Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer Double Chocolate Oatmeal Snout

[garyhood]

More questions.. my lhbs.. is interesting.. they do things a little different here in New Zealand.. but i could not get Fuggles here would Nz syrian goldings (alpha 6.4) work as a good substitute? If so since it is a little higher with a 6.4 than the recommend fuggles how much would i put in?
thank you!

 

[ChshreCat]

D4rren: 6-row has more enzymes. I use it in my Brown Biscuit, but the 2-row works just fine in this recipe. In this one I'm riding a bit on the outside of what it can convert, but it works just fine.

garyhood: if you drop it hops to 1.5 oz, it should work fine with those hops. They're in the boil for a full 60, so you aren't getting much for flavor or aroma if anything. They're just there for a little bitterness. The cocoa powder dominates the flavor of this one.

 

[d4rren]

2 row it is

So for the the mash in general. Does the "wort" that is created from the mash need to already be mixed in while I am steeping my other grains? Or can I do both at the same time and add the "wort" from the mash when I go to do the boil? ya know, to save a little time

 

[Mooselie]

Tasted it tonight when bottling. Awesome!

 

[ChshreCat]

2 row it is

So for the the mash in general. Does the "wort" that is created from the mash need to already be mixed in while I am steeping my other grains? Or can I do both at the same time and add the "wort" from the mash when I go to do the boil? ya know, to save a little time

All the grains go in at once and mash together. 2-row, oats, crystal, chocolate and barley all go in the mash. Drain that off, sparge, drain again and start your boil. Throw in your hops at start of boil and add the LME when you have 15 minutes left.

 

[garyhood]

This one is in the books. First batch for me..done in New Zealand Wonder if I am the furthermost Brewer to make this batch. I received a 1.63 reading but that I am sure is to the fact I used about .5 lb less extract. Only had two cans of the Amber.. That is ok.. I can deal with a little less alcohol on this guy. It should be really interesting. I think I should have went with more hops.. I used the Nz Goldings.. but we will see Always can do more in the next batch.. now let the waiting begin.. Thanks again for putting this recipe up! Now time to go to Bed 2am here New Zealand time..

 

[ChshreCat]

Don't sweat the hops. They really take a backseat in this brew. If I wanted to experiment with the recipe, I think I could make this without any hops whatsoever.

 

[mixmasterob]

Been 20 days in primary on mine. Just added my vanilla bean, tossed it in the primary. Got the vanilla bean from http://www.beanilla.com/ Looks and smells like a quality product, cheap too.

 

[ChshreCat]

I got my scoresheets back from NHC yesterday and it proved that this is a beer for bitter dark chocolate lovers and not for normal people.

They kept putting notes that it had too much cocoa and not enough hops or malt flavor. So, this isn't a competition beer. Just one to enjoy because I like it the way it IS! This one's just for me and my chocolate lovin' friends. It's CHOCOLATE BEER not beer with chocolate in it.

 

[mixmasterob]

have you had young's double chocolate stout? how does it compare?

 

[ChshreCat]

I like Young's, but it never had enough chocolate flavor for me. This one does.

 

[JSomps6]

The version I made of this was more bitter chocolatey while to me youngs is more sweet. I have a few delicious bottles left...

 

[mixmasterob]

Just bottled. This stuff is gonna be the tits.

 

[garyhood]

Well I am a week and a 1/2 into primary. I thought that I would drip some off to take a hydro measurement and I am at 1.020. I had a slightly lower OG so I am going to keep it going for another week before I check another measurement, but I have to say I tasted it and without the vanilla bean this stuff is great. I think with the vanilla and another week in the 2nd will make this beer just beautiful. I can not wait Thanks for the posting and I will keep you inform!

 

[jheist]

Brewed the AG version of this a while ago and just bottled it today after two weeks on the vanilla bean. Tasted pretty darn good today and hopefully with some weeks behind it in the bottle it will shape up into an awesome beer! Thanks for the recipe! I'll keep you updated how it tastes when its fully ready!

 

[fatherbigfoot]

brewed this a weed ago but forgot to add the cocolate powder so I am going to rack into secondary ontop of the powder and vanilla bean in a week or so I will let you know how it turns out

 

[ChshreCat]

Sweet, looking forward to how all these turn out!

 

[Fyxen]

I ended up mashing a little too high for the first fifteen minutes or so, but got the temp down when I realized it. It's been in bottles for about four weeks and is really quite good. It only has a small head, but retains it really well. And it's very chocolatey. At first I thought the vanilla was too strong but the flavors have really melded and now it is quite good. When I'm feeling naughty I'll put in a scoop of vanilla ice cream. That is awesome!

 

[ChshreCat]

I've made floats with mine too! French vanilla ice cream goes great with this. If you really want to go overboard, crumble up some Reeses peanut butter cups on top.

 

[Fyxen]

I've made floats with mine too! French vanilla ice cream goes great with this. If you really want to go overboard, crumble up some Reeses peanut butter cups on top.

Whoah now, don't go getting all crazy on me.

 

[Korben]

This may have been mentioned earlier but I couldn't find it. What cocoa powder did you use? I am having problems finding the fat free variety.

 

[ChshreCat]

This is what I use:

I get it at a food coop. If you can't find it, then get whatever you can that has the lowest fat content. Other folks have used regular cocoa powder and reported they still got decent head, but you might as well try to give yourself every advantage you can.

 

[Korben]

Really just looked at this big grain bill. I don't think my 5 gallon pot could handle it at 1.5 qt/lb it comes out to about 4.5 gallons or 1.25 qt/lb it comes out to about 3.77 gallons..

 

[ChshreCat]

Before I set up my beverage cooler mashtun, I made this using a standard pasta pot. Filled it to the brim, but it worked!

 

[DeusInnomen]

I've been thinking about playing around with this recipe. There's plenty of directions I could go. Add some espresso, maybe.

Howdy. I think I'm gonna tack on your brew to the end of my queue (I have a few non-mash recipes I want to try before building a MLT and going deeper down the brewing rabbit hole) cause I've loved just about every other choco-oat stout I've had.

To your thought about espresso, the flavors mixing in my head are intriguing and I think I'd love to try that. How would you go about adding espresso? Drop a couple brewed shots into the wort or add the grind itself and when? (My guess is the latter.) Hey, if you're gonna go bitter, do it right, eh?

 

[ChshreCat]

I'd cold brew it in the fridge and add it... I dunno. Maybe in secondary?

 

[DeusInnomen]

Sounds good to me, thanks bud.

 

[fatherbigfoot]

Just had my first one of these its only been two weeks since bottling but I was curious I ended up using about half the coco powder that the recipe called for because i forgot to add it during the boil so I boiled it up seperatly and raked into secondary on top of it. It has a very strong chocolate nose and it finishes with a slight coco taste but it is not all chocolate in your face which is good. Even after two weeks in the bottles one made me want to have a few more.

 

[ChshreCat]

If it's not all chocolate in your face, you did it wrong.

But if you like it that way, then all's well that ends well. Glad you like it.

 

[Cazamodo]

Im completely new to making recipes, or what goes into them, but this sounds absolutely delicious.

I''ve read through a number of pages in this thread, has someone posted a all-grain version of this, or can tell me what to replace the extract with? And will it change much of the flavour of this beer?