Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer Mint Chocolate Stout

[bbbblaine]

I definitely want to brew this too. I will have to do a little more research on the best way to use chocolate in the recipe, though. I don't really want to lose a lot of the beer because of the powder.

 

[user 109892]

i dunno if i missed it somewhere or not but was the .5 oz referring to weight or fluid oz?

 

[Damonowskivich]

I picked up the grains for this recipe, gonna be my 2nd all-grain brew. LHBS didn't have Cluster hops, so I substituted Galena, and I'll cut that almost in half, portion-wise since it's almost 14% AA (compared to the recommended 7%AA Cluster).
Yar yar yar!

 

[MacrosNZ]

Just made a batch of this yesterday. Changed the hops to what I had in the freezer so used Northern Brewer, Cascade, and Hallertau. I also couldn't find any Hersey's drinking cocoa so gave it a little kiwi twist with hokey pokey flavoured drinking chocolate that had less than 2% fat (Herseys website says theirs has 1%). Managed to hit an OG of 1.056 so should be good.

Pic of the mash.

Got three batches fermenting now. The stout, an Irish red, and another Nevada pale clone.

 

[user 109892]

I made this recipe as my second all grain batch over my birthday weekend(week and a half ago) and it smelled wonderful going in and got really excited to try this one, after about a day of furious fermenting and bubbling, it practically stopped, all foam receded, and all particulates stopped.

Now over the last year or so of brewing i have learned some patience. Being that the original recipe called for 4 weeks in the primary i decided to give it some time before checking it. Well today i checked it while i was racking another beer to a keg and whadda ya know, 1.012 pretty damn close. i thought for sure this one had stalled or something. anyway it's back continuing for a couple more weeks, or till i need the carboy for another beer.

Also of course had to taste the sample, couldn't let it all go down the drain. one sip and was amazed how good it was so far, next thing i know i down the rest of it and find myself tipping the tube wondering where it all went

 

[HopEd]

I've brewed this recipe twice before, and it is quite good. Now I'm looking to up the mint flavour through hops. I've heard that Northern Brewer and Fuggles can give off minty flavours. Would I have to do this by dry hopping or would late additions do the trick? Has anyone else tried this?

 

[bbbblaine]

I've brewed this recipe twice before, and it is quite good. Now I'm looking to up the mint flavour through hops. I've heard that Northern Brewer and Fuggles can give off minty flavours. Would I have to do this by dry hopping or would late additions do the trick? Has anyone else tried this?

Somebody else please correct me if I'm wrong here... I believe dry hopping is primarily for aroma. And I think that would probably add too much hop character and overpower the chocolate and mint that the beer is supposed to highlight.

What may be better is using those hops at the 20 minute boil time and at flame out. This will contribute small amounts of IBUs but mostly flavor and aroma. Either way, a dark beer will make it more difficult to bring out the hops due to the dark grains used, but specific hops might still help the minty flavor.

It's definitely worth experimenting with.

 

[Grinch]

any opinions on using WLP001? I've got some washed yeast in the fridge, and am always looking to save $ however I can.

 

[nickmv]

This recipe looks great. I'm going to modify it by putting some ancho and guajillo peppers and a tiny bit of cinammon in, in order to make it a mole styled beer. I love NB Cocoa Mole, but love the idea of a mint choc stout, so why not the best of both worlds?

 

[Paulgs3]

Just got the email from Northern Brewer, they have brew outside the lines kits. Had to find a stout recipe to add to http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...e-the-lines/botl-the-mint-chocolate-chip.html and I want to combine this recipe with that kit.

Never brewed a stout before, how is it with regular CO2?

 

[jesseroberge]

Mint Chocolate Stout

8 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 65.31 %
1 lbs Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 8.16 %
1 lbs Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 8.16 %
12.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 6.12 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 4.08 %
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 4.08 %
0.70 oz Cluster [7.00 %] (60 min) Hops 16.8 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (10 min) Hops 6.2 IBU
0.25 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (2 min) Hops 0.4 IBU
0.50 oz Mint (Secondary 5.0 min) Misc
8.0 oz Cocoa Powder (3.0 SRM) Sugar 4.08 %
1 Pkgs Irish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1084) Yeast-Ale

60 Min mash at 152 F

This beer is very balanced and dry. A thick chocolate flavor is rounded by a slight bitterness from the cluster hops. The mint character waits until the finish of the beer when it comes through very cleanly and smoothly. This does not have an overwhelming mint character. This is a very subtle and balanced beer. Enjoy.

