Advice on Chocolate Stout Recipe

[worlddivides]

With my previous recipe, I mainly just wanted to check if I was overlooking anything and I got some good advice about some water chemistry adjustments. This time there are more larger parts of the recipe and process I want feedback/advice on. My girlfriend loves dark beers in general and originally said she wanted me to make a coffee stout, so I thought I'd make a variation of one of the many coffee stouts I've made in the past, but she changed her mind after having a chocolate stout at a craft beer cafe and said she'd rather it be a chocolate stout than a coffee stout. While I've made several chocolate stouts in the past, I ended up basing this recipe partially on one of my coffee stout recipes. This is to be 14 liters in the fermenter and around 11 liters in the keg (since it's a 3 gallon keg).

Water Chemistry Adjustments (added before mash):
Half a Campden tablet
2 grams calcium chloride (dihydrate)
2.7 grams gypsum (calcium sulfate)
2 grams baking soda

Grain bill:
2.4kg of Maris Otter malt (76.2%)
150g of roasted barley malt (4.8%)
150g of Crystal 75L (4.8%)
150g of flaked barley (4.8%)
75g of chocolate malt (2.4%)
75g of Carafa Special Type III (2.4%)
50g of Crystal 60L (1.6%)

Mashed at: 68C (154F) for about 1 hour
Total Water Volume: 19.8 liters (no sparge, just drain bag after mash)

Hops:
10 grams of Northern Brewer hops (pellet) for 60 minutes
20 grams of Fuggles hops (pellet) for 20 minutes
20 grams of East Kent Goldings hops (pellet) for 5 minutes

Adjuncts:
100 grams of Okinawan kokuto brown sugar (3.2% of fermentables) - Add slowly at 5 minutes before end of boil (being careful it doesn’t scorch bottom of kettle and add unpleasant burnt character – AFTER adding final hop addition)

Other:
Servomyces - add last 10 minutes of boil
Whirlfloc - add last 5 minutes of boil

Fermentation:
Fermented with Safale S-04 at 17-19C (62F to 66F) for 2 weeks

IMMEDIATELY BEFORE KEGGING, ADD GELATIN
Kegged, then carbonated to 2.25 CO2 levels.

Secondary:
100 grams of roasted cocoa nibs (in a muslin bag soaked in Myers dark rum for at least 7 days – roasted for at least 15 minutes before adding to rum – Add to fermenter (both nibs in bag AND dark rum) after fermentation has completely ended
1 chopped up vanilla bean (in a muslin bag soaked in dark rum for at least 7 days – with cocoa nibs probably – Add to primary (both nibs in bag AND dark rum) after fermentation has completely ended

Estimated results of:
SRM: 39
IBUs: 40
Original Gravity: 1.053
Final Gravity: 1.012
ABV: 5.39%

Some of my specific things I'm thinking about
1. I'm probably not going to use a vanilla bean, but maybe some vanilla extract. But to be honest, my girlfriend said she does not want vanilla in it since she's not a fan of vanilla stouts, though I mentioned that the vanilla is just there to bring out the characteristic chocolate flavor since most milk chocolate has vanilla to both make it more mellow and creamy. Then again, I've added no lactose (my girlfriend is lactose intolerant, for one thing). So I'm considering just omitting the vanilla entirely
2. The 50g of Crystal 60L is only in there because it's left over from my last brew, and I debated whether to throw it out (since it's already crushed) or to add it to the stout
3. Although this isn't a style that would be as affected by oxidation as my last brew (with all the whirlpooling and dry hopping), I still want to expose it to as little oxygen as possible. I'm wondering whether I can just add the cacao nibs and rum (and potentially vanilla) in the keg or if it really needs to be at ale fermentation temperatures for the flavors to meld

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

Looks like a nice recipe to me.
To answer the things you're thinking about
1. Skip the vanilla. But do try adding a couple drops to a glass once the beer is finished, you both might love it! Try another glass with a drop or three of coconut extract.
2. No worries there.
3. You'll want to have the nibs and rum soaking for a week or two, and then add the resulting liquid to your keg.

