Bauerbrewery1989
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2013
- Messages
- 198
- Reaction score
- 24
So this is an unwanted experiment, but I figure I'd post the proceedings, since my bad luck might help with others brew.
Basically it was a series of bad luck. I must have broke a mirror over a black cat under a ladder. Long story short my Bittering hops smelled like cheese, and somehow the columbus hops i was going to finish with got switched with chinook at the store. I didn't realize any of this until after I got everything started. So hears the recipe I ended up making...ill explain at bottom.
3 gallon batch
3.3p Light LME
1p Amber DME
8oz crystal 80L
8oz chocolate malt
1/4oz Chinook Hops (10)
2oz Cocoa powder (5)
5oz dextrose
12oz wildflower honey
---Yeast---
Nottingham
---secondary---
3 15oz cans Oregon Dark Cherries
8oz cocoa nibs
OG 1.07 (the hydrometer kept sticking to the side though so idk how accurate this is)
If you're looking for the Bittering hops, don't bother, there aren't any. The Chinook was used to finish, since I wanted a light hopping, and from what I've read Chinook can be harsh if used for bittering, and I didn't want an intense hoppy flavor. I'm counting on the bitterness to come from the cocoa powder and nibs, and I added both the dextrose and honey to boost the abv, because I want to age this batch. I've made a simple cherry ale kit and did the same thing, the cherry flavor was really smooth after a few months, so ill do the same with this. The initial taste of the wort was actually really good. Sort of a chocolatey bitter taste, like you get with a very dark chocolate bar, with a hoppy aroma. Very sweet because of the honey/dextrose.
Ill post how this goes, good or bad. Hopefully my bad luck can help others.
Basically it was a series of bad luck. I must have broke a mirror over a black cat under a ladder. Long story short my Bittering hops smelled like cheese, and somehow the columbus hops i was going to finish with got switched with chinook at the store. I didn't realize any of this until after I got everything started. So hears the recipe I ended up making...ill explain at bottom.
3 gallon batch
3.3p Light LME
1p Amber DME
8oz crystal 80L
8oz chocolate malt
1/4oz Chinook Hops (10)
2oz Cocoa powder (5)
5oz dextrose
12oz wildflower honey
---Yeast---
Nottingham
---secondary---
3 15oz cans Oregon Dark Cherries
8oz cocoa nibs
OG 1.07 (the hydrometer kept sticking to the side though so idk how accurate this is)
If you're looking for the Bittering hops, don't bother, there aren't any. The Chinook was used to finish, since I wanted a light hopping, and from what I've read Chinook can be harsh if used for bittering, and I didn't want an intense hoppy flavor. I'm counting on the bitterness to come from the cocoa powder and nibs, and I added both the dextrose and honey to boost the abv, because I want to age this batch. I've made a simple cherry ale kit and did the same thing, the cherry flavor was really smooth after a few months, so ill do the same with this. The initial taste of the wort was actually really good. Sort of a chocolatey bitter taste, like you get with a very dark chocolate bar, with a hoppy aroma. Very sweet because of the honey/dextrose.
Ill post how this goes, good or bad. Hopefully my bad luck can help others.
