Stone Xocoveza Mocha Stout

[jvotava91]

Recently had this and would love to try to brew something similar. I absolutely love this beer but don't have any experience making recipes myself. some help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jvotava91]

No one wants to take a stab it this??

 

[jjf485]

I started researching more about this one and found a few hints here and this is what I'll be brewing with:

Fermentables
10lb Pale 2-Row
1lb Roasted Barley (550˚L)
1lb Caramel 60˚L
1lb Chocolate 350˚L
1lb Munich Light 10˚L
10oz Flaked Barley
8oz Flaked Oats
1lb Lactose

Hops
1oz Challenger (60min bittering) «brewstore was out of stock, substituted with Perle
1oz East Kent Golding (10min aroma)

Yeast
2pkg SafAle US-05

Extras
Add in Secondary:
- 2x Pasilla Chili Peppers (check your local Mexican grocer, only place I found it in STL)
- 1Tbsp Nutmeg
- 2-3 Cinnamon Sticks
- 3 Vanilla Beans (any recommendations on how to add these? Scrape the seeds or not?)
- 4oz Cocoa Nibs
*****Taste every day until flavor profiles even out, expecting up to 7 days*****

Bottling:
- Add 24oz cold-brewed coffee (I'm going to try cold-brewing some Tim Horton's with a french press or drip)

Expecting 1.080 OG and about 8% ABV.


Here's the brewtoad recipe.

Disclaimer: This is my first time brewing a stout and it might be an aggressive recipe to start with, so any thoughts or recommendations welcome. Kettle fires up in about 20hrs.

ps. two-year reader, first time posting. Virginity taken, yaaayyy!

 

[Safa]

Not a genius with recipes myself, but a whole pound of roasted barley sounds pretty acrid, maybe someone else could chime in?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[yyvjpv]

I started researching more about this one and found a few hints here and this is what I'll be brewing with:

Fermentables
10lb Pale 2-Row
1lb Roasted Barley (550˚L)
1lb Caramel 60˚L
1lb Chocolate 350˚L
1lb Munich Light 10˚L
10oz Flaked Barley
8oz Flaked Oats
1lb Lactose

Hops
1oz Challenger (60min bittering) «brewstore was out of stock, substituted with Perle
1oz East Kent Golding (10min aroma)

Yeast
2pkg SafAle US-05

Extras
Add in Secondary:
- 2x Pasilla Chili Peppers (check your local Mexican grocer, only place I found it in STL)
- 1Tbsp Nutmeg
- 2-3 Cinnamon Sticks
- 3 Vanilla Beans (any recommendations on how to add these? Scrape the seeds or not?)
- 4oz Cocoa Nibs
*****Taste every day until flavor profiles even out, expecting up to 7 days*****

Bottling:
- Add 24oz cold-brewed coffee (I'm going to try cold-brewing some Tim Horton's with a french press or drip)

Expecting 1.080 OG and about 8% ABV.


Here's the brewtoad recipe.

Disclaimer: This is my first time brewing a stout and it might be an aggressive recipe to start with, so any thoughts or recommendations welcome. Kettle fires up in about 20hrs.

ps. two-year reader, first time posting. Virginity taken, yaaayyy!

I'm subscribing to this thread just to see how it turned out for you. I went looking for a Xocoveza Mocha Stout clone recipe this morning, only to discover you beat me to it by 24 hours Do let us know how it turns out.

 

[KingRichard]

This beer was probably the best thing about my trip to San Diego a few weeks ago. Please update with the results!

Thanks!

 

[jvotava91]

So excited! thanks so much for attempting this and please let us know how it turns out

 

[jjf485]

God didn't want me to brew beer on October 19th.

Issue #1: first runnings stuck about 3/4 the way through
Issue #2: spent grain bag busted and spilled all over the garage (didn't affect the beer, it just sucked)
Issue #3: novice mistake, 1.25gal too much water and no time to boil it out (using 30quart turkey fryer kettle, so it fits 6.25gal with 1.25gal of headspace)
Issue #4: mild boilover with about 20min left, but didn't lose enough to make a difference

So the water error resulted in an OG reading way off: 1.060 instead of the expected 1.080

Pitched two packets of rehydrated SafAle US-05 (as determined by brewtoad calculator) with crazy fermenting within 12 hours and nearly nothing after about 48hrs. It's still in the primary after ten days, I've been slacking on the transfer.

