Founders Oatmeal Chocolate/coffee stout..

[Ryan]

OK, so mine turned out really, really well.... How about you guys?

Have you tried a side-by-side comparison?

 

[RC0032]

Mine needs 2 more weeks in the bottle

the sample was very bitter but I read that it ages out.

 

[diatonic]

Hey DubbelDach - I think I'm going to brew this this coming weekend. I'm not sure if my LHBS has debittered black malt - did you make any substitutions other than the yeast in your batch?

 

[DubbelDach]

Hey DubbelDach - I think I'm going to brew this this coming weekend. I'm not sure if my LHBS has debittered black malt - did you make any substitutions other than the yeast in your batch?

I'd probably just sub in some black patent malt.

No major substitutions... maybe just the country of origin for a malt, say British chocolate malt for American... used what I had...

I haven't compared them yet... I just don't have any Founders' around anymore. Might go look for some this weekend. I gave a bottle to a friend who has some though... We'll see what he says.

 

[diatonic]

I think I'm going to cold brew both of the coffee additions, I don't want to deal with the grounds. I found cocao nibs at my local co-op. Luckily, living in the northwest there are several options for the coffee at my local grocery store.

 

[GIusedtoBe]

Mine is 2 weeks in the bottle this Sunday and I'm dying to try it. I might have to pull a newb trick and try one since Wyeast 1056 usually carbs up in a week or so.

The coffee grounds were a mess in the fermenter and the secondary but they all pretty much sank and sat on the bottom w/ the yeast cake. I was able to siphon off clean beer into the bottling bucket with little or no coffee grounds making there way into the bottles.

Will post back when I try one.

Regards,
Alan

 

[GIusedtoBe]

Okay I could'nt wait and I just had one.

Dominant taste was of strong coffee and roasted barley. Kind of what you would expect. I like it but I think it will definitely improve drastically with time when the coffee flavor mellows. i could'nt really taste the chocolate but the original article in BYO said that the choc flavors come out later after it matures. As it is now, i almost reached for the creamer!

This one's gonna be real good. Can't compare to the original because I've never had it.

Good luck with yours,
Alan

 

[diatonic]

I put mine in the fermenter a few hours ago. I boosted the 2-row to 15.75 lbs to try to hit the ABV of Founders Breatfast Stout. I made a 1 liter yeast starter and pitched WLP001. The OG on mine came in at 1.080. I cold brewed the 2oz of Sumatra for 6 hours in my french press and added the consentrated coffee at flameout with the chocolate & cocao nibs. Really looking forward to this imperial stout. I had a cappuccino stout at a local bar on last Thursday and loved it.

 

[hopvine]

I'm planning this as my next brew, but to put my own spin on it I thought I might try throwing a cinnamon stick into the mix. Any suggestions on when the best time would be to do that (or whether it's a horrible idea)? I've thrown a cinnamon stick into the coffee pot when brewing coffee and the Cinnamon accent is great.

 

[Mad_Milo]

I've done 2 ozs of cinnamon sticks in a couple of 5 gallon christmas porters. I threw them in at 30 minutes left and it was tasted right. Aged well too!

Personally though, I hate flavored coffees. However with everything else going on in this beer, the cinnamon could make it very interesting, and traditionally aztec. Mexican hot chocolate has heavy cinnamon, and sometimes powdered hot peppers as well.

Keep us posted!

 

[GIusedtoBe]

I had one of mine last night and I must say it is outstanding! If this even approaches the original, I see why so many people love it. BYO is right, the coffee flavor is much more toned down than last time i tasted it. I am thrilled and will brew it again regardless of the difficulty.

Regards,
Alan

 

[gonzo brewer]

I brewed this on 3-22-09. I plan to primary 4 weeks, transfer to secondary for 2 weeks (add Kona).

My dilema, Keg it and serve it with the stout tap on my kegorator (non nitro).
Or bottle it and let it bottle condition?

 

[RC0032]

mine has een in the bottle for 6 weeks and its not ready to drink. If you have a keg you can let sit around for a few months keg it.

 

[diatonic]

I brewed this on 3/7/09. Transferred to secondary last night with the Kona coffee. I cold brewed the coffee, then added the cold brewed concentrate, rather than dumping coffee grounds in to the secondary. I had an OG of 1.080, and the gravity has been at 1.025 for the past week. I'm going to bottle condition it for a couple reasons. It would take up a 5 gallon corny for ages (not a session beer)... and I only have a single regulator, so all of my kegs get the same co2 pressure. I think that would overcarb this beer. Tastes really nice now (I also added the first coffee at flameout via cold brew).

 

[jvh261]

Placed an order to Northern Brewer for my next 4 brews, including what I need for this one. This will be the next up. Thanks for the thread, some good tips. I'm planning on bottling it, boxing them up and leaving it alone until the fall.

 

[diatonic]

I bottled this last night. I filled 48 12oz bottles, and 2 22oz bottles. I poured the last 10oz or so in to a glass and drank it flat.

This is a really yummy beer. I think it is a perfect balance of chocolate/coffee/bitter. I'm really looking forward to trying it from the bottle in a few weeks (with carbonation! w00t!). I highly recommend the cold-brewed coffee additions, though I don't have the real deal to compare it to.

 

[hopvine]

For people that used the cocoa nibs as called for (these are just slightly crushed, roasted cocoa beans), did you leave them behind in the kettle after moving to your primary, or did you transfer them? I'm almost wondering if it would be better to save them for secondary with the coffee.

