Tips for All-Grain Stout in Secondary

[Joshone]

I've brewed my first batch of oatmeal stout - only a smaller, 3-gallon batch. I also purchased enough grains to do a regular 5-gallon batch. We're brewing that today and my plan is to move it to secondary so I can add additional flavor.

I'd like to focus more on a light chocolate and coffee flavor for this stout. What type of chocolate is proper to add, and what is the proper way to add coffee (grinds, add a cup after brewing, etc.)?

Any tips or suggestions greatly appreciated.

 

[jpmg]

Are you referring to the subtlety of the taste when you say "light chocolate and coffee"? Like, just a hint of chocolate and coffee as opposed to a lot of chocolate and coffee flavour?

 

[Joshone]

Yeah, I'm hoping to try to add additional flavoring to the stout with mild coffee and chocolate hints. There's actually a stout from a local brewery (Mrs. Stoutfire from the Bruery in Southern California) that has these elements that I'm hoping to replicate to some extent. Just really unclear on the proper way to add the flavors. Here's the recipe:

9# 2-row
.5 chocolate malt
1.0 crystal 40
1.5 flaked oat
.5 roasted barley
2 oz. fuggle

I simply want to try to tweak the recipe on this batch since I have a straight version with no modifications already in the works.

 

[jpmg]

I only have two AG batches under my belt, so I can't comment on the grain bill. However, you can try to achieve those tastes by adding coffee beans and cacao nibs. If it was me, I'd cold brew the coffee and add only the liquid. For the cacao, I'd make a tincture using vodka and add both the vodka and the nibs. I recently added 8oz of nibs (soaked in 375ml of vodka) to a milk stout. I'm hoping it'll give me a decent aroma and flavour.

 

[Joshone]

Hey JPMG,

Thought I'd update the status on my oatmeal stout.

9# 2-row
.5 chocolate malt
1.0 crystal 40
1.5 flaked oat
.5 roasted barley
2 oz. fuggle
Yeast: Nottingham
Hops: Fuggle (2 oz.)

Primary
I was pleasantly surprised that the batch yielded a higher OG than I had anticipated. My first read was at 1.062 before pitching (my first smaller batch was only 1.052). I left it in primary for two weeks (that reading was 1.019) and then moved to secondary. I avoided the additional coffee, as I had added four tablespoons of grinds to the hop bag during cooling before I pitched (we'll see if that had any impact), but I did take your advice with the vodka and nibs.

Secondary
I soaked 3 ounces of cocoa nibs in vodka for three days. I added that fluid and the nibs (which I bagged) for secondary. We're going to bottle the batch on Wednesday (two-week mark of secondary), as I was pleased with my last two readings of 1.010. So it's going to be about 6.75% ABV.

So far so good. It's too early to tell how it will mellow. It has a good scent but tastes a hair stiff. Hoping the bottle conditioning gets it to where it should be.

 

[C-Rider]

I always use cold brewed coffee and add it to the bottling bucket to taste. No need secondary. If you just "dump" some in you won't know what it will taste like later that's why I add right at bottling time taking a sample until it's just right.