Is this a 5 gallon batch ? Boiled for 60 ?

 

[jesseroberge]

Anyone ?? I read ALL the posts one by one and no one talks about the batch size...

I usualy make 6.08 gallon batches to get more into the fermenter with less trub and loss ...

 

[jesseroberge]

I hope making a 6.08 gallon batch that it won't dilute the taste too much. ...

 

[nickmv]

5 gals gives you 1.057 I think. It'd be better to accidentally make it stronger rather than lighter, since it's pretty dry.

 

[jesseroberge]

Brewed this beer today and here is what I did, I left all quantities as is except for the "quick" chocolate powder where I cut down to 5 ounces instead of 8, I also made a 6.08 batch that had a 9.5 gallon pre boil, my readings were 1.040 for pre boil and 1.060 for after boil with beersmith set at 75% effecency... It looks pretty darn good tastes ok for the test tube reading samples I plan to let it go in the primary for 30 days then dry hop the mint in the keg

I'll keep you posted...

P.S: My coco powder didn't stick everywhere like others said, I took out my chiller that was sanitizing in the wort and added the powder it disolved very well disn't even need the spoon Didn't taste or smell the chocolate powder in the wort thow, it tastes normal malty harsh hoppy wort... Hope to see good results

 

[2BeerSpeer]

Yummy

 

[wowbeeryum]

I'm going to make this as one of my Christmas beers and am super excited about it. I've read the whole thread and there seem to be a variety of ways people have added the mint to the beer: leaves only in secondary, leaves soaked in vodka in secondary, vodka without leaves in bottling bucket, extract in bottling bucket, leaves soaked in peppermint schnapps in bottling bucket or secondary, and even some adding to boil.

I definitely want to have a pronounced (noticeable) minty flavor, although not necessarily over the top. I would be disappointed if the mint dissipated prior to the holidays. Is there any kind of consensus on which way is best/most effective to add the mint? Does one way ensure the mint sticks around longer? I could just make it barely before Christmas, which isn't that far off anyway at this point, but I will be bottle conditioning so I need to allow ample time for carbing.

Additionally, I have a bunch of other beers going on and that I'm planning to brew, so available buckets is becoming an issue. Avoiding the need for a secondary would be wonderful/preferable if it won't be detrimental to the beer.

Thoughts?

 

[nickmv]

+1. I'm wondering this as well.

 

[jesseroberge]

My buddy highly suggests dry hopping the mint leaves in the keg if you guys keg, the leaves in a nylon cheese cloth bag sanitized and dropped on the top of the beer, he's done it with hops numerous times and sais that the dry hopping stais all through the beer until keg is empty

As for other techniques I think the mint will fade after a while

 

[nickmv]

Interesting. Sounds like a little floss + hop bag (suspending the bag from the keg cap/top) would do the trick just fine. Maybe even mint floss?

 

[jesseroberge]

Interesting. Sounds like a little floss + hop bag (suspending the bag from the keg cap/top) would do the trick just fine. Maybe even mint floss?

No strings atached dude hahahahaha je reason is because as the level of beer goes down I want the leaves to sit on top of this baby

 

[tgmartin000]

I'm going to make this as one of my Christmas beers and am super excited about it. I've read the whole thread and there seem to be a variety of ways people have added the mint to the beer: leaves only in secondary, leaves soaked in vodka in secondary, vodka without leaves in bottling bucket, extract in bottling bucket, leaves soaked in peppermint schnapps in bottling bucket or secondary, and even some adding to boil.

I definitely want to have a pronounced (noticeable) minty flavor, although not necessarily over the top. I would be disappointed if the mint dissipated prior to the holidays. Is there any kind of consensus on which way is best/most effective to add the mint? Does one way ensure the mint sticks around longer? I could just make it barely before Christmas, which isn't that far off anyway at this point, but I will be bottle conditioning so I need to allow ample time for carbing.

Additionally, I have a bunch of other beers going on and that I'm planning to brew, so available buckets is becoming an issue. Avoiding the need for a secondary would be wonderful/preferable if it won't be detrimental to the beer.

Thoughts?

I used mint cocoa powder instead of regular cocoa powder. My mint flavor lasted a long time, it didn't really fade too much. Check your grocery store for mint cocoa powder, it works great.

 

[wowbeeryum]

Did you do a direct sub with the mint cocoa powder (8 oz)? Did you use any additional mint?