 

[worlddivides]

Looks like a nice recipe to me.
To answer the things you're thinking about
1. Skip the vanilla. But do try adding a couple drops to a glass once the beer is finished, you both might love it! Try another glass with a drop or three of coconut extract.
2. No worries there.
3. You'll want to have the nibs and rum soaking for a week or two, and then add the resulting liquid to your keg.

1. Yeah, I'm thinking I'll skip it because of my girlfriend's desire to not have the flavor in there (most of the chocolate stouts I've made so far have had a more restrained vanilla flavor, even with 2-3 vanilla beans soaked in vodka for 2 weeks or so). The coconut extract is a really tasty-sounding idea. I love coconut and all the coconut beers I've had (mostly stouts) have been pretty good, though I've never used coconut in any beers I've made. I don't think I've ever seen coconut extract sold anywhere before, though I could probably find it on Amazon.
2. Good to hear
3. So I don't need to put the nibs/rum extract in the fermenter and leave it for 1 week or so? It'll meld just as well with the beer in my keg? If so, that's really good news. In that ideal situation, I'm thinking I'll just remove the sanitizer solution from the keg, then add the gelatin, then add the rum/nibs (which I plan to soak for 1-2 weeks, hell, maybe even more), then purge the keg with CO2, then do a closed transfer of the beer from the fermenter to the keg before connecting it to CO2 in my fridge.

The coconut extract idea is pretty intriguing. I'm also interested in maybe trying a tropical (guava/papaya) hop IPA but with a touch of coconut extract. Maybe with some lactose for a tropical milk shake IPA.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

100 grams of Okinawan kokuto brown sugar (3.2% of fermentables) - Add slowly at 5 minutes before end of boil (being careful it doesn’t scorch bottom of kettle and add unpleasant burnt character – AFTER adding final hop addition)

Alternative approach (remove any chance of scorching): remove some wort from the kettle, dissolve the sugar in the container, add the wort back to the kettle.

 

[worlddivides]

Alternative approach (to prevent scorching): remove some wort from the kettle, dissolve the sugar in the container, add the wort back to the kettle.

You know, I'd completely forgot about that method. I'll note it down since that does sound a lot safer.

 

[mashdar]

I've taken to adding sugars/syrups to a hop spider. I still stir vigorously for syrups, but I just dump it all in.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

1. Yeah, I'm thinking I'll skip it because of my girlfriend's desire to not have the flavor in there (most of the chocolate stouts I've made so far have had a more restrained vanilla flavor, even with 2-3 vanilla beans soaked in vodka for 2 weeks or so). The coconut extract is a really tasty-sounding idea. I love coconut and all the coconut beers I've had (mostly stouts) have been pretty good, though I've never used coconut in any beers I've made. I don't think I've ever seen coconut extract sold anywhere before, though I could probably find it on Amazon.

It's in most every grocery store here in the US, in the spice aisle usually, used a lot in baking desserts and what-not.

3. So I don't need to put the nibs/rum extract in the fermenter and leave it for 1 week or so? It'll meld just as well with the beer in my keg? If so, that's really good news. In that ideal situation, I'm thinking I'll just remove the sanitizer solution from the keg, then add the gelatin, then add the rum/nibs (which I plan to soak for 1-2 weeks, hell, maybe even more), then purge the keg with CO2, then do a closed transfer of the beer from the fermenter to the keg before connecting it to CO2 in my fridge.

Correct, just soak the nibs in rum, then add the resulting liquid into your keg. Not sure if there's any harm in dumping the nibs into your keg as well, but I would strain them out.

Here's my best "coconut stout" recipe (3 gallons into fermenter, 2.75 gallons to bottle)

5 lbs 2-row or pale malt (76%)
5 oz munich 10L (5%)
5 oz medium caramel 60L (5%)
5 oz chocolate 350L (5%)
5 oz roast barley 300L (5%)
3 oz pale chocolate 235L (3%)
1 oz black malt 500L (1%)

og: 1065, fg: 1016, abv: 6.4%, ibu: 38, srm: 36

water profile: London, mash pH: 5.50

magnum @ 60 for 27 ibu
ekg or willamette @ 20 for 11 ibu

yeast: S-04

When ready to package (I bottle), I add my priming sugar (aim for 2.2 vol CO2), and 0.5 oz (VOLUME, in a measured shot glass) into the bottling bucket (again, for a 3 gallon batch) of the coconut extract.

