Need help turning my oatmeal stout into a breakfast stout.

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Bisco_Ben

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So I am currently brewing a batch of my very tasty oatmeal stout. I am thinking of adding some cocoa and coffee post-fermentation, and am wondering what would be the best way to go about doing so. How much should I add of each, and how should I add it to the beer? ANY insight on how to successfully pull this off would be very much appreciated! :mug:
 
As for coffee, cold-brewing 2-4oz of your favorite coffee and add it when you rack to secondary. I say 2-4, because I've always done 2oz in the primary and 2oz in the secondary, so I'm not sure exactly how the secondary-only addition will work.
 
I've done 4 oz of cooled, brewed coffee into primary after fermentation and I thought that was good, but coffee tolerances definitely vary.

I've also done 4 oz of cold brewed coffee into secondary and that worked as well.

As for chocolate, you can add 2-4 oz cocoa nibs into secondary.
 
If you aren't pressed for time, you could try adding very small amounts at a time, wait a few days, taste, and add more as necessary.
 
I recently made a chocolate coffee porter, and added the coffee to the secondary, as well as the cocoa nibs. I added the cocoa nibs first after crushing, toasting and soaked in vodka for 1 week. The chocolate extract tasted great and i added the vodka too. 1/2 pint or so. I then waited 7 or 10 days before adding the coffee. I steeped 4 ounces of French roast in a quart jar full of water overnight, and added the coffee the next morning, as that was my bottling day. I didn't think there was enough coffee flavor with the steep water I added, so I put another quart of water on the coffee grounds, shook it up, and poured that water into the secondary too. I wondered at that point if the coffee would now be overpowering. Yup, it was. Way too overpowering, I mean you could add cream and sugar and sell it as a cold coffee beverage. Fortunately my wife likes it, as I just can't drink them anymore. I guess my whole point here is what I have heard so many times; if your beer tastes strong enough now, it will be too strong. Or so it was for me. Don't get me wrong, I will make another on a day, just one I am not forced to bottle that same day.
 
What about lactose? I feel I remember a lot of breakfast stout recipes having lactose in it to make it nice and sweet. And obviously it has the coffee and the chocolate and all that goodness too. But it's just a thought.

Ive never brewed a breakfast stout though so I have no quantity suggestions. I'm sure there are plenty of great recipes here in the database though!
 
Pour the beer concoction over Cocoa Puffs. Because, everyone goes cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. Then, wash everything down with Irish Coffee.
 
Ok so after considering the actually useful input, 4 oz's of cold-brewed coffee seems like a decent starting point for a 5 gallon batch of a moderate gravity stout? About the cocoa nibs, my LHBS does not carry any. What are your guys suggestions on the cocoa? This brew is about 3 weeks old now and I would like to add the coffee and cocoa in about a week.
 
Pretty sure you can order cacao nibs through Brewers Best online or if you have a gourmet baking type retail location in your area they may also have them.

Wish I could help you more than that but I just racked my first brew experiment with cacao nibs this past weekend. We racked a stout onto 2.5 oz oak chipls and 4 oz cacao nibs that were soaked in 8 oz of Makers Mark for a week. Hoping it finishes with a dark chocolate oaky bourbon taste. Going to let that sit in secondary for at least a month before even sampling to see if it is ready for bottles.
 
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