Mexican Christmas stout (w/ Mexican chocolate, piloncillo, vanilla, cocoa, lactose)

[gerryhz]

So for this upcoming Christmas, decided to brew a Mexican inspired chocolate milk stout. Extract brew stout brewed with cocoa, cinnamon, piloncillo, Mexican dark chocolate, lactose, vanilla, and hazelnut.

Here is my recipe:

Fermentables
- 0.5 lb Maltodextrin (to enhance stout body)
- 3 lb Traditional Dark DME
- 3.3 lb Traditional Dark LME
- 1 lb (1 cone) piloncillo (for added dryness and utilize as a fermentable sugar) [piloncillo is Mexican unrefined brown sugar]
- 1 lb lactose (unfermentable sugar for sweetness)


Specialty Grains (add to grain bag and steep prior to boil for 20-30mins)
- 1 lb Caramel Malt 60L (USA)
- 0.75 lb Roasted Barley
- 0.5 lb Coffee Malt (UK)

Hops
- 2 oz UK Fuggle (for bitterness)
- 1 oz Golding East Kent UK (for aroma)

Yeast
- Safale s-04 (British dry yeast) [recommended if brewing with piloncillo]

Additions
- 1 teaspoon Irish Moss
- 6.2 oz ( 2 wedges) Ibarra Mexican Chocolate (for dark/spicy Mexican chocolate flavor & aroma)
- 1 oz hazelnut extract (for nutty flavor)

"Dry Hop" Additions
- 1 oz cocoa nibs (soaked in 2oz vodka for 2 days) [for chocolate sweetness]
- 1 oz vanilla beans (lengthwise sliced) (soaked in 2oz vodka for 2 days) [to enhance chocolate flavor]
- 3 cinnamon sticks (soaked in 2oz vodka for 2 days) [for mild spice flavor & aroma]



So after steeping the specialty grains for 20-30 mins, I will add the DME, LME, and Maltodextrin.

* 60 min boil - 2oz Fuggle hops, 1lb lactose
* 30 min boil - 1oz Golding East Kent hops
* 20 min boil - 6.2oz (2 wedges) Ibarra Mexican Chocolate. During this time, boil 1/2 cup of water to dissolve piloncillo in separate pot under low/medium heat.
* 15 min boil - 1teaspoon Irish Moss
*flameout - add dissolved piloncillo to wort

Then two days before transferring to secondary, soak the vanilla beans (sliced), cocoa nibs, and cinnamon sticks in vodka, then add to secondary to "dry hop" for 10 days.

When bottling, after adding priming sugar, will add 1oz of hazelnut extract, then bottle.


Will start boil this weekend. Any thoughts, comments? Would be greatly appreciated.

 

[prandlesc]

I made a 5 gallon batch of an all grain Mexican Mole Porter. I used 12 oz. of cocoa nibs in the keg and they added a nice chocolate flavor - I would suggest you up your nibs a little - maybe to 4 oz. They don't add any sweetness, it's more of an unsweetened, almost bitter, chocolate flavor and your use of lactose seems like a good idea to overcome that. I didn't add lactose and will try it next time. You might want to steep your cinnamon sticks in a little near boiling water making a "tea". I think that will pull more flavor out of them. And you can start your vodka extracts of the vanilla and nibs any time - if they go for a couple of weeks, you'll be fine. You might want to taste test the level of hazelnut flavoring. Just before bottling, take a few 2 oz samples and add drops of the hazelnut flavoring, counting the drops, to each sample - like 4 drops in the first, 8 in the second, 12 in the third - and then taste/adjust to suit. Then calculate the amount of flavoring you want to add. If you use 550 drops per ounce in your calculations, you'll be pretty close. I would also do the taste test before adding your bottling sugar so that the sweetness of the sugar doesn't affect the taste test. Just keep in mind that you can add more flavoring to your beer, but you can't take it out.

Best of luck.

