Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer Choconut Porter

[barson777777]

Thanks for the response. Im not too worried about the taste, I was just hoping for something dark. I think you're right about the crush on the choc malt.

 

[ericw]

My local brew shop sells the LME in 3.3lb cans, so I bought 2 or those and 1lb of DME. My wort looks pretty dark, but it should be okay. I was worried when I didn't see any airlock activity, but it was a warm day yesterday and there was plenty of bubbles last night.

 

[alaskajoe]

I just wanted to add my $0.02...I brewed this on 5-8-2010, and it's currently bubbling away 24 hours later. The only major substitute I had to make was that of the cocoa powder...I had to use Hershey brand instead of the Ghiradelli, so I hope that's not some major frak-up. My OG was 1.084 pre-yeast pitch, when it was at about 75 degrees. The wort smells really good, so hopefully I am off to a good start.

 

[ericw]

I just drank the last bottle of this last night, and it was most excellent. I will make this again in the fall.

 

[munklunk]

I'm definitely putting this one in the "early fall" brew pipeline for sure. From experience with Hazelnut flavorings in beers (I'm a huge fan of cloning Rogue's Hazelnut Brown Nectar), you can use store bought Hazelnut coffee flavoring syrup. It works perfectly and is really cheap. Just taste as you mix it into the secondary and all will be well.

 

[ericw]

With the AG, at what temp did you mash at, and how much water?

 

[explosivebeer]

With the AG, at what temp did you mash at, and how much water?

Mashing a little on the high side (~154-156*f) is about right for this beer. I typically do 1.33 qts/lb for my strike water but have been trending up to 1.5 qts/lb lately when I don't have space limitations. Really, that shouldn't matter much.

 

[ericw]

Cool, thanks.

 

[Boyd]

One question, did you end up with a rediculously high OG? I ended up with something like 1.0750 temperature corrected. Maybe I should have checked OG before adding the cocoa? I know my hydrometer is fairly accurate b/c it reads right at 1.000 for distilled water temperature corrected.

Also, this one took off FAST, in just about 2 hours I had airlock activity and it continues to bubble away nicely today.

I clocked in at 1.083 just now with temperature corrected. I guess I'll know in a few hours what kind of activity it will have. tastes good though.

 

[Boyd]

FG: 1.018; I put in 6 oz of hazelnut syrup (couldn't find extract). I'll know in 48 hrs how it tastes.

 

[munklunk]

I'm eagerly awaiting your critique. This sounds like a definite "snow brew". I plan on making this the following saturday after the first snowfall.

 

[Boyd]

Tasted it tonight! It tasted great! I think it would taste much better with good quality hazelnut extract, rather than the generic syrup I used. All in all, though, It was an excellent beer. I'm sure it will get better with time. I'll check back in a few days and let everyone know how the beer has progressed.

 

[Armen_Tamzarian]

Brewing this right now. When did you all add the Hazelnut Extract? It sounds like I add it at the same time as the priming sugar before I bottle. ex: before I rack into my bottling bucket put the extract and sugar in there

Think I've got it down but any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Oscbert]

Add it same time as priming sugar in the bottling bucket. Then let it condition in bottles for at least a couple weeks. If you can wait that long

 

[ericw]

The first time I made this, I used the extract instructions and it turned out awesome. This recent time, I used AG and the hazelnut is over powering. I used the same brand 2oz hazelnut extract with each batch. Any idea what went wrong? I will have to go back and look, but I think the first one ended up being ~6.5% and this one was ~5.25%.

 

[Oscbert]

Second one may have less roasty grains to balance out the hazelnut flavor. Try letting it age for a couple weeks more and try again. The flavors may blend together more with some conditioning.

 

[ezzieyguywuf]

I plan on doing this as my first brew. looks simple enough. I'd like to omit the hazelnut extract though. Any ideas on how this might end up?

 

[Oscbert]

I made it without the Hazelnut extract and it was a great brew! My friends loved it.

 

[ezzieyguywuf]

Excellent good to hear! Now to get all these ingredients together...

edit: sidenote - any idea how much to pick up all the ingredients needed for this? I have some usweetened cocoa powder, though its Hershey's, not that Girralledaldi stuff (sorry for butchering the name)

 

[Armen_Tamzarian]

This beer came out absolutely amazing! Easy recipe to follow and absolutely delicious. My only concern was I felt that maybe 1 - 1.5 oz of the hazelnut flavor would have probably been good (or maybe more chocolate?)...but that's just personal preference as I would have liked a little more chocolate flavor. Once again, only personal preference.

 

[timbudtwo]

I made this and it had a very strong coffee taste. The people that tried it said it tasted a bit like peanut butter and chocolate. However, it was not a winner with my group.

I used 1 oz of hazelnut and the suggested amount of dutch processed cocoa.

 

[Hovercar]

I have a couple questions, this being my first post and all.

I'm wanting to try this as my first brew, but my supplier only sells LME in 3.3lb tins (Briess CBW). This would leave me with leftover; how long would LME last once it's been opened? I could get around this by using DME (I've read that you can substitute DME at 80% volume). Would that be a reasonable approach?

 

[Oscbert]

Here is a thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/how-long-will-malt-syrup-lme-last-after-opening-238367/ that you can check out.

Just make sure you seal it up really well. Vacuum seal would be most ideal. Personally I have kept mine for a month.

 

[Welderbydaybrewerbynight]

I brewed this recipe on wenesday doing AG, I increased the pale to 9# and dropped the choc malt to 1# used nestle unsweeted coca powder (if it matters) and pitched with some saf-05 I have a ton of it. Planning on adding vanilla bean to the secondary what do you think? Brewed 2 different porters this week and a milk oatmeal stout and am adding vanilla to them all as an experiment.

 

[Oscbert]

I think adding vanilla beans would be an awesome addition to this recipe.

 

[drhall23]

How much priming sugar is recommended for a 5 gallon batch?

 

[drhall23]

How much priming sugar is recommended for a 5 gallon batch?

Anyone gave any feedback??

 

[Oscbert]

Anyone gave any feedback??

I used standard amount of corn sugar and it turned out great. 3/4 cup corn sugar or you can use 2/3 cup cane sugar or 1 1/4 dme

 

[heckler73]

drhall...

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

Porters are in there.

 

[drhall23]

Can I use regular table sugar as priming sugar?