Looking to make a Chocolate stout.

[Ragman]

Been brewing for a little over a year now and all Ive brewed are all grain IPA's. Winter is coming and to me, thats stout/porter weather.

So Im looking to make a Chocolate stout, maybe with some coffee or nutty flavors added in. One thing I know from the stouts Ive enjoyed is I like a little sweetness in them.

What do you guys use to added sweetness to your stouts? What kind of ingredients besides Cocoa Nibs and ground coffee do you add? Looking for suggestions.

Thanks guys.

 

[VikeMan]

What do you guys use to added sweetness to your stouts?

Caramel malts, high mash temperatures, short mash times, low attenuation yeast strains, and -->> lactose <<--.

What kind of ingredients besides Cocoa Nibs and ground coffee do you add?

Since you want to make a "chocolate stout," a couple of options are Cacao Nibs and Cocoa Powder. Also, IMO a hint of Vanilla (from vanilla bean) helps fire the taster's chocolate synapse. Coffee? If "chocolate stout" is the goal, personally, I wouldn't add coffee.

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, I posted this over in the AG forum. The combination of chocolate, roast and black barley convey some "coffee" character on their own, but one can always add coffee extract at packaging if desired. I scaled this from my usual 11 gallons to the fermentor.

For 5.5 gallons to the fermentor:

15.5 lb 2 row pale malt (I usually use Golden Promise)
1 lb chocolate malt
1 lb crystal/caramel malt 40
1 lb flaked barley
1/2 lb black patent malt
1/2 lb roasted barley
1/4 lb Honey malt

1 oz Chinook pellets, 60 minutes
1 oz Chinook pellets, 45 minutes
1 oz Cascade pellets, 20 minutes
1 oz Cascade pellets, 10 minutes
1/2 lb low fat cocoa powder, 5 minutes
2 lbs honey, end of boil
Fermentis S04 yeast, 2 packs

1/2 lb cocoa nibs + 2 scraped and smashed vanilla beans soaked in dark rum for a week, added to secondary.

Mash low and long - I try to hang at 148°F for an hour before ramping to mash out then the typical lengthy fly sparge.
OG 1.107, typical FG if the mash went right is 1.025-1.028...

Cheers!

 

[Ragman]

Thanks for the recipe DT. I see a lot of boil hops... how bitter is the end product?

 

[day_trippr]

On paper, 62 IBUs. But, given high gravity kettle hops face attenuated isomerization, and with the relatively high FGs of big stouts, they are exceptionally smooth IBUs

Cheers!

 

[Jag75]

I love MO in my stout .

9# mo
1# flaked oats
1# chocolate malt
1# crystal 80
.5# roated barley
1# lactose

1oz Mt Hood @ 60
1oz fuggles @ 15

Cocoa nibs , vanilla beans soaked in vodka, bourbon or rum .

 

[Knightshade]

I feel like I've spent a good portion of the day trying to figure out water chemistry. Any recipe sharers want to likewise share their target water profiles?

 

[Toxxyc]

This is my recipe. It's frigging killer. It started off as an Irish Dry that I just tweaked and then eventually I just changed the whole thing, because why not. I dislike roasted notes and strong, dark, bitter notes with a dry finish and love a chocolatey, full-bodied sweet stout. So I made this one:

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/972116/sweet-chocolate-milk-stout
You may want to adjust your efficiency though, mine's stupendously high. Just adjust the pale malt upward. You can also increase the lactose a bit. You can swap out the hops with anything you have on hand that'll work to bring it to around 18~20 IBUs. You boil the **** out of it anyway so the flavour it imparts is minimal in a 6% beer.

I've made it before by even adding 200ml of unsweetened cocoa powder. It makes it really chocolate-forward and ends up pretty great. Damn, now I need to make this again.

EDIT: I use RO water that's mineralized to a certain number. I can't remember the numbers, but it's pretty low in everything so I usually add some CaCl and that's about it.

 

[hottpeper13]

When I was brewing squid ink black stouts I would target my alkalinity at 250 ppm. Now days I'm shooting for that ruby glow on the edge of the glass, so I adjust these to 200 ppm. I end up with a pH of 5.4-5.5, right where I want it. I find that dark beers mashed at this pH come together sooner and are smoother.

 

[Ragman]

This is my recipe. It's frigging killer. It started off as an Irish Dry that I just tweaked and then eventually I just changed the whole thing, because why not. I dislike roasted notes and strong, dark, bitter notes with a dry finish and love a chocolatey, full-bodied sweet stout. So I made this one:

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/972116/sweet-chocolate-milk-stout
You may want to adjust your efficiency though, mine's stupendously high. Just adjust the pale malt upward. You can also increase the lactose a bit. You can swap out the hops with anything you have on hand that'll work to bring it to around 18~20 IBUs. You boil the **** out of it anyway so the flavour it imparts is minimal in a 6% beer.

I've made it before by even adding 200ml of unsweetened cocoa powder. It makes it really chocolate-forward and ends up pretty great. Damn, now I need to make this again.

EDIT: I use RO water that's mineralized to a certain number. I can't remember the numbers, but it's pretty low in everything so I usually add some CaCl and that's about it.

Cant see your recipe. Some kind of permission error.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

What do you guys use to added sweetness to your stouts? What kind of ingredients besides Cocoa Nibs and ground coffee do you add? Looking for suggestions.

Wort is sweet. The best way to "add sweetness" to any beer is to not take it away in the first place - don't use a high-attenuation yeast. I'd try to avoid lactose if you can.

As far as the chocolate goes, this is a pretty good thread.

 

[VikeMan]

I'd try to avoid lactose if you can.

Why?

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Why?

I just don't like what it does to a beer, it messes with the balance and muddies the flavours IMO. It has its place, but it's vastly overused by brewers who would be much better off a) understanding a bit more about mashing and b) learning that there are other yeasts than Chico.

If the OP likes "a little sweetness" then that should be doable without lactose.

 

[Toxxyc]

Cant see your recipe. Some kind of permission error.

Wasn't shared, I see. It is now: Sweet Chocolate Milk Stout - BIAB Sweet Stout Homebrew Beer Recipe - Brewer's Friend