My chocolate stout tastes like crappy chocolate cake...

[WileECoyote]

Hello, I have a chocolate coffee cream stout, that has the same taste you are describing, its the cocoa powder that taste bad, mine smells just like cocoa powder and taste just like it too, it was bottled back on 5/12/12 and has been bottle conditioning at 70 deg since, and still taste like cocoa powder, I used 4oz cocoa powder in the secondary for 7 days before bottling, I don't know if it will ever blend and taste like chocolate, but Im going to give it a chance to become a good beer, Im going to try 1 bottle every month till they are all gone lol, thats 51 more months, we'll see if time will blend it, if nothing else I have learned not to use cocoa powder in my brews, instead I will now use chocolate grains, chocolate extract, cocoa nibs to get that chocolate flavor that I am looking for.

As far as people bashing you and or your recipe, Don't listen to them its against the posting rules for 1 and its just rude.

This is your beer ! and you can flavor it any way you want ! and that is OK ! Brew your beers to your taste, not someone else's taste that you have never met ! and yes I know that there are suggested guidelines for brewing each kind of beer, but suggested guidelines is what they are, and some of these people on here forget that.

+100 malevolent, This is BEGINNERS BEER BREWING FORUM. Teach the new brewers don't flame them.

Im recommending, Ignore the bashers, don't even reply to them anymore (waste of time) that way they get No satisfaction, and listen to the people that are trying to help, let your brew have lots of time to become good, try 1 bottle every month, you never know it just might become a great beer.

Good luck and Cheers ZeeSniper

Could a Moderator please review bja's bashing post/bad attitude and maybe have a chat with him?

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Hello, I have a chocolate coffee cream stout, that has the same taste you are describing, its the cocoa powder that taste bad, mine smells just like cocoa powder and taste just like it too, it was bottled back on 5/12/12 and has been bottle conditioning at 70 deg since, and still taste like cocoa powder, I used 4oz cocoa powder in the secondary for 7 days before bottling, I don't know if it will ever blend and taste like chocolate, but Im going to give it a chance to become a good beer, Im going to try 1 bottle every month till they are all gone lol, thats 51 more months, we'll see if time will blend it, if nothing else I have learned not to use cocoa powder in my brews, instead I will now use chocolate grains, chocolate extract, cocoa nibs to get that chocolate flavor that I am looking for.

As far as people bashing you and or your recipe, Don't listen to them its against the posting rules for 1 and its just rude.

This is your beer ! and you can flavor it any way you want ! and that is OK ! Brew your beers to your taste, not someone else's taste that you have never met ! and yes I know that there are suggested guidelines for brewing each kind of beer, but suggested guidelines is what they are, and some of these people on here forget that.

+100 malevolent, This is BEGINNERS BEER BREWING FORUM. Teach the new brewers don't flame them.

Im recommending, Ignore the bashers, don't even reply to them anymore (waste of time) that way they get No satisfaction, and listen to the people that are trying to help, let your brew have lots of time to become good, try 1 bottle every month, you never know it just might become a great beer.

Good luck and Cheers ZeeSniper

^this is too true. It's just a learning experience, and the OP's learning experience at that. We've all had them, and will continue to have them. It's one of the things that makes this hobby so enjoyable, IMO. Bashing the OP's recipe while offering zero advice is totally rude, and like you said Wiley, against forum rules. Not to mention, is completely un-helpful to the OP.
In this case, the best thing for the OP to do is to let this one ride, chalk it up to a learning experience, but he should actually get an experience (and learn something) from it. Dumping this batch cuz a few guys who don't have any advice to offer, yet simply because they don't like the recipe won't teach the OP anything.
Beginners Forum, post here to ask questions or to be helpful to those who do. There's other forums lower on the list for those of you who have little or nothing to contribute to the technical forums, yet still want their internet voices to be heard.

 

[DPBISME]

Worst case,,, if its not infected...

Stick it in a corner and let it age, it will change somehow.

If later you end up with another beer that has no taste, is too sweat, or what ever;;; consider blending the two....

I have three kegs of beer someone gave me... it is to sweet and cloying... I am going mix BUDWEISER into to to lighten and dry it out...

I would rather do that than throw it away...

That and I am taking it all to a party where they don't know as much about beer as this group...

NO but really this works and you are not out the expense...

 

[iambeer]

I mean... the Subject is "Beer Tastes Like Poop". The #1 lesson of F39 appears to be "Poop gets better in time, in your case wait about half a year"... and there's truth there. But... ... but anyway.

 

[CapnHook]

If later you end up with another beer that ... is too sweat, ... consider blending the two....

Sweat is a flavor I don't think can be masked by blending.... !

Sorry, I just couldn't resist

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

I mean... the Subject is "Beer Tastes Like Poop".

No, it isn't. It's "My chocolate stout tastes like crappy chocolate cake"

The #1 lesson of F39 appears to be "Poop gets better in time, in your case wait about half a year"... and there's truth there. But... ... but anyway.

Well, I've never tasted poop, but I have tasted some bad chocolate cake, which is what the OP said his beer tastes like. I've also brewed a lot of beer, and I know that some beers take longer than others to 'turn the corner', so to speak. I'm not guessing that this particular beer will turn out well, but I think it'd be silly for the OP to dump it, as some suggested he do, before giving it some time to see how it turns out. Personally, I've dumped one batch in my time brewing. That's one out of dozens and dozens, and that was after giving it ~9 months and only because it was in a keg. Had it been bottled, I'd still have it around.

