i made a wheat beer with a lot of chocolate malt with the idea of it being a chocolatey wheat beer, but now im liking the idea even more and i want to add actual melted chocolate into the carboy. has anyone done this, adding chocolate into the secondary fermentation? will it just harden and fall to the bottom or will it mix with the beer? should i use unsweetened chocolate or sweetened? or should i not do it at all?
chocolate in beer
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Tony
Well-Known Member
I found a Porter recipe which called for 10 rounded spoonfuls of cocoa which were added to the boil.
I was wondering about this as well. Plus in looking over a lot of recipies, I find a lot of people adding fruit, such as blackberries and cherries to the secondary. It would be interesting to hear some opinions on this as well.
I was wondering about this as well. Plus in looking over a lot of recipies, I find a lot of people adding fruit, such as blackberries and cherries to the secondary. It would be interesting to hear some opinions on this as well.
Janx
Well-Known Member
A few thoughts...
Chocolate malt is just the name of a malted barley that is kilned to a certain darkness. So, it really has nothing to do with chocolate, though I suppose the flavor is sort of like chocolate. It mostly suggests the color.
I would not add melted chocolate to a beer. If you want to add chocolate, get unsweetened cocoa powder, and don't use some crappy Hershey's. Get yourself some Scharffenberger or Ghiradelli or something good for your beer. Most chocloate bars have cocoa butter in them which would not dissolve at all I don't think and would not do what you want. Do not use sweetened chocolate as it may have unfermentable sweetness.
There's a long tradition of fruit in brewing, especially in Belgium. Personally, I think that too many homebrewers jump on far-out beers like fruit beers instead of just trying to learn to make good beer that they like. After all, who goes to the store and buys a case of blackberry chili-pepper porter? Yet a lot of new brewers really seem to want to get "creative" right off the bat. The problem is, then you don't know if your beer is good or bad or just a bad idea. In other words, if it tastes bad, it could be your technique or it could be that a blackberry chili-pepper beer is a bad idea. That's why I recommend new brewers try making styles that they actually like to drink at first. But, hey, to each his own.
Personally, I think a lot of the fruit beers made in microbreweries today suck bad. Sweet, insipid drinks with little character suitable only for getting your prom date drunk. Now fruited Belgian lambics are another thing. So, I guess there's a place for fruit in some specialty beers, but I haven't made a fruit beer in years. I don't think my friends would like it nearly as much if I had blueberry wheat on tap instead of a good hoppy pale ale, and frankly, neither would I.
In the end, I think you can more often make better beers using traditional ingredients, leaving out the fruit, chocolate, coffee, chilis, etc, etc, etc. There's a reason mainstream beers don't have that stuff in them, and it aint because homebrewers are just so darn creative as to have thought of it first
Do yourself a favor and try to make a beer you'd really like to drink. That's always my advice to new brewers, who always seem intent on making some wacky style no one has ever heard of. Believe me, you'll derive a whole lot of satisfaction from making a beer in a "normal" style like a pale ale that is tasty, fresh, and appreciated by your beer-drinking friends. Plus, you'll be able to tell how good it is because you have had beers in that style before.
Just MHO. Take it or leave it. Cheers!
Chocolate malt is just the name of a malted barley that is kilned to a certain darkness. So, it really has nothing to do with chocolate, though I suppose the flavor is sort of like chocolate. It mostly suggests the color.
I would not add melted chocolate to a beer. If you want to add chocolate, get unsweetened cocoa powder, and don't use some crappy Hershey's. Get yourself some Scharffenberger or Ghiradelli or something good for your beer. Most chocloate bars have cocoa butter in them which would not dissolve at all I don't think and would not do what you want. Do not use sweetened chocolate as it may have unfermentable sweetness.
There's a long tradition of fruit in brewing, especially in Belgium. Personally, I think that too many homebrewers jump on far-out beers like fruit beers instead of just trying to learn to make good beer that they like. After all, who goes to the store and buys a case of blackberry chili-pepper porter? Yet a lot of new brewers really seem to want to get "creative" right off the bat. The problem is, then you don't know if your beer is good or bad or just a bad idea. In other words, if it tastes bad, it could be your technique or it could be that a blackberry chili-pepper beer is a bad idea. That's why I recommend new brewers try making styles that they actually like to drink at first. But, hey, to each his own.
