you have an insatiable appetite. I'm sorry to say.

You could try brooklyn' double chocolate stout...but I'm not sure your taste buds would be satisfied.

 

[ChshreCat]

I had to come up with my own double chocolate stout because Young's disappointed me as well. Just never enough chocolate!

 

[joety]

I had to come up with my own double chocolate stout because Young's disappointed me as well. Just never enough chocolate!

Have you tried infusing with Godiva liquor?

 

[david_42]

I've never had or made a chocolate beer that impressed me with its chocolate. But I make hot cocoa with one part cocoa mix and one part cocoa powder; and consume 1-2 ounces of 70% dark every day. I buy 5 lb bags of the powder for personal use.

 

[ChshreCat]

Have you tried infusing with Godiva liquor?

I use 6-9 ounces of fat free cocoa powder, depending on my mood. 6 ounces gives me lots of chocolate. 9 ounces and it becomes a chocolate bomb not for the feint of heart.

 

[rocketcrab]

Hmmmm.......there's a half-empty tin of Ovaltine in our cupboard that even my wife chocaholic wife & kids have abandoned. The only thing it's good for right now is to spark a flurry of quotes from "Young Frankenstien"...where Frau Blucher asks Frederick "zum Ooovaltine, perhaps?" Well......why not?

 

[NorCalAngler]

I subscribed because I don't believe this is going to taste good, but like a car wreck I can't help but watch I just brewed my first 5 gallon batch and I can't imagine getting to the point where an empty fermenter will see a concoction like this rather than a typical brew! Thanks for trying this and posting your results so we can all learn from your experiment.

I looked up the ingredients in Ovaltine and there are a few ingredients that may throw the taste off: artificial colors, emulsifiers (mono and di-glycerides) and whey.

http://www.fooducate.com/blog/2010/...l-yellow-red-blue-colorings-inside-the-label/

 

[jcobbs]

I subscribed because I don't believe this is going to taste good, but like a car wreck I can't help but watch I just brewed my first 5 gallon batch and I can't imagine getting to the point where an empty fermenter will see a concoction like this rather than a typical brew! Thanks for trying this and posting your results so we can all learn from your experiment.

I looked up the ingredients in Ovaltine and there are a few ingredients that may throw the taste off: artificial colors, emulsifiers (mono and di-glycerides) and whey.

http://www.fooducate.com/blog/2010/...l-yellow-red-blue-colorings-inside-the-label/

Well, imagine watching the car wreck happen from behind the wheel and you have my point of view

Hard to know what the extra ingredients may or may not do to the taste. I would guess if anything the whey would have the most effect. I haven't done that much beer brewing; I do mostly wines. Just a few extract brews. But at the moment it doesn't taste that much better or worse than other brews I have done that were still very green. If I had to guess I'd say after 6-8 weeks or so of conditioning it will probably be an OK novelty drink; more like a "hard Ovaltine" than a real beer. Something to break out at a party for laughs. On the other hand it could be really good. Or utterly nauseating. We shall see...

 

[FortSanders]

I've always wondered what would happen if you threw a 'coffee substitute' into a mash. It's usually got one or two ingredients on it...mainly roasted malted barley & sometimes roasted chicory root.

Please keep us posted how the olvaltine goes!

picked up a copy of zymurgy yesterday at the hbs and they have a section about using coffee in your mash and even include a recipe for an espresso stout, java porter, and a montezuma's revenge which is a mexican dark lager with coffee. Would be interesting to try.

 

[mkory]

Updates?

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[MBasile]

You've gotta throw that in some coffee and make an Irish mocha!

 

[jcobbs]

Probably still a bit early, but since tomorrow is Saturday and supposed to be nice weather here I'll try to wander out to the shop and look in on it. My brew cabinet is unheated so they are probably going to need some days of warmer temps to finish carbing. One thing I noticed; this recipe throws a lot of trub. There was a big layer in the fermenter and still more settling in the bottles. Probably the whey in the Ovaltine. If this turns out to taste OK a better approach might be to fine it after fermentation and carb it in a keg, to get a cleaner end product.

 

[jcobbs]

OK, as promised, I checked it out. It is clearing more; by the time the bottles are fully conditioned I expect it will be clear enough, although not brilliantly so. There will definitely be sediment to deal with so they will have to be poured carefully. The color is....well, pink, sorta. I'm thinking it's the suspended stuff and the chocolate against my fluorescent lighting. But it is...kinda pink. Not pepto-bismol pink, just a light dusty rose. Hoping as it clears that goes away.

Taste is...quite different. Not unpleasant at all; this is definitely not a throw-away batch. But hard to put into words. I'm not a beer judge at all; things either taste bad, OK, good, or really good. That's about as descriptive as I can manage. When you first take a sip, you can definitely taste a cocoa flavor, but the malt quickly takes over that. And there's also a little bit of a sour tang to it. I don't know how they taste to other people, but a lot of Sam Adams beers have a little sourness to me; that's the kind of taste I'm getting in this. Overall it still tastes very young; I think several more weeks of conditioning will make this reasonably drinkable.

If I had it to do over, I would try: (a) either add hops or used hopped extract; (b) go with a darker malt extract which I think would go better with the chocolate; (c) either leave it the primary longer, rack to secondary, or some other method to further clarify before bottling. If I had a keg setup I might really clarify this beforehand and then keg carb.

I'll know more when this finishes conditioning, but so far I'm pleasantly surprised. At least I didn't spend time & money creating something totally undrinkable. At worst I expect it will be a kind of odd-tasting brew that makes you go "hmmmm" when you drink it. At best it will really condition nicely and be something worth trying to duplicate. I'd love to see if someone else wants to give it a go and compare results.

 

[jcobbs]

OK, as promised, I checked it out. It is clearing more; by the time the bottles are fully conditioned I expect it will be clear enough, although not brilliantly so. There will definitely be sediment to deal with so they will have to be poured carefully. The color is....well, pink, sorta. I'm thinking it's the suspended stuff and the chocolate against my fluorescent lighting. But it is...kinda pink. Not pepto-bismol pink, just a light dusty rose. Hoping as it clears that goes away.

Taste is...quite different. Not unpleasant at all; this is definitely not a throw-away batch. But hard to put into words. I'm not a beer judge at all; things either taste bad, OK, good, or really good. That's about as descriptive as I can manage. When you first take a sip, you can definitely taste a cocoa flavor, but the malt quickly takes over that. And there's also a little bit of a sour tang to it. I don't know how they taste to other people, but a lot of Sam Adams beers have a little sourness to me; that's the kind of taste I'm getting in this. Overall it still tastes very young; I think several more weeks of conditioning will make this reasonably drinkable.

If I had it to do over, I would try: (a) either add hops or used hopped extract; (b) go with a darker malt extract which I think would go better with the chocolate; (c) either leave it the primary longer, rack to secondary, or some other method to further clarify before bottling. If I had a keg setup I might really clarify this beforehand and then keg carb.

I'll know more when this finishes conditioning, but so far I'm pleasantly surprised. At least I didn't spend time & money creating something totally undrinkable. At worst I expect it will be a kind of odd-tasting brew that makes you go "hmmmm" when you drink it. At best it will really condition nicely and be something worth trying to duplicate. I'd love to see if someone else wants to give it a go and compare results.

After a few days of warmer temps, carbonation is progressing nicely. Also, it looks like the pink color is most likely suspended cocoa. As they clear, they are looking more like a pale ale or pale lager and much less pink. I think a little more time will tell the tale. No taste tonight; gonna try to leave them alone as much as possible.

 

[NorCalAngler]

Any updates?