I've had friends try it who insisted there had to be actual chocolate in this beer, but nope -- all malt! (I've only ever used Thomas Fawcett's pale chocolate).

 

[Velnerj]

I've made a couple chocolate stouts and here's my $0.02 because that is probably what it's worth.

I have found chocolate rye to give a really nice milk chocolate flavor. Maybe consider it instead if the "regular" chocolate malt you have.

I've used cocoa nibs soaked in rum and was not impressed with the results YMMV.

What I found makes a profound chocolate experience is cocoa powder added at the end of the boil. Make sure it's the "dutch" cocoa. I made the mistake of using expensive organic cocoa and results were disappointing (more subtle dark chocolate). I found out that the way Dutch cocoa is made really makes an impact on its flavor especially as I was going for a milk chocolate flavor.

 

[tracer bullet]

I've used the Navitas brand nibs from Amazon a few times and love them. More than any other nibs I've bought from other brands. I do some in the mash and some towards the end of the boil with about 10 min left (8 oz each timing for a 5 gallon batch) and it's clearly there. I don't think the chocolate flavor from the mash nibs totally boils off over 60 minutes, if you sample things toward the end of boil (and let it cool of course) it's still present. I started that process off in my first attempt (having nibs at both timings) and have kept doing it, so I'm not sure if mash or end of boil is more effective or if it's just a good combo. 16oz total sounds like a lot but I haven't found it to be too much at all.

I agree some vanilla works but also agree it's fine to put it in your glass and then pour the beer onto it. A single drop can go a long ways.

If you do nibs in the boil, use a hop spider. Powder could indeed be better here as Velnerj mentioned above, maybe for flavor, probably for ease of transferring to a fermenter. Late addition nibs tend to float and between them and the trub on the bottom of the kettle it's a pain to get the clearer stuff form the middle. Though it might be fine to have some nibs carry to the fermenter I have been avoiding it. Hmm I should actually just try that next time or at least try to care a lot less (RDWHAHB).

I like chocolate, pale chocolate, and roasted barley and any ratio will be a yummy beer. My chocolate stout recipes have evolved a lot closer to what Hoochin Fool wrote out, almost exactly like that in fact. For me though, for more chocolate flavor you might want to go a little more pale (to 5%) and a little less roasted (to 3%)? Very minor tweak though and perhaps not for the better depending on your taste buds. If you do go with a nibs or powder addition it won't hardly matter on the small % tweaks to the grains.

 

[AlexKay]

There’s some great advice here already. I agree on the pale chocolate and chocolate rye, 100%.

Flaked barley is excellent for mouthfeel; you could consider flaked rye, which is even better if you like the taste.

I get that you’re using up the C60, but a medium or dark English crystal brings a lot more to the party. Or Simpsons DRC, which I never get tired of either recommending or using. Or crystal rye.

Roast barley says “let’s have some good astringent burnt husk in here,” while Carafa Special says “let’s get rid of that husk taste.” Using them together doesn’t make sense to me. I’d probably use a mix of pale chocolate and chocolate rye for my roast grains, and use midnight wheat (which also smacks of chocolate) if needed for more color.

English hops are a good choice here. If you can get your hands on some Phoenix, it has its own weird chocolate thing going on, and it’s wonderful.

I make a Baltic porter with DRC, chocolate rye, Carafa Special, and Phoenix (plus some Saaz.) I prefer the chocolate character to any beer I’ve ever added actual chocolate to. My 2 cents.

 

[tracer bullet]

chocolate rye

You mentioned rye a few times and ways. I've only used it once and hated it, but hat was long ago when I'd stand in the grain room and invent a recipe and I'm sure I used far too much. I like rye whiskey, and recall not liking "rye beer" but can't recall the brand. Where I'm going is... does chocolate rye taste at all like rye? I've been too nervous to try it. I suppose I can order some but still wanted to ask.

