Chocolate Belgian IPA

[OscarBrau]

A friend of mine loves Belgian IPAs. He also loves chocolatey beers. He thought the perfect beer for him would be a chocolate Belgian IPA, so I thought I would try making one. I'm not confident it will be any good - the mix of chocolate, belgian yeast, and strong hops makes me think it will just be a mess.

I figured there were two ways to go about it: to make something like a black IPA with belgian yeast and some chocolate, or to make a belgian IPA with a little chocolate malt and cacao nibs. I went with the latter. Here's the recipe. I think it's going to end up being very bitter. What would you change? Afterwards I realized I probably should have put a little crystal malt into the mix to add a little sweetness.

HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: Chocolate Belgian IPA

Brew Method: Extract
Style Name: American IPA
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 1 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 1.5 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.047
Efficiency: 35% (steeping grains only)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.071
Final Gravity: 1.018
ABV (standard): 6.87%
IBU (tinseth): 76.33
SRM (morey): 22.16

FERMENTABLES:
1.6 lb - Dry Malt Extract - Pilsen (83.7%)

STEEPING GRAINS:
0.125 lb - American - Chocolate (6.5%)

HOPS:
0.15 oz - Columbus, Type: Pellet, AA: 15, Use: Boil for 30 min, IBU: 33.72
0.1 oz - Amarillo, Type: Pellet, AA: 8.6, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 6.08
0.1 oz - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 14.5, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 10.25
0.1 oz - Amarillo, Type: Pellet, AA: 8.6, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 3.34
0.1 oz - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 14.5, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 5.64
0.2 oz - Amarillo, Type: Pellet, AA: 8.6, Use: Whirlpool for 20 min at °F, IBU: 6.44
0.2 oz - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 14.5, Use: Whirlpool for 20 min at °F, IBU: 10.86
0.2 oz - Amarillo, Type: Pellet, AA: 8.6, Use: Dry Hop for 5 days

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
0.5 oz - Cacao nibs, Type: Flavor, Use: Primary

YEAST:
Wyeast - Belgian Ardennes 3522
Starter: No
Form: Liquid
Attenuation (avg): 74%
Flocculation: High
Optimum Temp: 65 - 85 F
Fermentation Temp: 70 F

 

[chuckthebutcher]

I would use more cocao nibs than that for a really good chocolatey flavor. Try using 4 ounces, .5 in my opinion won't really do much

 

[m00ps]

agreed. I use 4oz in most of my chocolate flavored beers for 5gal. Correlating, you should probably go with 1oz or more if you want chocolate to be a dominate flavor along with the hops.

What temp are you going to ferment at? Into the 80s should get you more fruity esters while keeping it around 70 will be more spicy. Spicy may be better to work witht he hops and chocolate

 

[OscarBrau]

It fermented around 70, but I just moved it to a spot that's 78 after 3 days to finish up. I'll bump up the nibs accordingly. I was thinking of doing .75 oz, but the chocolate flavor is key, so maybe an ounce would be good.