The color seems pretty on par [photos attached] and it didn't taste awful. So what does this mean... what have I done to this brew?

 

[jjf485]

Just racked to secondary:

• Right after popping the lid, stuck my head right in and HOLY CRAP IT STINGS THE NOSTRILS. That cleared within a minute or two, so any help with what that was all about?
• Very large yeast cake
• Plenty of roasty coffee aroma, quite pleasant.
• Tastes green but has a good coffee, almost toffee-like, flavor with a slightly acrid/ashy finish, but hoping that will mellow out.

Measured gravity w/ hydrometer at 1.022, but it's bubbling away in the secondary already. 74% attenuation would be about 1.016 and the S-05 is rated at 81%.

It's not as intense as originally expected, but also not bad considering the unexpected brew day issues. So now we wait.

 

[J-Pizzel]

Just racked to secondary:

• Right after popping the lid, stuck my head right in and HOLY CRAP IT STINGS THE NOSTRILS. That cleared within a minute or two, so any help with what that was all about?
• Very large yeast cake
• Plenty of roasty coffee aroma, quite pleasant.
• Tastes green but has a good coffee, almost toffee-like, flavor with a slightly acrid/ashy finish, but hoping that will mellow out.

Measured gravity w/ hydrometer at 1.022, but it's bubbling away in the secondary already. 74% attenuation would be about 1.016 and the S-05 is rated at 81%.

It's not as intense as originally expected, but also not bad considering the unexpected brew day issues. So now we wait.

CO2 will burn when inhaled

 

[pdm1982]

I'm subscribing to this thread. I think the grain bill is good. I've made a few stouts using the same grains in slightly different ratios and they turned out great. I'm curious to see how all the additional flavors come together for you. I might be tempted to brew something like this next.

 

[djrebello]

subscribed.. im thinking of brewing this recipe and i happen to know the assistant brewer of the collab ill send him this recipe to see how close you are. Please let me know how to flavours come out. Cheers!

 

[rcgoodfellow]

Please do ask your friend. I am dying to make this recipe because I can't get it in the great white north. it is the perfect breakfast beer haha

 

[Roadie]

subscribed.. im thinking of brewing this recipe and i happen to know the assistant brewer of the collab ill send him this recipe to see how close you are. Please let me know how to flavours come out. Cheers!

Well how close was the recipe to the real deal?

 

[bmoritzasu]

Would love to read about the recipe also. I want to try brewing this bad boy ASAP.

 

[pdm1982]

I plan on brewing on Sunday. I've been messing around in Beersmith to see if I want to take a stab at this. I'm thinking I'm just going to borrow the Left Hand Milk Stout recipe off of this site and scale it to 8% abv., then swap in the Challenger & EKG hops while adjusting the bitterness to 50 IBUs. I'm thinking 35-40 IBUs at the 60 min addition and 10-15 IBUs at the 10 min addition.

The secondary might go: (similar to original recipe post)
2 vanilla beans
2 peppers
2 cinnamon sticks
4 oz cacao nibs
1 tbsp nutmeg
cold brewed coffee (however many cups 2 - 2.5 oz of grounds makes)

I have no idea if it will be anything like Xocoveza but I think it should turn out well. We'll see...

 

[pdm1982]

I brewed the originally posted recipe this past Sunday 11-30-14. I added a bit more 2 row (my brewhouse efficiency is only 68%) and I bumped up the hops a bit to get 50 IBUs.

I did have one error; I miscounted my gallons of strike water. I didn't realize it until I doughed in, so I heated up another gallon and after 5-10 mins I got the gallon heated and added. The mash temp was 150-152 by the time I got it all sorted out. Not sure if that sort of stupidity affects more than my blood pressure, but I have a feeling all is well. No problems after that.

Also, I decided to sparge with an extra half gallon and boil it off over a 90 min boil. This was a good call because I was able to hit my target OG of 1.084 with 5 gallons into the fermenter.

It's bubbling away right now. I still need to track down some ingredients for the secondary.