 

[worlddivides]

It's in most every grocery store here in the US, in the spice aisle usually, used a lot in baking desserts and what-not.

Correct, just soak the nibs in rum, then add the resulting liquid into your keg. Not sure if there's any harm in dumping the nibs into your keg as well, but I would strain them out.

Oh, I'd definitely not be adding the nibs to the keg. To be honest, it's really debatable whether I should add them to the fermenter if I was going to add it in secondary, but at least there, there's not any risk of plugging up the dip tube and minimal risk of plugging up the spigot.

 

[worlddivides]

What I found makes a profound chocolate experience is cocoa powder added at the end of the boil. Make sure it's the "dutch" cocoa. I made the mistake of using expensive organic cocoa and results were disappointing (more subtle dark chocolate). I found out that the way Dutch cocoa is made really makes an impact on its flavor especially as I was going for a milk chocolate flavor.

I'll be on the lookout for Dutch chocolate powder since I have heard a lot of good things, but I've never tried a beer with it before. In fact, I've never made a beer with the chocolate flavor addition in the boil. It's always been in secondary.

 

[worlddivides]

I get that you’re using up the C60, but a medium or dark English crystal brings a lot more to the party. Or Simpsons DRC, which I never get tired of either recommending or using. Or crystal rye.

Roast barley says “let’s have some good astringent burnt husk in here,” while Carafa Special says “let’s get rid of that husk taste.” Using them together doesn’t make sense to me. I’d probably use a mix of pale chocolate and chocolate rye for my roast grains, and use midnight wheat (which also smacks of chocolate) if needed for more color.

English hops are a good choice here. If you can get your hands on some Phoenix, it has its own weird chocolate thing going on, and it’s wonderful.

I make a Baltic porter with DRC, chocolate rye, Carafa Special, and Phoenix (plus some Saaz.) I prefer the chocolate character to any beer I’ve ever added actual chocolate to. My 2 cents.

That's why it's 150 grams of Crystal 75 and 50 grams of 60 (though you might be suggesting something more like Crystal 120).

You are correct that roast barley puts some good astringent taste in there, and Carafa Special takes it away. That's been my intention since the first time I used something like that together (originally roast barley with Blackprinz, along with a bunch of crystal malts and so on, in a coffee stout I made in either late 2014 or early 2015). I guess you could say my intention is to get that flavor in there without the astringency being too strong. Though, to be honest, in retrospect, maybe it'd be better if I flipped the Carafa Special Type III to 150 grams and the roast barley to 75 grams.

The chocolate rye is a good suggestion everyone has been making, but I don't know of any place that sells it here. I also used to use midnight wheat in a few recipes, but I also don't know of any places here that sell midnight wheat.


EDIT: Just to double-check, I looked across four different websites and could only find multiple versions of the following (from different maltsters): rye malt, flaked rye, chocolate malt, chocolate wheat, and various other dark malts, but no chocolate rye.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

You mentioned rye a few times and ways. I've only used it once and hated it, but hat was long ago when I'd stand in the grain room and invent a recipe and I'm sure I used far too much. I like rye whiskey, and recall not liking "rye beer" but can't recall the brand. Where I'm going is... does chocolate rye taste at all like rye? I've been too nervous to try it. I suppose I can order some but still wanted to ask.

I bought 2 lbs of it (chocolate rye) shortly before Northern Brewer closed their St Paul store. Used 4 oz in a 3 gallon batch, and while it was definitely reminiscent of a milk chocolate candy bar sort of taste, it had a weird aftertaste that I didn't like. So I've still got 1.75 lbs of chocolate rye somewhere in a bag in my grain pantry.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

EDIT: Just to double-check, I looked across four different websites and could only find multiple versions of the following (from different maltsters): rye malt, flaked rye, chocolate malt, chocolate wheat, and various other dark malts, but no chocolate rye.

https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/weyermann-chocolate-rye-malt

But that said, it was chocolatey, but weird enough that I still have 1.75 lbs of it left in my grain pantry

 

[worlddivides]

https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/weyermann-chocolate-rye-malt

But that said, it was chocolatey, but weird enough that I still have 1.75 lbs of it left in my grain pantry

I'm in Japan, so not really an option.

