Mint in an imperial stout

[Javier25]

Has anyone tossed mint into a beer? Did you use actual mint leaves? Would it be ok to use andes mint chocolates in secondary or something similar? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

[deltachild7]

Maybe go for it with a small batch... Seems like it might work, but there's only one way to tell.


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[Queequeg]

Use perle hops, they have a "minty" quality, hop big as its an impy. For chocolate use chocolate malt, say 10%.

 

[Javier25]

Thanks for the advice. My recipe has 9.8% chocolate malt. As for the perle hops, I didn't even think of that. Thank you, will definately use those.

 

[knockout350]

i actually threw some Hershey kisses into a batch of oatmeal stout, didnt really notice anything but in retrospect its a good way to contaminate the batch if the batch if their not sanitized first.

 

[Javier25]

Yep, was thinking of soaking in vodka.

 

[gr8shandini]

I once did a mojito beer with lime zest and "dry minted" with fresh mint. I muddled the mint in some dark rum (seemed appropriate) and treated it just like dry hopping in a keg. After 3 days I had a nice mint flavor going on, but by day 5, it was getting a little grassy and I pulled them. Still tasted good, though.

However, I found that the mint flavor faded pretty quickly. By week 3, it was almost gone and I just had a lime beer. Next time around, I think I might investigate using peppermint oil for something a little more permanent.

 

[ross_daly]

I just did a chocolate mint porter. For the mint flavor I actually used pepp schnapps. I added it at bottling. One thing to watch out for is that it contains a lot of sugar - I didn't use ANY bottling sugar, just schnapps.
Since you may end up with a different type/ size of schnapps here's how I figured it out. I got the calorie count from the manufacturer's website. I calculated what percent of the calories were from alcohol (based on the proof) and the rest has to be mostly sugar. Then divide by the kcal/g of sugar to figure out your total weight.
Again, for me the math ended up being almost exactly a 1L bottle in a 5 gal batch.
The next time I do it I may experiment with other mint types. This does have a tiny bit of a schnapps taste to it, but it sure was easy!

 

[CKing]

Dogfish Head has......got a growler of the Black & Red years ago, it was most definitely minty!

Black & Red is a velvety smooth, dry-minted stout with a serious fruit problem! The huge portion of heavily roasted grains brings a dry, chocolatey character that contrasts Black & Red's sweet, fruity, full body.
As you tilt your glass, you'll notice that the black color you are perceiving is actually a very deep red and that the rich creamy foam has a tinge of pink to it. Black & Red starts off roasted and warming with a robust mintiness from 100 pounds of organic mint (from our friends at Washington's Green Grocer) added to the secondary fermentation and finishes out sweet and smooth.
Black & Red is draft-only.
- See more at: http://www.dogfish.com/brews-spirits/the-brews/on-hiatus-brews/black-red.htm#sthash.gIsiUSR5.dpuf

 

[MyCarHasAbs]

Yep, was thinking of soaking in vodka.

What does soaking it in vodka do to it??

 

[Trox]

What does soaking it in vodka do to it??

It will sanatize the mint without affecting the taste. Let it soak for 2-3 days and then you just dump the whole container in when you are ready to dry hop. People will do the same for oak chips and fruits when they are going to add them during secondary.

 

[MyCarHasAbs]

It will sanatize the mint without affecting the taste. Let it soak for 2-3 days and then you just dump the whole container in when you are ready to dry hop. People will do the same for oak chips and fruits when they are going to add them during secondary.

Ohhh. When you say dry hop, you're not talking about adding extra hops, just the vodka and whatever you were soaking right?


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[Trox]

Yeah sorry should have been a bit more clearer on that; in my mind anything you are adding at that stage is dry hopping.

 

[MyCarHasAbs]

Yeah sorry should have been a bit more clearer on that; in my mind anything you are adding at that stage is dry hopping.

Gotcha. Makes sense now : )

Sorry OP, didn't mean to hijack the thread. Carry on.


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[Javier25]

No worries. Also, if you let it soak long enough, it would be like making your own natural mint extract.
Thanks for the words guys, it's all been very helpful!

 

[jeremytd301]

I recently added Andes Candies to a brew. I made 5 gallons of the Deception Cream Stout and siphoned 3 gallons off into 3 separate jugs to do some experimenting. And in one of those jugs I tossed in 10 Andes candies and racked on top of them. The leftovers after bottling tasted really good. The bottles aren't really carbed up yet so I haven't had a chance to try one after conditioning.


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[microbusbrewery]

I did a peppermint chocolate stout based on this one, https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f68/andes-mint-chocolate-stout-207277/

Although it's not my favorite beer I've ever made, it did turn out well. It's just one that I wouldn't want to drink more than 6 ounces of at a time. Well balanced, but to me it's definitely a dessert beer. Per the recipe, I used Celestial Seasonings peppermint tea. It was a little strong at first but it mellowed after about four weeks in the keg.

 

[FatsSchindee]

I did a mint chocolate stout recently as part if a stout experiment (split 5 gal of stout into one gal jugs and added dif flavors to each).

I muddled and chopped up fresh mint leaves, and then soaked them and cacao nibs in vodka for one week, then pitched it all into one of the gal jugs with the stout and let it sit one more week before bottling.

Turned out really tasty. Slightly astringent from the leaves being in there for a week, I think, but that didn't detract too much from the overall flavor, IMO... Though next time I might only pitch the vodka extract without the leaves and see what that tastes like.

I don't recall off the top if my head how much mint I used (1/4 oz, maybe?) for the one gallon (not at home to reference my notes)... But if you want to know you can listen to the Basic Brewing Radio podcast from 3/6/14 - James interviewed me about the whole stout experiment on there, and I did discuss the recipes


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[Javier25]

Nice! Thanks for your advice folks, I was supposed to brew a few days ago but "life got in the way" so will be shioting for this coming week sometime. Will let you all know what I end up doing and how it turns out. Cheers!