Personally, I think a lot of the fruit beers made in microbreweries today suck bad. Sweet, insipid drinks with little character suitable only for getting your prom date drunk. Now fruited Belgian lambics are another thing. So, I guess there's a place for fruit in some specialty beers, but I haven't made a fruit beer in years. I don't think my friends would like it nearly as much if I had blueberry wheat on tap instead of a good hoppy pale ale, and frankly, neither would I.
In the end, I think you can more often make better beers using traditional ingredients, leaving out the fruit, chocolate, coffee, chilis, etc, etc, etc. There's a reason mainstream beers don't have that stuff in them, and it aint because homebrewers are just so darn creative as to have thought of it first
Do yourself a favor and try to make a beer you'd really like to drink. That's always my advice to new brewers, who always seem intent on making some wacky style no one has ever heard of. Believe me, you'll derive a whole lot of satisfaction from making a beer in a "normal" style like a pale ale that is tasty, fresh, and appreciated by your beer-drinking friends. Plus, you'll be able to tell how good it is because you have had beers in that style before.
Just MHO. Take it or leave it. Cheers!
Tony
Well-Known Member
I edited my last post, as I didnt post correctly.
The recipe calle for "10 rounded spoonfuls of cocoa" which were added to the boil.
I know about the chocolate malts, but this one called for actual cocoa...I found that weird.
The recipe calle for "10 rounded spoonfuls of cocoa" which were added to the boil.
I know about the chocolate malts, but this one called for actual cocoa...I found that weird.
i sort of feel you on the wacky beer style thing. i do like some of the wacky homebrews a whole lot though (ive got homebrewer friends that got me into it) - and i've had plenty of wacky microbrews - and i like them just as much as the "regular" beers. a beer i drank a lot of last summer is abita's raspberry wheat and i couldnt get enough of it. bell's cherry stout is a very expensive beer (so i dont drink it too often) but it is one of my favorite beers of all time. all of dogfish head's beers are pretty wacky, and i love em. i've had plenty of crazy wacky homebrews and liked most of them a lot. i figure, if i want a well crafted pale ale - i live about a mile away from bell's and i can get as many as i want. i'm definately trying some of the regular beer styles and keeping them simple, but some things i want to make simply because i cant get them elsewhere. my maple ginger porter is incredibly good, as is my jalapeno esb. my aprihop ipa (20 oz of hops in 10 gallons, made from a clone recipe for dogfish head's aprihop and another recipe that won the AHA ipa gold medal and a few of my own modifications) is really good so far, i just racked it to tertiary and had a little taste and it was really spectacular. im giving it more time to round out the flavors and get any last fermentables, but i think its damn good. right now im making beers that i dont really want to drink a lot of, theyre more for specialty than anything... so anyways, i think both types of beers have their good points. just because a beer has fruit in it doesnt mean its a chick beer or overly sweet - it can be quite crisp and nicely bitter with a slight fruit taste or aroma. i think you should give fruit and wacky beers another chance - bottle them though, so you arent forced to drink them all at once - but also keep doing what you like best in your kegs.
NUCC98
Well-Known Member
phuzle said:
I did a chocolate raspberry stout, and added 8 oz. of unsweetend chocolate to the boil for the full 60 minutes. I think I may wait until the last 10 minutes or so next time, as the raspberry flavor overshadowed it. Also, the hops that were used were way too bitter to really bring out a chocolate taste. I've reqorked the recipe, switching over to Centennials and Northern Brewer hops, and I'm going to try Comstock Cherry Pie filling w/ the chocolate for the last 10 minutes of the boil. That should make more of a sweet stout, but like Janx said, brew beers you like!
I'm working on a batch of NothernBrewer's Dark Cherry Stout. I sampled a little when I transfered it to the secondary and it was awesome.....but the cherry extract doesn't get added until bottling. I'm kind of torn now as to wether ofr not to add the extract, because at the time I transfered it it was the best homebrewed stout I've made yet.
I imagine that in the end I'll split the difference and do half with, half without. I like to try new things...but I also like good beer....typically the good beer wins over the try new things.
I imagine that in the end I'll split the difference and do half with, half without. I like to try new things...but I also like good beer....typically the good beer wins over the try new things.
NUCC98
Well-Known Member
zprime said:I'm working on a batch of NothernBrewer's Dark Cherry Stout. I sampled a little when I transfered it to the secondary and it was awesome.....but the cherry extract doesn't get added until bottling. I'm kind of torn now as to wether ofr not to add the extract, because at the time I transfered it it was the best homebrewed stout I've made yet.