Considering the advice, I'm thinking of maybe adjusting the grain bill like this:

Grain bill:
2.4kg of Maris Otter malt (75.6%)
150g of chocolate malt (4.7%)
150g of Carafa Special Type III (4.7%)
150g of Crystal 75L (4.7%)
150g of flaked barley (4.7%)
75g of roasted barley malt (2.4%)
50g of Crystal 60L (1.6%)

I do think adding some Dutch cacao powder at the end of the boil around the same time that I add the Okinawan brown sugar could also be a good idea since 100 grams of cacao nibs isn't going to be a particularly strong chocolate flavor and when I asked my girlfriend about what she wants, she said she wants a somewhat strong chocolate flavor.

And while I do enjoy some degree of the astringency from roasted barley in a lot of stouts (especially those coffee stouts I've made before), completely removing it from this recipe entirely could be an option. Switching the Crystal 75 to 120 or 150 could also be an option, but I've 75 is close enough to some of the lovibond values of crystal malt I've used in stouts in the past (that were higher than 60 or 75, but lower than 120).

 

[Velnerj]

I found an interesting tidbit from this article.

https://chocolatealchemy.com/brewing-with-chocolate-and-cocoa

Cocoa powder
Use it in the boil or at bottling (boiled with your priming sugar). Cocoa powder requires heat to get it to play well with water. This is the main reason it doesn’t do well in the secondary. It is messy and tends to want to just float and clump. You can try incorporating it in some hot water but I find it doesn’t contribute that much flavor.

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, my imperial chocolate stout recipe relies on chocolate malt, low fat cocoa powder added with 5 minutes left in the boil, dark-rum marinaded cocoa nibs and vanilla beans added post-fermentation, and a couple of ounces of chocolate extract added at kegging. Plenty of chocolate character along with enough black barley providing the balancing bite...

Cheers!

 

[worlddivides]

fwiw, my imperial chocolate stout recipe relies on chocolate malt, low fat cocoa powder added with 5 minutes left in the boil, dark-rum marinaded cocoa nibs and vanilla beans added post-fermentation, and a couple of ounces of chocolate extract added at kegging. Plenty of chocolate character along with enough black barley providing the balancing bite...

Cheers!

I got the idea to use dark rum instead of vodka from your posts in another thread since it seems the perfect way to get some of that molasses/brown sugar flavor without the downside of needing to thin out the beer and raise the ABV too much by adding lots of brown sugar.

For the cocoa powder, I've been able to find a lot of good-quality stuff online, but the problem is that all of is around 22% fat or 20%. I have found one that's a no-name-brand of Dutch cocoa powder that has the fat listed as "10% to 20%" meaning that they probably just mixed a bunch of stuff. I'm guessing I can use the the 22% fat stuff, but that it's just going to probably have the fat separate and float on the top.

I'd never even heard of chocolate extract before this thread (other than the stuff that we homebrewers made with a spirit and cacao nibs), but when I looked on Amazon, I found some chocolate extract, but it's really pricy. About $20 for a tiny bottle of the stuff. I wonder whether creme de cacao would be a viable thing to add. Though you'd want to add it before adding the yeast since creme de cacao has a decent amount of sugar in it.

I'm thinking of doing the cocoa nibs in dark rum at kegging and adding cocoa powder at the end of the boil, but I'm a bit on the fence about which cocoa powder to get. I have some Van Houten cocoa powder in my cupboard that I have been using when I make tiramisu and desserts like that, but it's also over 20% fat and I've had that cocoa powder for a while now, so probably should buy something new.

