Brewing with Cocoa, lactose and coffe.

[Marius]

I'm planning to brew a Sweet Coffe Chocolate Stout, and have never used those things in my brews so I need some help.

It will be a 5 gallon batch, starting from a stout recepie (5%Alc). Fermented for 3 weeks in primary, no secondary.

*Lactose: 8 ounces will be added during the boil (15 minutes)
*Cocoa: A friend gave me a "brick" of what she told me is Pure Cocoa, without sugar or butter. I will grate 8 ounces and simply throw them during the boil (15 minutes).
*Coffe: 1 liter (0'3 gallons) expresso will be added at knockout.

What do you think about that? Would you change something? Can I expect some kind of milk-chocolate flavours with that amount of lactose and cocoa?

Thanks.

 

[Smokeater233]

8 oz of cocoa with 15 mins left in the boil should give you a decent aroma with a good bit of chocolate flavor...over the holidays I used 4 oz of cocoa at 5 mins left and got great results.

A liter of espresso should be a real exciting kick in the teeth...I prefer using standard Kona coffee after primary fermentation is complete.

Lactose amount sounds good...and you can perhaps stand to add even a bit more.

The best thing about playing with ingredients of this kind in a stout is that if you don't get the flavor profile you want, you can keep trying...

I will shortly be doing a coconut addition to my coffee stouts...who knew that chemistry could be anywhere near this much fun?

Enjoy!

 

[Verio]

I'll be honest, I just threw my fresh ground cofee grounds into the primary. About 1.5oz. The flavor is a bit strong, but I expect that to go down after time.

I used Chocolate and Unsweetened dark chocolate.

It is delicious.

 

[rocketman768]

You don't need to boil the chocolate. Add it at flameout and the alcohol generated during fermentation will leach the chocolate flavor into the beer.

 

[arch1tect]

Make a pot of coffee and put it in the fridge the night before you keg/bottle the beer.

The next day boil the 8 oz of lactose and cocoa in about 2 cups of water for 10 mins or so.

Add this and the coffee to the keg then rack on top.

 

[boostsr20]

I liked the effect I got from Secondarying for a week on whole kona beans. No acidity added to the beer at all.

 

[Marius]

Ok, so It seems a better idea to prepare a liter of coffe, boil the cocoa and the lactose in two cups of water, mix everything, chill it, and pour it in the trasfering bucket at the same time as the priming sugar.

Well... I'll try it this way then and next bach i'll put everything in the kettle during boil 5 minutes left. Same amounts. In two months i'll post the results.

Which hops would you use for flavour and aroma?
Also, will hops, cocoa and coffe add too much bitterness and I should use more lactose? I'm looking for some milk-chocolate flavours and aromas.

Thanks