Stone Xocoveza Mocha Stout

[pdm1982]

I finally got my batch bottled last night. It's been over 5 weeks since I brewed it. I didn't intend for it to take me so long to get it around but that's how it goes I guess. It still tastes great. I'm hoping the coffee and vanilla flavors don't fade too fast. The cinnamon and the chili flavors are probably the most noticeable at this point.

 

[pdm1982]

I had one of these last night. It had only been in the bottle for just under 2 weeks so I think it could carbonate a bit more. Other than that I have no complaints. I haven't had Stone's Xocoveza since September so I'm going from memory. It may not be an exact clone of the real Xocoveza but all the flavors of the real one are present, just in varying amounts. I've only been brewing all grain for a few years but this is easily the best beer I've made. I will definitely brew this again.

 

[pollardkevinj]

I am planning this one too, what was your mash schedule?

 

[pollardkevinj]

Sorry, I accidentally posted twice and I don't know how to delete this one

 

[pdm1982]

I followed jjf485's recipe from post #3 for the most part. I added an extra pound of 2 row because my efficiency isn't so great. I mashed at 151 for an hour. I ended up sparging an extra half gallon and boiling it off over a 90 minute boil to get my gravity up a bit. My OG was 1.084. I'll post the exact recipe I used when I get a few minutes.

 

[pdm1982]

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: American Ale
Yeast Starter: No
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.084
Final Gravity: 1.023
IBU: 50
Boiling Time (Minutes): 90
Color: 44
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 7-10 days
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 2-2.5 weeks

Mash Temp: 151 F

Ingredients Amount Item Type % or IBU
11 lb 2 Row (2.0 SRM) Grain 64.2 %
1 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 5.8 %
1 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 5.8 %
1 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 5.8 %
1 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 5.8 %
1 lb Lactose Milk Sugar (0.0 SRM) 5.8 % (Add at 10 mins)
10 oz Flaked Barley (1.7 SRM) Grain 3.6%
8 oz Flaked Oats (1.0 SRM) Grain 2.9 %

1.41 oz Challenger [8.90%] (60 min) Hops 40.0 IBU
1.21 oz East Kent Goldings [7.20%] (10 min) Hops 10.0 IBU

2 packets of SafAle American Ale (S-05)

In the Secondary 14-18 days:

2 Madagascar bourbon vanilla beans
2 pasilla chiles
2 cinnamon sticks
4 oz cacao nibs (Brewer's Best brand)
1 tbsp nutmeg
4 cups of cold brewed coffee (I used Smith Farms Kona)

***I soaked all of the above, except for the coffee, in vodka for a few days prior to secondary.

 

[Arbalest]

Semi-off topic. I've never done cold brewed coffee before and I am reading about making it. A lot of them say it makes a concentrate. Do I use the concentrate or dilute it?

Can someone give me a little guidance on how they do it?

 

[pdm1982]

I'm not sure if there's a standard way do it, but I put 1 cup of ground coffee in a French press with 4 cups of water and let it soak for a day. Then I pushed the plunger down and poured it through a coffee filter and into a pitcher. Then I dumped it into my secondary. I see some people do more/less coffee, or more/less water, or add it at bottling instead so it's up to you.

I think in the coffee world it's not uncommon to see the 4:1 ratio of water to coffee to cold brew. That's why I did it that way.

 

[Arbalest]

I'm not sure if there's a standard way do it, but I put 1 cup of ground coffee in a French press with 4 cups of water and let it soak for a day. Then I pushed the plunger down and poured it through a coffee filter and into a pitcher. Then I dumped it into my secondary. I see some people do more/less coffee, or more/less water, or add it at bottling instead so it's up to you.



I think in the coffee world it's not uncommon to see the 4:1 ratio of water to coffee to cold brew. That's why I did it that way.

Thanks so much

 

[Matteo57]

Has anyone else made the OP recipe? It looks pretty solid although I don't think I would use the 1lb of Lactose right off the bat. I would probably cut that in half and see how that would be first but it could be right on.
Anyone have any comments on this recipe?