I imagine that in the end I'll split the difference and do half with, half without. I like to try new things...but I also like good beer....typically the good beer wins over the try new things.
I've read a lot about the cherry extract. A lot of folks have commented on it saying that it makes it taste like marchino cherries. Someone on this board posted a cherry wheat recipe using the cherry pie filling. That gave me the idea to use blueberry filling in my most current batch. Haven't tried it yet, but I'll let you know if using the sorta real thing is better than the extract...
Although, I used the apricot extract for a Magic Hat #9 clone, and nailed it perfectly.....
myndphaser
Member
Young's Double Chocolate Stout is a beer I like to drink regularly, and luckily for me there is a clone available in extract, mini-mash, or all-grain kits. Great chocolate aftertaste with that one. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a good chocolate beer.
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_21_46_42_159&products_id=310
Check it out. And before anyone asks, no I'm not trying to make the most outlandish beers possible, but I really like the Young's Double Chocolate and will be starting my first batch of double chocolate stout in a couple of weeks. Would be sooner but I have to go out of town for a couple weeks.
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_21_46_42_159&products_id=310
Check it out. And before anyone asks, no I'm not trying to make the most outlandish beers possible, but I really like the Young's Double Chocolate and will be starting my first batch of double chocolate stout in a couple of weeks. Would be sooner but I have to go out of town for a couple weeks.
Hatzie
Active Member
I have made the Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout from the book Beer Captured, it was the best stout I have ever made. I'm almost out and my friends will be disappointed if I don't make more. I looks like a 10 gal batch this time around.
seven77
Well-Known Member
I know you probably won't put sweetened chocolate in your wort, but I got a laugh thinking of it. Imagine someones facial expression who, cracks open a beer, and the first sip is a big gulp of oily fat. LOL, that'd be kinda nasty.
rightwingnut
Well-Known Member
I guess my Bacon Porter idea is out of the question, then.
Hatzie
Active Member
I will try to post it tonight after my wife is done running me around, I got the recipe from Beer Captured. Do you want AG, Partial Mash or Extract with Grains?
Janx
Well-Known Member
Wow I just looked at that recipe. That's a GIGANTIC stout...8.5% ABV?!?! That there's an Imperial Stout. There isn't any actual chocolate in it, though. Looks like a great recipe.
Hatzie
Active Member
It's awesome, It's better than any other stout I have ever had. That is why I need to do another batch, all I have left is a 5 litre keg of it.
Janx
Well-Known Member
Did you make any changes or pretty much follow the recipe? I might give it a try once we drink our Porter and Stout that are on tap now...
Rhoobarb
Well-Known Member
rightwingnut said:
Mmmm, bacon. Bacon. Bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon, ... BACON!!!
Okay, now that I got that out of my system, I recently had a Young's Chocolate with the girl I'm dating. I hadn't had it in awhile and forgot how good it was. Well, she loved it and wants me to brew some. While I'm tempted to order the AHS kit, I'd like to find a clone recipe.
Hatzie
Active Member
Ok, I will post exactly what I did, I have a tendency to round off the weight on grain.
14 lbs British 2 Row
1 lb Wheat Malt
1 lb British Chocolate Malt
8 oz British Roasted Barley
4 oz Flaked Wheat
4 oz Black Patent
Mashed for 90 minutes @ 152 degrees with 5.25 gals
Sparge for 45 mins - 1 hr with 5.25 gals @ 168 degrees
Beginning of Boil
3 oz East Kent Goldings
after 45 minutes
.5 oz EKG
.5 oz Cascade
Irish Moss
After 55 minutes
.5 oz Willamette
.5 oz Cascade
Chill to 70 degrees and pitch WLP002
This is the modified recipe I used from Beer Captured.
I hope you will enjoy it as much as I have.
14 lbs British 2 Row
1 lb Wheat Malt
1 lb British Chocolate Malt
8 oz British Roasted Barley
4 oz Flaked Wheat
4 oz Black Patent
Mashed for 90 minutes @ 152 degrees with 5.25 gals
Sparge for 45 mins - 1 hr with 5.25 gals @ 168 degrees
Beginning of Boil
3 oz East Kent Goldings
after 45 minutes
.5 oz EKG
.5 oz Cascade
Irish Moss
After 55 minutes
.5 oz Willamette
.5 oz Cascade
Chill to 70 degrees and pitch WLP002
This is the modified recipe I used from Beer Captured.
I hope you will enjoy it as much as I have.