 

[nickmv]

No strings atached dude hahahahaha je reason is because as the level of beer goes down I want the leaves to sit on top of this baby

Good point. I was thinking from a dry hopping perspective, since usually you weigh dry hops down with marbles and suspend via floss tied around the bag.

 

[jesseroberge]

Yeah I get your point, but in the case of keg hopping we don't want the bag to be sucked up by the dip tube floating hopping is better in that case

 

[scratchex]

I'm going to make this as one of my Christmas beers and am super excited about it. I've read the whole thread and there seem to be a variety of ways people have added the mint to the beer: leaves only in secondary, leaves soaked in vodka in secondary, vodka without leaves in bottling bucket, extract in bottling bucket, leaves soaked in peppermint schnapps in bottling bucket or secondary, and even some adding to boil.

I definitely want to have a pronounced (noticeable) minty flavor, although not necessarily over the top. I would be disappointed if the mint dissipated prior to the holidays. Is there any kind of consensus on which way is best/most effective to add the mint? Does one way ensure the mint sticks around longer? I could just make it barely before Christmas, which isn't that far off anyway at this point, but I will be bottle conditioning so I need to allow ample time for carbing.

Additionally, I have a bunch of other beers going on and that I'm planning to brew, so available buckets is becoming an issue. Avoiding the need for a secondary would be wonderful/preferable if it won't be detrimental to the beer.

Thoughts?

We used mint oil (NOT extract) in the secondary. We only used a few drops of mint oil and it was plenty. The initial pour after a few weeks in the keezer was pretty intense. The mint tapered off to a perfect balance after time and everyone enjoyed it. In fact it was a favorite beer amongst our friends and we often get requests to brew it again. We plan on brewing it again for the holidays as well and will brew it exactly the same way we did before. I recommend using mint oil and just see how it tastes and if you want more of a mint flavor then just add another drop or 2 to the keg after a few weeks.

Good luck.

 

[tgmartin000]

Did you do a direct sub with the mint cocoa powder (8 oz)? Did you use any additional mint?

I did half mint cocoa powder and half regular, but wished I would have used more mint cocoa. I also used 0.1 oz fresh picked chocolate mint in the boil, but not sure if that had any effect.

 

[BrewLou]

Did a 5 gallon batch of this yesterday. My "tweak" to it was using the Andy's Mints Bakers Crumbles. Put them in with 10 mins left of the boil, and it smelled amazing! One thing I noted, I had to take several gravity readings, and I am still not confident in either...

Even with 10 mins of boiling those crumbles still did not fully dissolve. Every time I take a gravity reading I have a fair amount of this "debris" in which the meter is just sitting on. I know expected OG was 1.060ish, and I have managed a 1.077. I am just having a hard time beliving one bag of those crumbles raised me .017 points... I am also noting a "waxy" feeling on my cylinder/hydrometer. Probably something in the mint crumbles but time will tell what it does. I see no oil slick on top or anything. Everything looks, smells, and tastes A-OK at this point. Fermentation started up in about 4hrs.

 

[BrewLou]

Have checked it twice since putting it in the fermentor. 1st time the gravity was down to 1.040, slight waxy/oily feel to the hydrometer and tube. Very rough burn coffee taste no real mint profile.

Put it in the 2ndary last night. Gravity was 1.022. Tasted 10x smoother and had a slight mint hint in the finish. Again though there was the slightly oily texture to the hyrometer and tube.

I did a mint coco "tea" and poured it into the 2ndary. I also dissolved about 1/4 bag more of the mints into this "tea." Boiled it and then let it cool in an ice bath as everything was being siphoned over to the carboy.

If I brew this again I may dissolve the mints in a bit of boiling water before adding it to the boil kettle. Not sure how/what difference this will make, but I didnt notice any sort of waxy/oily substance doing it this way.

Tastes almost where I want it. I just wish I had a OG I felt confident in .

 

[HomebrewDaddy]

Hey all, I wanted to brew a chocolare stout, using cold pressed chocolate (no additives). I used the grain bill, hop schedule and opted to use the wyeast Rogue yeast. I brewed according to schedule, held my fermentation temp at 69, then kegged and pitched 2 oz of chocolate and let it sit for a month....minus the every other day keg shaking in an effort to keep the choc in suspension. My results? AWESOME!!! Everyone that has tried this beer has had told me they are really impressed. Thank you for the recipe. Cheers!