 

[chrismtb]

I missed this thread when it was originally active, but it's an honor to see people so excited about this beer that they are trying to clone it. I'll help out a bit and chime in with a couple of tips.

The recipes in this thread are relatively close overall and could be really close with some improvements.

Make sure to measure your specialty ingredients by weight, not tbsp, sticks, peppers, or some other arbitrary unit. You can never dial in your additions and make it repeatable if you don't have accurate measurements. Vanilla beans are maybe the one exception if you have a consistent source. You probably already have a scale for weighing hops, so make use of it.

Consider going a bit more complex on the grain bill. I'm pretty sure Stone listed all of the grains somewhere without going into specifics, e.g. no L numbers on anything.

Be careful with that nutmeg, it's not meant to be one of the most obvious flavors in the mix.

Use some really good coffee - find a local roaster or learn to roast it yourself.

As an English-style base beer, wouldn't you like to emphasize that with some English yeast rather than a clean American yeast?

 

[Sleepyemt]

I missed this thread when it was originally active, but it's an honor to see people so excited about this beer that they are trying to clone it. I'll help out a bit and chime in with a couple of tips.



The recipes in this thread are relatively close overall and could be really close with some improvements.



Make sure to measure your specialty ingredients by weight, not tbsp, sticks, peppers, or some other arbitrary unit. You can never dial in your additions and make it repeatable if you don't have accurate measurements. Vanilla beans are maybe the one exception if you have a consistent source. You probably already have a scale for weighing hops, so make use of it.



Consider going a bit more complex on the grain bill. I'm pretty sure Stone listed all of the grains somewhere without going into specifics, e.g. no L numbers on anything.



Be careful with that nutmeg, it's not meant to be one of the most obvious flavors in the mix.



Use some really good coffee - find a local roaster or learn to roast it yourself.



As an English-style base beer, wouldn't you like to emphasize that with some English yeast rather than a clean American yeast?

I take it your the winning recipe that this was Brewer off of? I'd love to hear more specifics?

 

[KingRichard]

Chris,

Thanks for commenting on this thread. It's a really great beer! I'm going to assume that Stone doesn't want you handing out your original recipe to the world at large, so thanks for the tips!

Cheers!

Consider going a bit more complex on the grain bill. I'm pretty sure Stone listed all of the grains somewhere without going into specifics, e.g. no L numbers on anything.

Here's the ingredient list off of Stone's website.


IN THE MASH
U.S. Pale, Maris Otter Pale, Crystal, Black Patent, Coffee Malt & Chocolate Malt

IN THE BOIL
Challenger & East Kent Golding Hops

SPECIAL INGREDIENTS
Lactose, Flaked Oats, Coffee, Vanilla, Pasilla Peppers, Nutmeg, Cinnamon & Cocoa

 

[jjf485]

Chris, so awesome to see you here! Thanks for your input on the recipes, I'm hoping to attempt part deux in the coming months with the new knowledge shared in this thread. Particularly, keeping the pepper seeds involved (I didn't get any heat at all, likely from removing them), using English yeast, and altering the grain bill with King Richard's recommendations from the Stone website (thank you, sir!). Any other tips on major difference-makers welcome.

If all goes well, I may try to split the batch during secondary and use some booze-soaked oak chunks to replicate the Extra Añejo version released this year. Was that aged in wine and tequila barrels separately and then blended, or transferred from one to another after a certain period of time?

 

[chrismtb]

The Extra Anejo barrels were barrels that held red wine and then tequila prior to being used for the beer. If you wanted to reproduce that on a homebrew scale, you could age oak chips or cubes in red wine for a while, then switch them over to a very old tequila for a while, then add them to the beer.

 

[jmitchell3]

Plan to brew this next week or two. Just picked up dried Pasilla chilis from a local grocery, cinnamon sticks and bourbon madagascar vanilla beans from costco. Plan to get the cocoa nibs from the LHBS. I'll record all my additions and procedure and let you all know how it goes!

