Sweet Choco Milk Stout Success! But question..

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Ondori

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So when I put the recipe into iBrewmaster it calculated my OG, but it was like 10 points shy of what the recipe said with the same grain bill, efficiency, and everything else. I nailed my numbers, and came in at 1.080. iBrewmaster predicted 1.079 with 72% eff, so I was happy as hell I did a great job. I am just a little bothered as to why the recipe said the starting gravity was a lot higher than I got with same efficiency.

Is this an error on my part or iBrewmaster, or was the recipe maybe fudged?

Here is the link to recipe
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f68/sweet-chocolate-milk-stout-334736/

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That recipe says the estimated mash efficiency is 87.6%. Your screen shot says you only got 72% efficiency. I would bet that's where the discrepancy is.
 
Ohhhh, I was going by brewhouse. I changed it to the estimated mash eff, and it shot right up. Damn it! lol

Hope it still comes out good. I think it may come out too bitter now. :(
 
I doubt it'll be too bitter. That looks like a really good recipe. I think you'll be very pleased.
 
If its anything at all like beersmith, it calculates your mash efficiency based solely on your pre boil gravity and volume. Your total efficiency is calculated by actual volume & gravity into fermenter. For a while I was forgetting to put accurate pre boil gravs and volumes into beersmith and always was pissed that my efficiency sucked. In reality my efficiency was rather good I just wasn't entering all the data.

It's possible I'm wrong.
 
I used toll house unsweetened 100% cacao powder.

Just a suggestion, next time consider using cocoa nibs. I find that actual chocolate leaves a slight slickness on the tongue, while the nibs add a nice smooth chocolate and nutty flavor. Two ounces for a week or two is what most recommend, I think, but I use four ounces for two weeks in my milk stout, and it's wonderful. Actually won second place in a small competition recently.
 
Just a suggestion, next time consider using cocoa nibs. I find that actual chocolate leaves a slight slickness on the tongue, while the nibs add a nice smooth chocolate and nutty flavor. Two ounces for a week or two is what most recommend, I think, but I use four ounces for two weeks in my milk stout, and it's wonderful. Actually won second place in a small competition recently.

Really? I used a pound for 2 weeks, for a chocolate cherry stout and it was just right I thought. I don't really think 2oz would impart much flavor. But I could be wrong, the chocolate cherry stout also had 2 vanilla beans to take the edge off of the chocolate harshness, and 4lbs of cherries, so Maybe without everything else going on 4oz would work. But in my opinion you can go bigger with cocoa nibs, and then just age the beer longer to have that flavor meld, mine really is best after 4 to 6 months in bottles.
 
Really? I used a pound for 2 weeks, for a chocolate cherry stout and it was just right I thought. I don't really think 2oz would impart much flavor. But I could be wrong, the chocolate cherry stout also had 2 vanilla beans to take the edge off of the chocolate harshness, and 4lbs of cherries, so Maybe without everything else going on 4oz would work. But in my opinion you can go bigger with cocoa nibs, and then just age the beer longer to have that flavor meld, mine really is best after 4 to 6 months in bottles.

That sounds like a great recipe. I'm sure with all of the other flavors, a pound is fine there. My recipe isn't that complex, and I think most that suggest only 2oz are looking for just a subtle addition. Personally, I like less subtlety. I've thought about upping the amount of nibs in my recipe, but I get such great feedback on it, I'm afraid to change anything.
 
That sounds like a great recipe. I'm sure with all of the other flavors, a pound is fine there. My recipe isn't that complex, and I think most that suggest only 2oz are looking for just a subtle addition. Personally, I like less subtlety. I've thought about upping the amount of nibs in my recipe, but I get such great feedback on it, I'm afraid to change anything.

I don't mean to hijack the thread, maybe the OP will get some ideas from this too though.

When I first did mine I wasn't sure how the original stout would taste without the additions, so I shot for 6 gallons, then when I racked to a 5 gallon secondary (with all the fruit/cacoa in it) I filled up a one gallon jug with just plain stout.

When you add things like cacao nibs during fermentation, you can always split your batch to find out what tastes best. But I'm with you, for my nooby palette, sometimes too much subtly gets lost for me.
 
lol I sure am. I am curious as to how to use the nibs. Are you guys adding them to boil, or are you putting them intofermentor/secondary and then racking it off after a certain amount of time?
 
For the boil I think the consensus around this site is that powder works best.

Nibs are beans with the shells removed, crushed into large chunks (in case you didn't know that, I didn't when I first looked at using them). you just through them into the fermenter or secondary and let them sit for as long as you desire, almost like a dry hop.

I buy them raw in a 2lb bag from Amazon for like $16 or something. Then I spread them out on a cookie sheet and bake them at 220 for 20 to 30 minutes right before I toss them in the secondary. This does 2 things, first the roasting brings the flavor out, second, the great sanitized them (although I don't think it's really much of an issue, better safe than sorry).

I've never used powder myself, but I have tasted some beers that use it. I personally like the flavor from nibs better.

And a vanilla bean in with them helps even the chocolate flavor out, so you get more chocolate, and less of a bitter coffee taste.
 
I am really glad you described what the nibs were because I thought everyone was talking about the milk chocolate patties that they sell. The packaging calls them nimbs as well, so I would have just bought those. lol That's why I was wondering why you would be racking off or taking them out. I will have to try a batch with these.
 
Hmm, now I'm getting some ideas. I didn't even think about roasting them. :smack: This last time I soaked them in bourbon for a day, then threw the whole thing into the secondary. I need to taste it, and will probably keg it this weekend. We'll see how it turns out. Next time, I think I'll try roasting them.
 
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