Mexican Chocolate Stout

[BHowe]

This is a chocolate milk stout that I just did. Mashed at 152 and pitched on top of a 1056 pale ale cake. It spent just over 4 weeks in primary and got 4oz. of cacao nibs that had been soaked in vodka for a week all pitched in about 7 days before kegging. Final gravity 1024.

8 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 60.4 %
1 lbs 4.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 2 9.4 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 3 7.5 %
1 lbs Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 4 7.5 %
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 5 3.8 %
8.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 6 3.8 %
0.75 oz Perle [9.00 %] - First Wort 60.0 min Hop 7 23.9 IBUs
1 lbs Milk Sugar (Lactose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 8 7.5 %
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [124.21 ml] Yeast 9 -

 

[Brainsnap]

What was your FG? How long did you let the peppers sit in with the beer?

Sorry it took so long to reply, I don't check my email often. Here's the recipe I used:

14 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
2 lbs Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)
1 lbs Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM)
1 lbs Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM)
1 lbs Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)
1.00 oz Galena [10.10 %] - First Wort 60.0 min
1.00 oz Brewer's Gold [10.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [7.30 %] - Boil 15.0 Hop
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [7.30 %] - Boil 10.0 Hop
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [7.30 %] - Boil 5.0 Hop
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [7.30 %] - Boil 3.0 Hop
3.0 pkg Nottingham (Danstar #-) [23.66 ml]

There is also 4 oz of baker's chocolate added at the end of the boil.
then I added about 1 tsp each of chili powder and cayenne pepper, along with 2 4" cinnamon sticks. Left in secondary for three weeks with the adjuncts.
I based these measurements on some research I did within this forum of things others have tried, some said 3 tsp was too much, nobody mentioned this amount was too little.

OG 1.082, FG 1.024.

Since the last post, the carbonation (which there is too much of) opened up the flavor quite a bit. but the heat is still faint at the back of the throat.
It is a smooth and quite enjoyable stout, but if I asked someone who didn't know, they probably would not be able to pick out the chili, and the cinnamon is practically nonexistent. It's a tasty beer (I did the same last year with cardamom to great success) but it could certainly be improved.

 

[924RACR]

Personally I much prefer using whole chiles to chili powder; same goes for my chili! Likewise, I'd rather have 'em in the boil for 5 minutes... and would tend towards ancho, chipotle, guajillo and the like vs. cayenne - much deeper flavor, less focus on heat, seems more in character for this brew.