Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer Andes Mint Chocolate Stout

[modernlifeisANDY]

So this second batch (using half the cocoa and peppermint tea bags instead of extract) tops the original by far. Much smoother taste overall without that cocoa bitterness that you get with a full 8 oz. Either recipe works and works well, but I think the modified one is a bit better.

@TonyR not sure what could be causing your foaming issues - are you using the same lines you usually do? I carbed mine at ~10psi and it has been fine both from a picnic tap and the tower.

 

[TonyR]

I found this past weekend, that my temps weren't quite right in my keezer. The bottom was getting down to 30*F while the top where my temp controller probe was closer to 40. After I bottled the last bit so I could swap another keg in, I found the bottom was a big hunk of ice. After adjusting the temps a bit, this new mint chocolate keg I swapped in seems to be pouring much better.

 

[hopalotamus]

brewed this today pre fermentation taste was good minty but not very chocolaty dose the chocolate come through better post ferment? brewed the second recipe 4oz and tea bags maybe didnt add enough chocolate?

 

[modernlifeisANDY]

The 4 oz. should be enough. I found a full 8 oz. to be way to overpowering. It definitely blends and comes through a bit better as the beer ferments. See how it tastes before bottling, you can always add a bit more if you want to.

 

[hopalotamus]

thanks let you know how it turns out i am going to taste it in a week or two if its still lacks chocolate i may secondary with so cacao nibs i have

 

[Spooner61]

Subscribed because this looks delicious

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Thanks for the info, Andy! I've put together a recipe for a chocolate mint sweet stout but didn't know (or wasn't confident with) how I should add the peppermint.

I'll be doing a 3 gallon batch of my recipe. I figure 2oz cocoa and 6 peppermint tea bags should be fine... does that sound right to you?

 

[modernlifeisANDY]

That would probably be perfect to start. 2 oz. will be a little less pronounced than the proportions for a 5 gallon batch, but barely. 6 tea bags will be perfect!

By the way, kegged my version of your pumpkin ale last week and it is TASTY.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

That would probably be perfect to start. 2 oz. will be a little less pronounced than the proportions for a 5 gallon batch, but barely. 6 tea bags will be perfect!

By the way, kegged my version of your pumpkin ale last week and it is TASTY.

Excellent. I've been drinking mine for a couple weeks and it just keeps getting better.

 

[jjbcjohnson]

What category would this fall under 21a, 21b or 23a? I recently made this and it turned out great. It is a bit thin in the body but has a good chocolate flavor and just a hint of peppermint in the nose.

 

[modernlifeisANDY]

What category would this fall under 21a, 21b or 23a? I recently made this and it turned out great. It is a bit thin in the body but has a good chocolate flavor and just a hint of peppermint in the nose.

Weird that you got a thinner body than I did, but glad you like it. I actually brewed this to 13E, American Stout. I don't really pay close attention to BJCP when I brew though.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Yeah I only pay attention to bjcp if I think I may enter it in a competition

 

[pinback]

everyone still working with primary at 14 days? how about bottle conditioning? standard 2-3 weeks i guess, eh?

 

[modernlifeisANDY]

Personally for this beer I stick to 14 days. Longer would be fine though, flavors would mellow a bit - I prefer them more in-your-face.

 

[greenpolitico]

I'm still new to brewing, so could anyone convert this to an extract recipe for me? My brewing partner and I were just talking about something like this today.

 

[DannPM]

I'm really not much of a stout fan at all, and I've never followed anyone else's recipe before, but for some reason this looks so damn appealing and don't want to change a thing! I will have to brew this soon!!!

 

[Hoodweisen]

It looks like melted chocolate in the glass. Amazing!

 

[DannPM]

Glad you like it! The cocoa is a bit much, I agree, so I actually dropped mine down to 4 oz. for a 5g batch as well.

You also mentioned that the cocoa falls into the trub after fermenting and forms a sludge? I've actually never worked with cocoa before, do you think adding it in a permeable bag like a hop sack (or maybe something thicker since this is powder) would work as well?

 

[modernlifeisANDY]

I haven't tried that before, but if my mind serves me properly the cocoa had the consistency of hop matter in the kettle - I don't know how that would affect the taste of the beer though. I usually just let it drop out and rack it off. Worth a shot!

 

[Jester]

This sounds really good!! Adding it to my list of upcoming brews.

 

[aceinthehole]

I'm still new to brewing, so could anyone convert this to an extract recipe for me? My brewing partner and I were just talking about something like this today.

x2.

I really like the sound of this recipe, but am no where near ready to start all grain brewing. Could someone point us in the right direction. Is there a stout kit out there that would be a good starting point??

 

[modernlifeisANDY]

I would try to convert it myself, but I've never been that great at converting to extract. Someone else would have to give it a whirl - sorry!

 

[aceinthehole]

Thanks.

Anyone else want to chime in on a good starting point??

 

[STLChris711]

I'm also relatively new to brewing, but I'm planning on converting the 8 lbs of 2 row to 6 lbs of LME. You could also try about 4.8 lbs of light DME. The rough conversions that I have read are .75 for LME and .6 for DME, but somebody more experienced could probably be more thorough/accurate.

 

[smallkiller]

Going to give this recipe a shot but with extract and specialty grains. Used brewmaster warehouse to stay within the perimeters of American Stout. I saw room for a shot at addition, so I'm going to add a pound of lactose.

White Labs WLP004 Irish Ale
Briess Golden Light DME 6 lbs.
East Kent Goldings Hop Pellets 1.75oz
Flaked Barley 1lbs
Briess Caramel 40L - crushed .5 lbs
Weyermann Dehusked Carafa II - crushed .5lbs (sold out of III)
Briess Organic Chocolate - crushed .5lbs
1 lbs of lactose

Edit: After consulting the book, I'm going to have to correct American Stout into Sweet Stout

 

[modernlifeisANDY]

Yeah I designed this recipe around the sweet stout base. It works very well, good luck!

 

[pinback]

So the rice hulls are merely for stuck spathe prevention?

 

[modernlifeisANDY]

Yeah, both the Carafa III and Chocolate are de-husked malts. Can get clogged pretty fast.

 

[7ways]

I had bittersweet success with this, and could use an opinion.

I used:
All grain
midnight wheat instead of carafa
5 oz cocoa powder in the boil
5 oz cocoa nibs in secondary
10 mint tea bags last 5 min of boil
4 mint tea bags in secondary
.75 lb lactose in the boil
.25 lactose in secondary
Sightly low efficiency because of a crappy steel braid, final abv 5.4%.

Two days after burst carbing in the keg, it was awesome. Mint and chocolate were prominent and balanced. It smelled and tasted like a girl scout cookie. My friends and I were impressed.
But after only a week, the mint faded big time. So I sanitized and added 3 more mint bags into the keg, and it solved the problem... for another week.

I want to do this again, and maybe bump the OG up to ~1.072. Any suggestions regarding how to keep the mint flavor from disappearing?

 

[modernlifeisANDY]

You can try using some peppermint extract in addition to the tea bags. Additionally, maybe try doing a vodka infusion with the tea bags instead of putting them in directly?

My intent with this recipe was for a subtle mint flavor, so I'm not sure about making it more prominent - but those methods might help you.