 

[solo103]

Don't know if anybody recommend this yet but try using cocoa nibs . Put some in a bag and let steep 20 to 30 min while cooling . This will give you a nice flavour and you can also add some to secondary. Adding some lactose sugar can help sweeten it if your going for a milk stout but adding the cocoa when the wort is still hot helps extract a lot if the flavour out of the beans. You just don't want to boil them in my opinion. Hope that helps.
Cheers

 

[iambeer]

I mean.. he said crappy chocolate cake. crap means poop. I have never had a chocolate cake that could be called crappy. It's a figure of speech for poop. lol.. anyway I'm all for finding out on your own that it won't get better. So, go ahead and bottle, and let that sink in deep. (You guys are unforgiving).

 

[Jwood]

The recipe was....interesting to say the least, but I think we all can think of some experiment that didn't go so well. If you have the space and can afford to use up the bottles (assuming you bottle), sure let it ride for a long time and see what happens. You never know, i doubt it will become an award winner, but it might at least end up drinkable.

As for future advice, I don't know your experience but I think the best thing to do when starting out is follow some of the highly rated recipes on here. Then when you can brew those really well, you'll start thinking "Hey, I'd like it to have more of this or more of that" and then you slowly build on that recipe. Eventually you learn what ingredient adds what to the finished product and then you can jump into recipe design.

I remember my first recipe that I made...oh man. It was an IPA with about 90 IBU's, a FG of 1.018 or so, about 15% caramel malt, and about a pound of honey. And on top of that I didn't know about the horrors of chlorinated water yet. It was a disaster. It was like bitter-sweet alcoholic band-aids. After that, I decided to follow the advice I gave you above and things improved greatly. And these days, my own recipes are doing quite well.

 

[WileECoyote]

anyway I'm all for finding out on your own that it won't get better. So, go ahead and bottle, and let that sink in deep. (You guys are unforgiving).

Hello jambeer, will the cocoa powder taste never blend? even with lest say 8 to 12 months of bottle conditioning?

dang (or insert other 4 letter words here lol), mine would be a great beer from what I can tell, if it didn't have that nasty cocoa taste/smell to it.

Cheers

 

[iambeer]

Wile, I don't know your recipe and I'm not an expert. But you put in 4 oz of cocoa. The original "crappy chocolate cake recipe" here includes:

10 oz Cocoa Powder
1.5 oz Chocolate Extract (racked onto keg)

But also the problem is this:
Steeping:
1 lb Chocolate (malt)... on the strong side. this malt is acidic unless you counter with alkaline water
12 oz Barley Flakes .... as another poster said, this ain't going to work as it needs to be mashed

2 lbs Dark Brown Sugar
1 lb Honey that's gonna be dry...

dry (alcohol) + acidic (roasty) + astringent (cocoa) + 6 months conditioning = ?

 

[WileECoyote]

Hello jambeer, my recipe is the midwest cream stout kit, with additions.

From midwest site, Our ingredients for this recipe include: 6 lb. Dark liquid malt extract, 8 oz. Lactose, 8 oz. Black Malt, 8 oz. Caramel 80L specialty grain, 1/2 oz. German Northern Brewer bittering hops. I used the dry yeast that came with the kit.

I added to the secondary 7 days before bottling, 2 cups cold brewed coffee extract, 4 oz cocoa powder, and 2 vanilla beans cut and sliced.

I brewed as per instructions, primary for 2 weeks @ 63 to 65 deg, secondary for 2 weeks at @ 67 to 70 deg, bottle conditioned @ 67 to 70 deg since 5/12/12.

What do you think? will the nasty cocoa powder taste turn into a chocolate flavor with enough time? I can just stash it and forget it for 6+ months or longer.

Thanks
Cheers

 

[iambeer]

Hello Wile,
Like I said I'm just a newb. I have very little experience. But obviously your recipe is a lot better thought out. For instance it only has only 8 ounces of Black Malt (as opposed to a pound) and it includes lactose to start with. Also the vanilla beans and cold pressed coffee are extra fancy. I doubt you'll need to wait 6 months either, but again I don't know these things.

 

[iskuse]

crap means poop. I have never had a chocolate cake that could be called crappy. It's a figure of speech for poop. lol..

crap·py/ˈkrapē/
Adjective:

1.vulgar. Of extremely poor quality.
2.vulgar. Disgusting or unpleasant.

I believe he was using the proper defintion of "crappy":cross:

 

[RainyDay]

Second, brown sugar and honey have no place in a chocolate stout.

I use (light) brown sugar in EVERY chocolate coffee stout I make and it always comes out delicious. Not just to me (which is all that matters anyway), but everyone who tries it. Saying that an ingredient, especially a fermentable, has no place in a beer style is ignorant. If that were true, the stout would have never been conceived to begin with. This isnt just science, its art, and part of the fun is experimenting with new things, whatever that may be.

In regards to cocoa powder, I use it, but I add it to the boil, and predisolve it in wort before that to make sure it is completely disolved and integrated.

 

[heferly]

There's a distinction between 'style' and 'BJCP style', where he's right in the latter....doesn't mean he/she couldn't explain themselves better, or not be so arrogant about it...

And I'll edit this to say (s)he's not correct in the latter, either...they even referenced CHOCOLATE stout...

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

crap·py/ˈkrapē/
Adjective:

1.vulgar. Of extremely poor quality.
2.vulgar. Disgusting or unpleasant.

I believe he was using the proper defintion of "crappy":cross:

Very seldom are adjectives like that to be taken literally. Just yesterday, I exclaimed "HOLY $HIT!!!" after stepping out into the ~100 degree afternoon. Was I worshipping poop? No, I was merely surprised by the wall of humidity I'd stepped into.