 

[Velnerj]

The cocoa powder I used also said 20-22% fat. I didn't notice an affect on the head... Photos for illustration

 

[worlddivides]

The cocoa powder I used also said 20-22% fat. I didn't notice an affect on the head... Photos for illustration

That's interesting. I'm wondering what the difference would be between the Van Houten cocoa powder in my cupboard and a bit more expensive (though not crazy expensive) Dutch cocoa powder I see online. I'm not sure if I have enough of the Van Houten cocoa powder left for a pull batch anyway, though. I'm guessing around 100 grams of cocoa powder for the 14 liters sounds about right. What do you guys who have used cocoa powder in the boil think about the amount?

 

[Velnerj]

I used 100g for 20l batch. So it seems you might have enough in your cupboard already.

 

[mashdar]

"Dutch processed" cocoa has been de-acidified and is less bitter. The only one I have personal experience with is Hershey's when my mother left it at my house. (I'm Ghirardelli all the way for baking.)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_process_cocoa

edit:sp

 

[tracer bullet]

150g of Carafa Special Type III (4.7%)

This one sticks out for me, I've always thought of it as a coloring agent and not so much a grain for flavor. I've used it in place of black malt and don't think I got much from it. That said I don't have tons of experience with it and if folks are recommending it, it's probably a good choice. And I'm positive the beer will taste good with or without it.

As an option, I'd still consider the pale chocolate, maybe in place of this one. And would be curious what others think of that.

 

[worlddivides]

This one sticks out for me, I've always thought of it as a coloring agent and not so much a grain for flavor. I've used it in place of black malt and don't think I got much from it. That said I don't have tons of experience with it and if folks are recommending it, it's probably a good choice. And I'm positive the beer will taste good with or without it.

As an option, I'd still consider the pale chocolate, maybe in place of this one. And would be curious what others think of that.

Carafa Special Type III is a "debittered black malt." That means that it's the same as a regular black malt with the only difference being that it's been dehusked to remove astringency and bitterness. That makes it a lot more milder, but still with coffee, chocolate, and roasty flavors. It's just had the bitterness or astringency removed (and I'm getting some of that from the chocolate malt and roasted barley, anyway). Chocolate malt has a lot less bitterness or astringency than, say, roasted barley, but Carafa Special Type III (along with a lot of other debittered black malts) have the same kind of roasty, malty, coffee, chocolate flavors but without the bitterness and astringency. The lack of bitterness/astringency is what makes these debittered black malts popular in styles like Black IPAs or in smaller percentages in styles like sweet stouts.

The kind of debittered black malt I've used the most is Blackprinz, but I've always really liked the Carafa Special series a lot too.

EDIT:
That said, I guess I hadn't updated my grain bill. After I added the 100 grams of cocoa powder, I also adjusted the grain bill a bit more, which is currently:

Grain bill:
2.4kg of Maris Otter malt (74.4%)
200g of Crystal 75L (6.2%)
150g of chocolate malt (4.7%)
150g of flaked barley (4.7%)
100g of Carafa Special Type III (3.1%)
75g of roasted barley malt (2.3%)
50g of Crystal 60L (1.6%)

This only increases the OG to 1.054 and the ABV to 5.49%, but after thinking about a lot of the feedback, plus the addition of the cocoa powder, I made a few minor adjustments.

 

[worlddivides]

"Dutch processed" cocoa has been de-acidified and is less bitter. The only one I have personal experience with is Hershey's when my mother left it at my house. (I'm ghiradelli all the way for baking.)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_process_cocoa

Wow. I didn't know Van Houten was the one that created that style. Hell, I guess that means I probably should just use the Van Houten cocoa powder in my pantry (though I probably bought it a little over a year ago, so maybe I should buy something new).

I've been a huge fan of Ghirardelli since I was a teen myself and when I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, I often went to the factory. I've never used cocoa powder in any beers I've made (before this one, which I assume will be the first), but Ghirardelli is amazing. Never had a bad product by them. Some of the ice creams and milkshakes at their SF location are amazing too.