 

[Mad_Milo]

A little bit of googlin' says that you may be onto something. A few recipes and respectable sites say you get a rounder, fuller chocolate flavor by using in the secondary. Something about the alcohol extracting the flavor compounds.

Those of you who used cold pressed coffee, did you use the same amount of beans? How much water did you soak them in?

 

[diatonic]

I used the nibs. I added them at flameout in the BK with the chocolate, then filtered them out in to the fermenter. The stout (tasted at bottling time) has a really pleasant chocolate/coffee flavor. I was wondering if the high temp at flameout helped extract flavor from the nibs... I fought the urge to add them early, and decided to trust the recipe.

I cold brewed the same amount of coffee grounds and cold brewed them in a french press. I ground them at the grocery store on the coarse setting, intended for french presses. For the cold brewing, I had the grounds in with the water for about 5 hours before pressing them out, and pouring out the concentrate. I'm not sure the exact amount of water I used, but it shouldn't really matter. I would guess about 2-3 cups of water each time I cold brewed. If you don't have a french press you could probably get away with putting the grounds with cold water in a bowl, then pour it through a cone-type coffee filter... I've also heard of people just hot brewing it in the coffee maker, though you might need to use a little more coffee grounds since you'll extract a little less flavor.

My 2 cents.

 

[hopvine]

A little bit of googlin' says that you may be onto something. A few recipes and respectable sites say you get a rounder, fuller chocolate flavor by using in the secondary. Something about the alcohol extracting the flavor compounds.

Those of you who used cold pressed coffee, did you use the same amount of beans? How much water did you soak them in?

I found similar comments. One person recommended that you soak the nibs in a small amount of vodka overnight, as the higher alcohol content extracts more of the flavorful oils from the cocoa beans. He said he then pours the vodka and nibs into the secondary. Interesting.

 

[jvh261]

I'm brewing this tomorrow. I'm still a little unsure about how I'm going to do the coffe addition at the end of the boil. If I just put the loose grounds right into the wort, should I then strain them out on the way to the fermenter? I'm going to ferment this in a bucket so that it's easier to clean and I usually filter out the hops by pouring the cooled wort through a large sanitized nylon pain strainer bag into the bucket. Think it'll be alright to strain the coffee out at that point, or do I want the coffee in the primary?

When I rack to secondary I'll just add the Kona like I would a dryhop and then just rack through a strainer at bottling. So that's no issue.

Thanks for any info. I've never brewed with coffee, so just trying to make it the best I can as I really dig the commercial brew and I'm not the biggest Stout guy.

 

[Mad_Milo]

Thanks diatonic. I have a couple french presses - a typical 2-3 cup and a large 4-6 cup. I was just concerned with the OG dilution if one was adding 4 cups of cold-brewed coffee, twice.

I usually cold brew coffee in the summer, as it's nice on those balmy summer mornings when you don't want something hot.

 

[Mad_Milo]

jvh, the biggest thing to NOT do with coffee is boil it. That's when you get the nasty diner-flavor coffee. This is why it goes at flameout.

If they end up in the primary, worse case they will continue to flavor-up the beer. They'll probably end up in the yeast/trub in the bottom once things settle down.

Be careful racking through a strainer, as you may oxidize your beer The coffee grounds will settle to the bottom as they get waterlogged (beerlogged?) Just be gentle when racking for bottling so you don't disturb them too much. Even if a few get through, they will settle again in the bottling bucket.

 

[jvh261]

No french press here, so I think I'm just going to throw them it loose at flameout. Thanks for the info Milo. Yeah, I'm pretty careful when using the big nylon bag or a strainer. I think it'll be alright. Well, I'm off to stop talking about this one and get to brewing it.

 

[gonzo brewer]

No french press here, so I think I'm just going to throw them it loose at flameout. Thanks for the info Milo. Yeah, I'm pretty careful when using the big nylon bag or a strainer. I think it'll be alright. Well, I'm off to stop talking about this one and get to brewing it.

I placed the ground coffee beans in a 1 gallon nylon paint strainer and closed it with a zip tie - threw it in a flameout. Even with this I have about 3-4" trub after 3 weeks in Primary.

 

[jvh261]

I missed the desired OG by a couple of points. Got 1.075 but was shooting for 1.078. Other than that it went really smoothly. I cut the chocolate up into small chunks for easier melting. Seemed to work fine. Filtered out the coffee and hops with a nylon paint strainer on the way to the fermenter. Seemed to do the job and whatever got through I'll catch on the way to secondary. Aggressively fermenting away as I type this.

Any thoughts on maybe dryhopping with a half an ounce of Willamette when I add the Kona during the final week of secondary?

 

[gonzo brewer]

I dryhop a lot of my beers, but this one I would not.
I think the key here is let it age. I'll try to save mine for the holiday season.

 

[diatonic]

I brewed mine on 3/07/09, and bottled a little over a week ago. I took 2 bottles of it to an Easter family thing yesterday and everyone loved it... it still needs about another week and a half to fully carb up, but it is darn tasty now.

 

[jvh261]

I dryhop a lot of my beers, but this one I would not.
I think the key here is let it age. I'll try to save mine for the holiday season.

I'm planning on maybe pulling out a few bottles to try them each a month or so apart, just to notice how it changes...but most of it I'm saving for the fall/winter.

 

[GIusedtoBe]

Mine is very good but the chocolate flavor is very subtle and the coffee is toned way back. This will be a slow drinker but I'm working on it and I haven't given much of this one away

I think you will be very pleasantly rewarded at 4 wks or so in the bottle.

Regards,
Alan