Tried and True: Orange Double Chocolate Stout for X-Mas

For a 5-gallon batch

7lb Light DME
1lb Chocolate Malt
1lb Crystal 120-150L
.5lb Malted Barley
.5lb Brown Sugar
4oz lactose

60minutes - 2 oz chocolate
60minutes - 1oz Challenger
30minutes - 2 oz chocolate
30minutes - .5oz Amarillo
30minutes - .5oz Ahtanum
0minutes - 4oz chocolate
0minutes - 4oz lactose
0minutes - 8oz brown sugar

Primary
2 oranges pureed (everything including peels)
4 oz chocolate

2ndary
2 oranges pureed
4oz Cold Brewed Chocolate Expresso
2oz Oak Chips soaked in Grand Marnier (who woulda thought?)

Yeast: WY1214 Belgium Abbey

It sounds like a strange schedule with the chocolate, but it worked so well! The brew tastes JUST LIKE CHOCOLATE ORANGES! YUMMY. I think it's from the citrusy hops, and the actual oranges (duh) and also the yeast, which is known for fruitlike yummyness.

 

sounds great, The girlfriend asked me this morning if this is a good time to start a christmas Beer..i looked back at her and smiled ..perfect time!
so this recipe came at the right time, thanks!

 

Does the pureed orange have a tendency to settle out and drop to the bottom or does it float on top?

 

What kind of chocolate are you using?

 

Having trouble wrapping my head around the pureed orange... Is all that acid condusive to the yeast actually working? Seems like it would throw the whole pH off...

In the other thread you said you pureed everything, right? Peels, pulp, everything, no?

 

Just curious (I haven't used chocolate musch)....why the chocolate in the boil? I would think that either flameout/primary/secondary would do it. What is gained by boiling the chocolate?

 

I guess I should have made that more clear (my roommate did the orange thing).

What he did made the peels into zest, and then squeezed the juice out of the oranges and threw the rest of the orange in. The next day he took a spatula with holes in it and took the nasty gunky stuff out - because they float. I assumed too that they were pureed (that is how he wrote it down). Apparently, on the forum others have said fermenting oranges taste like vomit - but it seemed to work out okay for us in the end. If I had made this beer, I would play it safe and just use orange zest due to cost of beer. My roommate is dumb sometimes.

I don't know about the acid thing. It worked fine. It took a week and a half to ferment at 59' with the 1214. The 1214 imparted a lot of fruity bannana flavor that could pass off as orange.

I used cocoa powder from Safeway. I don't know why the boil, but people on here do it at boil, flameout, primary, and secondary, so we tried to use all the methods to make sure it was really chocolaty. It was successful. I don't know if I'd use oak chips again, though.

I'd perhaps find some more citrusy hops? That'd make it more intresting for sure.

The beer is really good, at least ours turned out really good. It took 3 months to condition.

 

I would like to try this recipe but using orange peel from my LHS. How much should I use? I ve looked around and there are lots of different ideas.
thanks!