 

[CreativeMade]

Taking my chances here and we brewed the recipe posted here yesterday. Will post results, we scaled it up to 11 gallons and used a different yeast.

https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/stone-xocoveza-clone-2f772d

 

[phyllobeddo]

Subscribing. Would like to hear more results. I want to brew this some time this year.

 

[pdm1982]

I re-brewed this again a little over a week ago. I only made a few changes. I really just wanted to tweak the spices on it. I should note that I reduced the nutmeg to 1/8 tsp.

 

[phyllobeddo]

I re-brewed this again a little over a week ago. I only made a few changes. I really just wanted to tweak the spices on it. I should note that I reduced the nutmeg to 1/8 tsp.

Thanks for the update. I am in research mode right now for a good starting recipe for this beer. I was even thinking of leaving out the nutmeg.

 

[pdm1982]

This time around I just took the left hand milk stout recipe that's on this site and scaled it up to 8%. Probably not a clone of anything but it seems to be a solid base stout to experiment with. There's a lot of different flavors going on with the spices and I felt like I could dial those in better.

 

[phyllobeddo]

This time around I just took the left hand milk stout recipe that's on this site and scaled it up to 8%. Probably not a clone of anything but it seems to be a solid base stout to experiment with. There's a lot of different flavors going on with the spices and I felt like I could dial those in better.

It's funny you say that. I brewed the LH milk stout clone from HBT a couple of weeks ago and was thinking of spicing it for a trial run. I didn't scale it up to make a big beer, though.

 

[phyllobeddo]

Here's an attempt at a recipe using the ingredients that Stone lists.

2.5 gallon batch

Maris Otter 3lb
2 row 2lb
Crystal 60L 8 oz
Black Patent 8oz
Coffee Malt 5 oz
Chocolate Malt 4 oz or maybe the debittered Chocolate Malt?
Flaked Oats 4 oz
lactose - 6 oz boil 20 minutes
cocoa - 6 oz boil 10 minutes

Mash @ 150

1 oz Challenger 60 min.
.5 oz EKG 5 min.
39.7 IBU

S-04 yeast

Beersmith shows 1.082 OG. 8.7% ABV.

I haven't gotten to the ingredients for the secondary, but would probably go with a vodka tincture of a pasilla pepper, a vanilla bean, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

One cup or maybe less of a cold pressed coffee at bottling. I have some Yaucono beans to use.

Unsure if the percentages of the crystal and specialty malts are good or not.

Constructive comments and help are appreciated. I might brew this on Friday if I can get some coffee malt.

 

[Blackhawkmech06]

Subscribed!

This sounds delicious. Has anyone done an extract recipe of this?

And when you say your adding the ingredients for secondary into vodka, I'm assuming this is for sanitation purposes, but is the whole tincture poured into secondary or is the vodka strained out and just the ingredients added?

Thanks for any and all help!

 

[pdm1982]

I'm still trying to figure out the answer to that question myself. I've done it both ways. Adding all the ingredients along with the vodka to my secondary certainly had more flavor but I'm not sure all of those flavors were quite right. I got a slight vegetal flavor too (aging on peppers?). This time around I strained them and just added the vodka. So far, most of the flavors are pretty unnoticeable even though I used the same amount of ingredients both times.

The next time I brew this I may make 2 tinctures. One for the peppers and one with everything else. I'd add the other one and all of it's ingredients to the secondary to age for a week or 2. The tincture with the peppers, I'd strain and add the vodka as needed to get the desired amount of heat. I'm just spitballing here... I'd like to know how others are doing it.

I plan to do the coffee at bottling.

 

[BarrelAgedForrest]

And subscribed and saved... How did the initial batch turn out?

 

[phyllobeddo]

Here's what I brewed to try a Pasilla Pepper and Madagascar vanilla bean tincture. I planned to add 4 or 5 grams of Ceylon cinnamon to it, but never got around to it. I bottled this today and the sample tasted very, very good. Can't wait to try it in a couple of weeks. It is similar to Xocoveza, even though there's no cinnamon or nutmeg or cold press coffee. I will do a side by side comparison at some point.

