Christmas Stout....Recipe Critique!

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brentt03

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Hey guys, prepping for the cold weather ahead and the holidays, I am looking to make a Christmas Stout; the goal here is to have a coffee/chocolate/mint flavor.

Let me know what you think!

Type: All Grain
Est Original Gravity: 1.054 SG
Batch Size (fermenter):3.50 gal
Brewer: Salty Nut Brewery
Boil Size: 4.14 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
Total Grain Weight:8.35 lb
Brewhouse Efficiency: 60.00 %
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.0 %
Bitterness: 30.6 IBUs
Est Color: 40.1 SRM

Ingredients

6.00 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)
0.25 lb Wheat, Roasted (425.0 SRM)
0.35 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)
0.50 oz Chinook [10.90 %] - Boil 60.0 min
4.00 oz Cocoa Powder (Boil 10.0 mins)
0.75 lb Milk Sugar (Lactose) [Boil for 5 min](0.0 SRM)
0.25 tsp Pure Mint Extract (Secondary 0.0 mins)
2.00 oz Cacao Nibs (Ghana) (Secondary 0.0 mins)
1pkg Irish Ale Yeast (Wyeast 1084)

Also let me clarify that the Wheat, Roasted is actually Roasted Coffee Wheat Malt (was hoping for more coffee flavor from it) and I am debating substituting the Chocolate Malt with Dark Chocolate Malt, thoughts??


Thanks alot guys! :mug:
 
Just curious, why both coco powder and the nibs? Personally I would use one or the other, probably the coco powder. I don't see what you're gaining from the nibs, maybe it's just me.

Fresh mint leaves give a great flavor too if you can get your hands on it.

Maybe vanilla and/or cinnamon would compliment these flavors?
 
Just curious, why both coco powder and the nibs? Personally I would use one or the other, probably the coco powder. I don't see what you're gaining from the nibs, maybe it's just me.

Fresh mint leaves give a great flavor too if you can get your hands on it.

Maybe vanilla and/or cinnamon would compliment these flavors?

I did the cocoa powder for the flavor and the nibs for the aroma.

I like the idea of some vanilla/cinnamon to be added! You think some of the flavors will counteract others??
 
Well, the devil will be in the details. I think vanilla and cinnamon would play very nicely with the coco and mint, getting the proportions just right will be the challenge.

I'd make a tincture and see how it tastes with a neutral brew.

Darn it now I may have to make something like this myself. Let me know how yours turns out. I think I am going to make the base beer a porter so I don't get too much roasty flavors.
 
Well, the devil will be in the details. I think vanilla and cinnamon would play very nicely with the coco and mint, getting the proportions just right will be the challenge.

I'd make a tincture and see how it tastes with a neutral brew.

Darn it now I may have to make something like this myself. Let me know how yours turns out. I think I am going to make the base beer a porter so I don't get too much roasty flavors.

I will keep ya posted! I ordered the grains last night so hopefully will brew this in the next week or so! :ban:
 
Here's what I have so far, will need to tweak. It's a porter and I want it to vaguely resemble a cup of hot coco with marshmallows. At the moment I am not including any mint, but I may change my mind.

BB Brown Holdiay Porter
Brown Porter
Type: All Grain Date: 10/15/2011
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal Brewer: BB
Boil Size: 7.37 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Pot and Cooler (10 Gal/37.8 L) - All Grain
End of Boil Volume 6.24 gal Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.50 %
Final Bottling Volume: 4.25 gal Est Mash Efficiency 87.5 %
Fermentation: My Aging Profile Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients


Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
8 lbs 7.8 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 85.6 %
9.2 oz Chocolate Malt (456.9 SRM) Grain 3 5.8 %
0.40 oz Nugget [12.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 17.4 IBUs
0.75 oz Saaz [5.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 6 6.9 IBUs
9.6 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -150L (150.0 SRM) Grain 2 6.1 %
4.0 oz Lyle's Golden Syrup (0.0 SRM) Extract 4 2.5 %
0.75 tsp Cinnamon Stick (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 8 -
4.00 oz Coco Powder (Boil 5.0 mins) Flavor 7 -
0.50 tsp Vanilla Extract (Boil 0.0 mins) Flavor 9 -

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.052 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.047 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.014 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.008 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.0 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 5.1 %
Bitterness: 24.3 IBUs Calories: 154.0 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 25.6 SRM
 
On second thought I am going to split the batch at bottling, bottle half as is, then add 1/2 tsp peppermint extract, then bottle the rest. The best of both worlds!
 
Just did a chocolate stout, and split a gallon onto fresh mint leaves for 3 weeks. The mint taste is perfect. Very mild and it lingers much like if you were to eat say an andes mint. I would probably forget the cinnamon and vanilla extract. And yes, i do cocoa powder + cacao in the secondary. The cacoa adds a nice flavor/aroma.
 
Well we just moved our Christmas Stout to the secondary tonight, looks to me more of a brown color than a black color that a stout would normally be; guess we need to up the roasted grains??

What you think?? (Don't mind my purty towel)

IMAG0039.jpg
 
Well we just moved our Christmas Stout to the secondary tonight, looks to me more of a brown color than a black color that a stout would normally be; guess we need to up the roasted grains??

More roasted barley, IMHO. Love the coffee/chocolate roast of the stuff, it's "required" in stouts after all, and it leaves the head color mostly white (unlike chocolate malt or black patent malt).

Then again, according to BJCP, dry stout need not necessarily be jet black:

Appearance: "Jet black to deep brown with garnet highlights in color."
 
bigbeergeek said:
More roasted barley, IMHO. Love the coffee/chocolate roast of the stuff, it's "required" in stouts after all, and it leaves the head color mostly white (unlike chocolate malt or black patent malt).

Then again, according to BJCP, dry stout need not necessarily be jet black:

Appearance: "Jet black to deep brown with garnet highlights in color."

That's what I thought.

What bout possibly adding 4oz of black patent? Think it would complicate the taste profile??
 
It wouldn't complicate the flavor, but 4 oz of black malt would bring an undesireable burnt character to your 3.5 gallon batch of stout. I'd max out the addition for your batch size at 2 oz. Why not another 0.5 lbs roast barley?
 
bigbeergeek said:
It wouldn't complicate the flavor, but 4 oz of black malt would bring an undesireable burnt character to your 3.5 gallon batch of stout. I'd max out the addition for your batch size at 2 oz. Why not another 0.5 lbs roast barley?

I'm ok with adding the additional roasted barley; just hoping it darkens it enough to be blacker in color
 
I'm ok with adding the additional roasted barley; just hoping it darkens it enough to be blacker in color

Considering that roasted barley is usually 500+ degrees lovibond, it will darken the beer just as well as black patent.
 
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