25% Chocolate Malt in Stout ?!

[boicutt]

Hi guys,

Trying to clone a local microbrewery stout that's pretty popular around here that they only serve on tap. I got insider information but it was pretty vague. I've never seen this much chocolate malt in a stout...

I was told 2 row, biscuit, wheat, lactose and word for word "25% chocolate malt (roasted)". Safe to assume it's Dark Chocolate Malt from Briess if they felt the need to add (roasted)?

25% just seems like so much...

 

[porterpounder]

It's a lot, but not unheard of. I have a guinness clone that is about 15% roasted barley. I thought that was too much, but turns out it's not.

 

[hanuswalrus]

I wonder if they put the roasted in parentheses like that to suggest there were some other roasted malts, possibly dehusked/debittered ones like Perla Negra or Carafa special, aside from just chocolate. That just seems like an insane amount of Chocolate malt to me, but who knows. Maybe they add a portion of that 25% towards the end of the mash to avoid acrid flavors..??

 

[boicutt]

I wonder if they put the roasted in parentheses like that to suggest there were some other roasted malts, possibly dehusked/debittered ones like Perla Negra or Carafa special, aside from just chocolate. That just seems like an insane amount of Chocolate malt to me, but who knows. Maybe they add a portion of that 25% towards the end of the mash to avoid acrid flavors..??

That's what I was thinking (end of mash). There's some cocoa and vanilla added after fermentation. When you drink it it's very rich in vanilla and cocoa. Smells very present roasted coffee and also present in the aftertaste.

 

[boicutt]

Would love to hear other people's input on this

 

[Bellybuster]

I'll go on the other side of things, I can't imagine 25% chocolate malt. Nasty!!
To me anything over 10% would be awful.
This just goes to show its all subjective.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

If it really is 25%, I would say add it only for the last 15 min of mash or even at sparge. Otherwise, by the time the acrid roastiness mellows out, the real cocoa and vanilla flavors will be long gone.

 

[boicutt]

They have a quick turnaround on this beer, as it's their main seller, always on tap, and their setup is small, so yeah, I figure that this doesn't sit a long time, so no aging, it's at 5% stout.

 

[Spyk'd]

I promise you it's "25% chocolate and roasted..."


Probably, roasted barley and something like special roast malt...


Sounds more reasonable.

 

[boicutt]

I don't think this is it, the beer is really easy to drink as I said, pitch black, almost no head, vanilla, chocolate are the dominante flavours and you got that aroma and coffee aftertaste.

 

[lump42]

I would try it as a small batch. If it's awful, you've only lost a gallon or two.

 

[chri5]

I would try it as a small batch. If it's awful, you've only lost a gallon or two.

Definitely this. Try out a recipe with 25% and see what you get.

 

[frettfreak]

I would tend to agree with the person that said 25% chocolate AND roasted malt but who knows. IMO 25% just chocolate sounds a little crazy but this is brewing.. crazy is what we do.

Personally, i would go with TOTAL 25% chocolate and roasted malts.... PALE chocolate is a much lighter roast that you might be able to get away with 25% of.

Interested to see how it turns out. :rockin:

 

[lyron]

I know this thread died months ago, but I landed here today wondering how much chocolate malt is too much.

Right now I have a Chocolate milk stout on primary fermentation, and I used exactly 25% Chocolate and 10% Crystal. I put some cocoa nibs in the mash and plan to put some more in the secondary fermentation as well.

I also plan to use lactose to round the bitterness (even when the wort wasn't acrid, mind you)

I really think I can pull this off. I'll post an update whenever is finished for the posteriority.

Cheerios!

 

[BigEd]

It's your beer but 35% specialty malt (assuming there isn't anything else besides the crystal and chocolate) it nuts.