adding Chocolate malt to a Mr. Beer recipe

[webnmar]

I am planning on making the Chocolate Covered Cherries recipe from Mr. Beer. I have made quite a few Mr. Beer recipes now and am looking to start playing around a little bit. I would like to add Chocolate malt to the process, but have never used straight malt, just LME and DME for extract brewing. Can any of you experts out there give me a little primer on what to do with 1/2 a pound of chocolate malt to add it to the recipe? I also plan on adding 4 ozs. of cocoa powder mixed with a little boiled water at flame out from boiling the DME and LME.

I need to know how to process the raw malt to use it, and do I then add the extract steps to that beginning step as if it was my base water to start with.

Thanks for any info you can provide. I think from the recipes I have seen, that the amounts are OK, but just need to know the processing steps to use. Do I "mini-mash" (Don't really know what that means) the malt and starting water. Then add the DME/LME according to the normal recipe from there?

 

[PintOfBitter]

crush the malt, steep it in a few gallons of water at 150 degrees for 15-30 mins in a sock, then add the rest of your brew water, and brew as normal. DON'T squeeze the sock when you remove it from the water, just let it drip drain.

have fun!

 

[Brandon O]

crush the malt, steep it in a few gallons of water at 150 degrees for 15-30 mins in a sock, then add the rest of your brew water, and brew as normal. DON'T squeeze the sock when you remove it from the water, just let it drip drain.

have fun!

a few gallons of water? that is really gonna throw off the recipe.


Heres what you do. Starting with the water you use to boil the DME or LME in, before you add the LME or DME. Put the grains in a muslin bag or some panty hose. Bring the water to 155 degrees and steep the grains in the water like a giant tea bag for 30 mins. Let the bag drip dry after that and then throw away the grains.

Next just add your LME or DME and boil like normal. Adding the cocoa at the end sounds fine. I would also add, you might like some oats and some roasted barley in the steeping bag. That's just my personal tastes though.

 

[webnmar]

Thanks so much for the ideas. PintOfBitter, you may have missed that it is a Mr. beer recipe, which only makes 2 gals total, so a few gallons of water to start would really be a problem.

Brandon, do I do something to crush the malt before I put it in the sock as PintOfBitter suggests? If yes, can I crush lightly with a tenderizer hammer, or some other idea?

To control the steeping at 155 degrees, can I just move the pot farther from my flame on the stove and measure with my thermometer to try to keep it at 155? I think that my lowest flame on the stove will still keep it hotter than 155. Also, is 30 minutes enough steeping time? I saw some recipes that steep for an hour and one recipe for one hour 20 minutes.

 

[ChshreCat]

If you're just steeping grains, the temp control isn't that important. Just get it to temp and throw a lid on it. If you're worried, check the temp halfway through and throw some heat on it for a few seconds.

You'll want to have the grain crushed when you get it from the LHBS.

Ya know... you're on a slipperly slope here. First you're steeping a little chocolate. Then you'll want to partial mash. Next thing you know, your Mr Beer is on the shelf and you have carboys EVERYWHERE! Stop while you can!!!

 

[MrWhleDr]

I would sub the cherry whatever for some coffee. I love strong coffee flavor in any porter or stout I make.

 

[webnmar]

Thanks ChshreCat, and yes, I see the slippery slope in front of me, and in fact, a good bit behind me. 2 weeks ago, I had 5 fermenters going at one time. I have bottled 4 of them now and started 2 new batches. I am using 2 Mr. Beer kegs, 2 - 3 Gal. water jugs, and a 5 gal glass carboy for ApfelWein.

All in the name of establishing the pipeline.... Well, that's what I keep telling SWMBO!

 

[brian_g]

To control the steeping at 155 degrees, can I just move the pot farther from my flame on the stove and measure with my thermometer to try to keep it at 155? I think that my lowest flame on the stove will still keep it hotter than 155. Also, is 30 minutes enough steeping time? I saw some recipes that steep for an hour and one recipe for one hour 20 minutes.

155 should be close enough. 30 minutes is all you need for what your doing. The recipes that called for 60 - 80 were probably mini mashes. Your just extracting the flavor and sugars from the specialty grain. I would recommend rinsing the grains with some additional water at 150, just so that you get as much flavor as possible.

Last time I used chocolate malt, it made our kitchen smell like brownies. Good luck.

 

[webnmar]

Just in case anyone comes back and reads this thread, here's how the brewing for "Chocolate Covered Cherries" went on 6/06/2009.....

I steeped 1/2 lb of crushed Belgian Chocolate Malt in 155 degree or so starting water (6 cups, instead of the typical starting 4 cups of the Mr. Beer Recipe). I steeped it for about 40 minutes, then squeezed out the muslin sack of malt and removed it. Then I added 1 lb of Sparkling Amber DME and boiled for 7 minutes. Then I added the HME and LME according to the Mr. Beer recipe, boiled for another 7 minutes, added Whirfloc, boiled 2 more minutes. After flame out, I added 3+ ozs. of Hersey Special Dark Coca Powder and mixed thoroughly and until smooth. This was harder than I expected.

After that, I followed the rest of the Mr. Beer instructions and pitched their dry yeast. In 15 hours, I had a good Krausen and very active fermentation going.

Notes: OG ~ 1.064
Hydrometer sample taste was very good, tasted close to chocolate covered cherries. The chocolate flavor was darker and mostly unsweetened in taste, but offset nicely with the sweetness from the cherries.
The taste was significantly different that the smell. During brewing, it smelled like burnt coffee, and maybe even burnt dry leaves (kind of organic in smell).
Fermentation planned to go until 4 July 2009, then bottle condition until 20 October 2009. I will update you then on how it turns out.

 

[PintOfBitter]

sounds like you did fine. the process seems sound enough. for what it's worth, with a "normal" 5 gallon batch, the steeping grains are steeped in a larger amount of water, the boil is significantly longer (to extract hops bitterness, but also to drive off various off-flavor precursors) and we don't generally recommend squeezing the steeping grains. The main drawback to squeezing the grains is that it can cause a lot of trouble with clarity, but it could also introduce excess tannins into your beer.

chocolate cherry sounds nice... may have to brew a cherry stout for the winter months this year.

Update us on how it turns out.

 

[Hang Glider]

Yup, I used to squeeze the grains too, years ago. I thought I was "extracting all the goodness" - boy oh boy!
Stopped squeezing after reading forums, and my, how my beers improved. Paid better attention to fermentation temps, and my, how my beers improved.

Keep reading and learning.
Congrats on the cherry chocolate. Keep one bottle out for comparison later, and next time you make a batch, see what your experience does for your quality.

keep brewin!

 

[iahebert]

Almost 10/20/09!!! Did you sneak a taste yet?