 

[G_robertus]

Lots of great info already. I agree on roasted or chocolate rye if you can source it. Fawcett Roasted Rye is very chocolate forward and probably my favourite dark malt. CS3 is more coffee in my opinion, but not necessarily bad. I would swap it for rye though. Pale chocolate or Coffee (600 EBC/260L) is also a good suggestion. Chocolate wheat is tastes like dark chocolate, but with some tartness. I haven't use other things like chocolate/roasted spelt/oats/buckwheat so I can't comment on those, if you could even find those.
I also like English extra dark crystal (Fawcett Red Crystal is a personal favourite) for sweet caramel flavour that can remind you of candy. Fawcett Extra Dark is also nice. DRC is a bit milder in my experience. Don't use any Special crystals (B/W/X/whatever) here, or use them as a supplement to an English one.
I'm also still for vanilla. Just use barely enough to bring out other flavours, but so little that you don't taste it as being vanilla. In the same vein is sweetness. You don't need lactose to get more residual sugar, which will help with the chocolate perception. I typically mash warm and use maltodextrin. If I ever use lactose it's between 50-100 grams per 20 liters, so you can easily leave it out. Oats and other flaked grains will also help in that regard, choose your favourite. I'd also drop the late hops. You don't need them here and EKG is a very contrasting flavour. If you somehow can get rare hops that promote chocolate and coffee notes get one of those, but I don't think you'll need it.

 

[worlddivides]

Lots of great info already. I agree on roasted or chocolate rye if you can source it. Fawcett Roasted Rye is very chocolate forward and probably my favourite dark malt. CS3 is more coffee in my opinion, but not necessarily bad. I would swap it for rye though. Pale chocolate or Coffee (600 EBC/260L) is also a good suggestion. Chocolate wheat is tastes like dark chocolate, but with some tartness. I haven't use other things like chocolate/roasted spelt/oats/buckwheat so I can't comment on those, if you could even find those.
I also like English extra dark crystal (Fawcett Red Crystal is a personal favourite) for sweet caramel flavour that can remind you of candy. Fawcett Extra Dark is also nice. DRC is a bit milder in my experience. Don't use any Special crystals (B/W/X/whatever) here, or use them as a supplement to an English one.
I'm also still for vanilla. Just use barely enough to bring out other flavours, but so little that you don't taste it as being vanilla. In the same vein is sweetness. You don't need lactose to get more residual sugar, which will help with the chocolate perception. I typically mash warm and use maltodextrin. If I ever use lactose it's between 50-100 grams per 20 liters, so you can easily leave it out. Oats and other flaked grains will also help in that regard, choose your favourite. I'd also drop the late hops. You don't need them here and EKG is a very contrasting flavour. If you somehow can get rare hops that promote chocolate and coffee notes get one of those, but I don't think you'll need it.

The late hop addition is something I really liked in the last coffee stout I made, but I've only managed to get more subtle chocolate character in any of the chocolate stouts I've made so far (although they've all been delicious, just lacking in authentic chocolate flavor, even when I used a ton of cocoa nibs). It might be a good idea to either remove the EKG or push the addition a bit further back. Just sticking with Northern Brewer and Fuggles, though, is a classic combo, and the EKG might be a bit much with the Okinawan black sugar and multiple cocoa additions.

I can't get chocolate rye or roasted rye, but I can get chocolate wheat. That might be worth putting in there, maybe removing or reducing some other things to compensate.

I upped the crystal 75, but I might just want to switch to crystal 120 or crystal 150. I've had good experience with crystal malts just short of 100 before, though.

Personally I want to add vanilla, but my girlfriend (who is the one who requested this beer) is not a fan of vanilla in general and has been pretty adamant about not wanting me to put any vanilla in it, even after explaining that it's just to push the chocolate perception to the front. All of the best chocolate stouts I've made have had decent amounts of vanilla in them after all.

 

[tracer bullet]

Carafa Special Type III is a "debittered black malt." That means that it's the same as a regular black malt with the only difference being that it's been dehusked to remove astringency and bitterness. That makes it a lot more milder, but still with coffee, chocolate, and roasty flavors.

Right, I do understand that's the idea, I just remember it sort of losing all the flavor. That said I may have also changed the amount some, or tweaked some other recipe ingredient, or even just something like fermented at a different temperature, any of which would also have made changes I unfairly attributed to the Carafa. I'll have to try it again.