 

[gerryhz]

I made a 5 gallon batch of an all grain Mexican Mole Porter. I used 12 oz. of cocoa nibs in the keg and they added a nice chocolate flavor - I would suggest you up your nibs a little - maybe to 4 oz. They don't add any sweetness, it's more of an unsweetened, almost bitter, chocolate flavor and your use of lactose seems like a good idea to overcome that. I didn't add lactose and will try it next time. You might want to steep your cinnamon sticks in a little near boiling water making a "tea". I think that will pull more flavor out of them. And you can start your vodka extracts of the vanilla and nibs any time - if they go for a couple of weeks, you'll be fine. You might want to taste test the level of hazelnut flavoring. Just before bottling, take a few 2 oz samples and add drops of the hazelnut flavoring, counting the drops, to each sample - like 4 drops in the first, 8 in the second, 12 in the third - and then taste/adjust to suit. Then calculate the amount of flavoring you want to add. If you use 550 drops per ounce in your calculations, you'll be pretty close. I would also do the taste test before adding your bottling sugar so that the sweetness of the sugar doesn't affect the taste test. Just keep in mind that you can add more flavoring to your beer, but you can't take it out.

Best of luck.

Thank you for your input! Will use 4oz of cocoa nibs instead of 1oz. In regards to steeping the cinnamon sticks, should I add the "tea" in flameout or at secondary?

I read from other threads that they just soaked them in vodka for a few days and added to secondary.

Good insights on the hazelnut test levels, will utilize that method.

 

[prandlesc]

I would add them with your other additions under your "Dry Hop" heading. Then let everything mellow for a coupe of weeks for the flavors to balance out. And soaking in vodka is not a bad idea either, but I've found that a little heat pulls a lot of flavor out of the cinnamon - which then ends up in tasty beer!

 

[MrNickVT]

Nice. I may have to give this a shot. I really enjoyed Mexican cake.

 

[aiptasia]

So for this upcoming Christmas, decided to brew a Mexican inspired chocolate milk stout.
Will start boil this weekend. Any thoughts, comments? Would be greatly appreciated.

Sounds like a Hunahpu clone. There's a "tribute to Hunahpu" thread that has a lot of good recipe suggestions for what is essentially a Russian Imperial Stout with chocolate and spices. I just brewed one up last month and I have some suggestions:

1) The maltodextrin is un-necessary. You have so much going on with dark extracts that you won't need it at all.

2) Skip the LME. Liquid extracts tend to leave a sour or tinny twang in a lot of beers. Just use straight DME.

3) Use 3 lbs. Amber DME and 3 lbs. Dark DME. This will add a better range of sweetness and body to your beer. Right now, you're at a porter level of OG. You might consider doubling your DME additions to make it a big huge RIS level of OG. Adjust your hops additions to about 50-60 IBU's to compensate. BTW, your hops choices are just fine.

4) Swap out Special B (crystal 175) for crystal 60. It imparts a deep raisin/plum note to the stout.

5) Swap out Chocolate malt for coffee malt.

6) Use Thames Valley yeast or Burton Ale yeast. Much better flavor profile than S-04. Definitely make a starter or use multiple packs/tubes.

7) Don't add the chocolate to the actual wort. Chocolate has so much fat in it, it can literally kill the head of your beer. I have a stout recipe named "headless" for this very issue. Chocolate additions belong in the secondary.

8) If you don't know exactly how much hazelnut to add to the beer, I suggest adding it "to taste" rather than putting a whole fl. oz. into the beer and praying it tastes good. Different extracts can have different concentrations and strengths, so start adding teaspoon amounts to your wort after it cools, stir it in, and taste it. Keep going till you hit the flavor level you want.

9) No need to soak any of your spices in vodka. I've never had an infection from a spice addition to the secondary, and by then your beer should be at a very high ABV. I would suggest:

1/2 cup crushed cacao nibs (check your local natural foods store).
Two whole 4" sticks of ceylon cinnamon. Three would be mega-cinnamon.
Two split vanilla beans (just slice em open down the middle).

... and if you really wanted to make something tasty and special ...

1 whole roasted Ancho pepper (a nice big one), uncut.
1 whole roasted pasilla pepper, uncut (think smoked raisin flavor).

You can just toss the adjuncts into the beer after three weeks fermentation. No need for a grain bag. I let mine soak in there for two whole weeks prior to bottling. The flavor is perfect.