4.5 lb Rahr 2 row
8 oz Crystal 60L
8 oz Munich
5 oz Pale Chocolate Malt
4 oz Flaked Oats
3.5 oz Chocolate Malt
3 oz Coffee Malt
2 oz Flaked Barley
6 oz lactose to boil
4 oz 100% pure cocoa to boil (mixed with lactose)

10 g Magnum 60 min 26.3 IBU
14 g EKG 10 min 7.8 IBU

1 pack of Notty (next time I will use something like WLP005)

OG 1085
FG 1029

Vodka Tincture (soaked for about a week before adding to primary)
1 Madagascar Vanilla Bean cut into pieces
21 grams Pasilla Peppers cut into pieces

I didn't rack to secondary, I just added the vodka tincture to the primary and it sat on it for two weeks. I added all of it, vodka, bean pieces, pepper pieces, and the seeds. I was sick and could not bottle it last week. The extra week didn't hurt anything at all. I like more heat than the sample had and I would add maybe 35 grams of peppers next time or possibly add another pepper that has more heat. The addition of a different pepper might mess it up, so forget that idea. Keep the same pepper. The Pasilla has a very nice flavor, just not a lot of heat. I was looking for Westbrook Mexican Cake heat, but that's OK. This looks to be an outstanding spiced stout. This is SO worth brewing again.....as long as the initial sample holds true.

I have yet to try the recipe that I posted earlier in this thread (#53). I might just build off of this one a bit, or brew them both.

 

[Zrab11]

Anyone brewed any of these recipes recently.?

Looking to do this for a Friends wedding.

 

[GParkins]

So my wife is starting to get a little squirrely every time she walks past the fridge that houses our last bottle of Xocoveza. I can't keep a close enough eye on it, and I have trust issues with my wife when the homebrew starts running low, so I'll have to try and make my own.

Kidding aside, she really likes that beer. After a couple of years of various 5-gallon batches, I have a couple of recipes that are reliable go-to fridge stockers. I also just started milling my own grain, and have seen a quantum jump in my brewhouse efficiency, so I think I'm ready to tackle a "big" beer like this.

I set up a vodka-based tincture today in anticipation of brewing next weekend, and being ready to bottle in three weeks. I added two chopped dried Pasilla peppers, 4 oz. cocoa nibs, 3 vanilla beans, 3 cinnamon sticks, and a little over 1 tsp. of ground nutmeg. It's less nutmeg than in the OP recipe, but I'm not a huge fan of the flavor. Everything went into a Mason jar and got covered with vodka, plus about 1" over the ingredients.

It's my plan to brew and ferment as usual, and then to add increments of the tincture liquid and cold coffee until 'tis enough. I'm going to use that last bottle of Xocoveza as a benchmark flavor when I start adding the flavored vodka and coffee.

 

[phyllobeddo]

Here’s my latest recipe. It’s in the primary right now. Need to add the tinctures at some point.

2.5 gallon batch

4 lb Maris Otter 2
2.5 lb 2 row
Crystal 70/80 8 oz
Black Patent 8 oz
Pale Chocolate 4 oz
Flaked Oats 4 oz
Cara foam 4 oz
Coffee Malt 3 oz

Lactose - 6 oz (boil 10 minutes)
Cocoa - 4 oz (boil 10 minutes) I mixed them together and then just slowly added to the boil.

Challenger - 28 g 60 minutes - 33.9 IBU
EKG - 14 g 2 minutes - 1 IBU

WLP002 (starter)
Mash @ 150 for 75 minutes (Ended up mashing for 105 minutes)

OG 1.088

Tincture 1
One vanilla bean cut into pieces
One ounce whole coffee beans (I used what I had which was Dunkin Donuts whole beans and it took six weeks for it to smell worth using. I would definitely try a more premium bean next time)

Tincture 2
Two vanilla beans cut into pieces
35 grams Pasilla peppers cut into pieces
Enough vodka to cover