 

[pdm1982]

I took a sample last night and found my gravity to be 1.024, which is where it should be. I've got the cold brewed coffee ready to go and a tupperware bowl filled with the cinnamon, chiles, nutmeg, vanilla, and cacao nibs (all topped off with vodka). I'm going to transfer to secondary tonight.

The sample I pulled was a tad bitter. I'm hoping I won't regret the added IBU's but I'll wait until all the flavors are present before making any judgments. Overall, I thought the sample was good.

Also, for fun, I sampled the vodka with all the stuff in it. I sipped a small portion off of a spoon. Burned like hell. Got a lot of vodka (obviously), cinnamon, raisins (chilies), and maybe some vanilla. Pure heat. I'm hoping this is an acceptable mixture when diluted by 5 gallons of 8% beer. But so far, the smell and taste of it isn't overly enticing.

 

[Marc77]

Subscribed. LOVED that beer. I bought it if I found it anywhere. Sadly, it's now all gone.

 

[pdm1982]

Transferred to secondary last night. I put all the ingredients of my vodka concoction and the cold brewed coffee in an empty carboy and took a whiff. Wow. It smells exactly like the real deal. I'm trying not to get too excited because there's no guarantees how it'll end up tasting all together. Just thought that was encouraging.

After transferring the beer onto it, I stood around and smelled the opening of the carboy for a while before finally putting the airlock on. I plan to give it a couple of weeks in the secondary so that puts me right around Christmas Eve. I decided to transfer it over to a tertiary since I didn't put anything in a grain bag; cold crash from there.

 

[pdm1982]

I got curious and pulled a sample of this last night. After only 3 days in the secondary the flavor profile is very similar to the real deal. I'm still going to leave it in there a total of two weeks though. The sample was incredible and that's at 68 degrees and flat. I'm thinking it'll be great when it's done. It looks like jjf485's recipe is solid.

Jjf485, how did your's turn out?

 

[bmoritzasu]

Curious as to what peppers you used? Were they dried or fresh peppers?

 

[pdm1982]

I used 2 dried pasilla chiles. They're black and 6-8 inches long. I had to find them at a Mexican grocery store. I bought a good size bag for $2.99...not sure if that's the norm or if I lucked out. They're popular in traditional mole recipes so a place like that should have them. I had no luck at Walmart, Meijer, or Kroger.

Don't confuse these with poblano or ancho chiles; completely different.

 

[jjf485]

I used the same, also from a Mexican grocer at the same price, chopped to about 1" squares and soaked in vodka for a day or two. But I used 3 or 4 de-seeded peppers, and I'm getting some licorice notes (personally not a huge fan of). I have lots to update here, but most is scratched down on my brew pad at home so hopefully I'll update tonight (while cracking open one of these bad boys, 3wks bottled).

 

[pdm1982]

I used 2 whole chilies. I slit them open and chopped them to about the same size. I threw the seeds and everything into the vodka for 2 days. After almost a week into the secondary I haven't noticed too much heat. I'm not getting any licorice flavors though.

I will say this, I think jjf485's hop amounts are the way to go. I thought I had read somewhere that Xocoveza was 50 IBU. I cranked mine up to get there and one thing I've noticed from my samples is that there is a lingering bitterness long after swallowing that is somewhat unpleasant. Other than that I'm really happy with it so far.

Here's a pic of all the items before adding vodka:

 

[pdm1982]

After 2.5 weeks in the secondary, I transferred this to a tertiary to remove some of the sediment and grit. I also wanted to get it off of the peppers because it's giving just the right amount of throat heat. I think I've drank at least 2 bottles worth of samples so far; I can't stay out of it. It's awesome. Even my wife drank a sample and she doesn't even like beer.

 

[ControlFreak1975]

Just bought the grain bill, hops and lacto for this today and will be brewing tomorrow. I was wondering when you guys added the lacto? First recipe I've made with lactose in it.

 

[pdm1982]

I added mine at 10 mins left in the boil.

 

[ControlFreak1975]

Thanks PDM.

 

[djrebello]

Hey guys, finished the recipe and already tasted it and handed it out to the guys at insurgente brewing and they liked it a lot and said it was very close to theirs.. a lot of people in my club said the one i brewed was a lot more balanced than the original xocoveza so here's my recipe so you guys can brew it too! Cheers!

I also carbed at 2.0 vol with corn sugar..

https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/coffee-milk-stout-12