All- Grain Chocolate Milk Oatmeal Stout critique

[farfromrice]

I am planing out a new brew for the end of the month and would like some feedback on what I have so far. I will end up splitting it when I put it in the secondary, One will have raspberries added to it and the other will have either coffee or espresso. Thanks in advance for the feedback!

7.5 gallons batch size: 2 liter stater Wyeast - Irish Ale 1084 with yeast nutrient. Mash at 152°/60min

10.5 lb American - Pale 2-Row
1.25 lb American - Chocolate
1 lb Flaked Oats
0.75 lb American - Caramel / Crystal 60L
0.75 lb American - Roasted Barley
0.85 lb Lactose (Milk Sugar)
0.5 lb Cane Sugar

60 min 1.75 oz Fuggles
15 min 0.5 oz Kent Goldings

 

[masscarriers]

Looks good! If you really want a chocolate flavor though, don't count too much on the chocolate malt to achieve it but rather with some cocoa powder.

 

[farfromrice]

I was going to add a slurry of warm water and 9 oz of cocoa powder at 15 mins, then still debating on using any coco nibs in the secondaries mainly for aroma. Thanks for the feedback

 

[BrewSomeMore]

You can achieve chocolate flavor with the right combo of chocolate malt and crystal. I have used chocolate malt with C80/120 and have gotten a good chocolate flavor. Right now I have a whiskey rye stout that is very roasty and chocolaty, almost taste like Oreo cookie wafers with whiskey and oak in the background. It's good.

 

[KeninMN]

For what it's worth, Northern Brewer has a rock-solid Chocolate Milk Stout recipe that I've brewed four times now:

Amount Fermentable PPG °L Bill %
8 lb American - Pale 2-Row 37 1.8 74.4%
0.75 lb United Kingdom - Pale Chocolate 33 207 7%
0.75 lb German - Carafa III 32 535 7%
0.25 lb UK - Extra Dark Crystal 160L 33 160 2.3%
1 lb Lactose (Milk Sugar) 41 1 9.3%
10.75 lb Total

http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/allgrain/AG-ChocolateMilkStout.pdf

This is for a 5 gallon batch, so adjust accordingly.

When brewing this recipe I add 100 g of cocoa powder at 45 minutes. I also soak the nibs in vodka for two weeks prior to adding to secondary for two weeks. It brings a lot of chocolate flavor to the finished beer.

One of my variations is to add 1 pound each of golden naked oats and flaked oats to the grain bill, and then diluting the finished beer at bottling to between 4.5 and 5% ABV, effectively turning it into a delicious, lower-alcohol brunch stout that still has the body of the original stout.

I also use the Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale Yeast, and typically brew a Dry Irish stout first and then pitch the Chocolate Milks Stout wort onto half of the resultant yeast cake.

 

[farfromrice]

I was thinking of adding Carafa II, but the idea of Carafa III characteristics makes me want to add .5 lb just to see what it can bring to the mix. KeninMN, Thanks for the link to the recipe and your insight!

 

[farfromrice]

Well I decided to go big or go home and make a ten gallon batch so I adjusted my recipe but a few quick questions, is 12oz of coco powder enough? I plan on adding a little coco nibs in the secondaries. And should I add a little coco powder during the mash?

 

[farfromrice]

Here is the modified 10 gallon recipe that I wil be brewing on Saturday,
10 gallons batch size: 2 liter stater White Labs 004 Irish Ale Yeast Mash at 152°/60 min

14 lbs American - Pale 2-Row
1.75 lbs American - Chocolate
2.25 lbs Flaked Oats
1.5 lbs American - Caramel / Crystal 60L
1 lb American - Roasted Barley
2 lbs Lactose (Milk Sugar)
4 oz Hershey's special dark cocoa powder (in the mash)


60 min 2 2/3 oz Fuggles
15 min 2/3 oz Kent Golding's
15 min 4 oz Hershey's special dark cocoa powder
15 min 2 Lb of Lactose

Split the batch into two 5 gallon batches, after the primaries are done transferring to secondaries to finish up.

1. 1. 4 oz of coco nibs (soaked in vodka)
   2. 8 oz of fresh raspberries (soaked in vodka)

• • 4 oz of coco nibs (soaked in vodka)
  • 8 oz -10 oz of coffee

 

[KeninMN]

Let us know how it turns out!

 

[Kent88]

You might be interested in this recipe.

I've tried scaling down the Norther Brewer Chocolate Milk Stout and found it lacking. I've also tried adding cocoa powder to the above linked recipe and, while it smelled fantastic in krausen, the chocolate flavor didn't really make it to the bottle.

If you want a really noticeable, borderline overpowering chocolate flavor, you might want to try both cocoa powder in the boil and nibs in secondary, or a ridiculous amount of either.

I just made a 3-gallon batch of the Oatmeal Cream Double Stout and I'm planning on splitting it into different carboys, with one gallon getting nibs and raspberries, and another gallon getting a vanilla bean.

Keep us posted.

 

[mikeal]

How did that double cream stout come out?

 

[Kent88]

Mine or the OP's?

I learned a valuable lesson in how many cocoa nibs are too many. I've used nibs before and everyone is always like "Don't use too many!" so I hadn't and was always disappointed in the lack of chocolate flavor. With that batch I added a whole package of nibs and about 10oz of raspberries to a 1-gallon glass jug and siphoned from the 3-gallon carboy onto that. It tasted like a pretty good raspberry chocolate bar, but the stout was kind of lost behind it. I found it to be an enjoyable beverage, but I wont be going that over-the-top with it again. The portion with the vanilla bean was pretty intense with the vanilla as well. The portion that I bottled right out of primary was pretty good, though perhaps a little sweet.

 

[cubalz]

I think your change to include the addition of the Hershey's special dark cocoa powder is a good call.

 

[punkrawkgeek]

I punched the recipe for the Oatmeal-Cream Double Stout, and I came in very short of the OG of 1.072... Did you make any adjustments???? Looks good, and I may go get the ingredients for tomorrow... I am hoping I will be able to get it in to bottles for Xmas.

 

[Kent88]

@punkrawkgeek I just plugged it into brewersfriend and it is telling me that at 5 gallons with 75% efficiency this comes to 1.073. He says 7%-8% ABV, I don't know how he figures that as I'm seeing 6.4%, but I'm not a stickler for ABV. For something like this I just want good flavor and reasonable ABV.

66% Maris Otter, 7.8% Flaked Oats, 6.8% each Blackprinz and Chocolate Malt, 4.9% Crystal 120, 7.8% Lactose. Play around and try to get those numbers to get that gravity for your target volume.

Did I make any adjustments... I've played around with adding a little of this, a little of that . Most relevant to this would probably be that I use MCI Stout Malt for my base malt. I've bought it from Northern Brewer and MoreBeer. Comes out pretty good, IMHO.

 

[punkrawkgeek]

I did another chocolate milk stout and got in to the bottles for Xmas. Cracked a bottle last night, and it was lovely. Thick and creamy. I will have to check the recipe out again. Maybe I missed something. Thank you @Kent88

 

[Kent88]

@punkrawkgeek you called it a chocolate milk stout, do you mean you made the oatmeal cream double stout with nibs? The OP's recipe? A different recipe?

What about the recipe needs to be re-checked? (Edit: you probably mean that you want to make it again)

Glad you got a good stout for Christmas!