Xocoatl (Aztec Chocolate) Semi-sweet Stout

[zgardener]

I've been wanting to do this for about a year, and I'll finally get going on it in another couple weeks, but first wanted to put it before y'all to get some opinions. This is my first stout, but I wanted to do something interesting. I'm basing it on the ancient chocolate drink once drank by the Aztec kings, whom where thought to be gods. The original drink were a mixture of caco nibs, honey, chiles, water, and cinnamon and/or vanilla if available. So in the spirit of this royal drink, I worked up this recipe.

Please provide feed back!

Batch Size: 5 Gallons
Boil Size: 7 Gallons
Est. Efficiency: 75%

Grain bill:

6.5 lb 2 Row Base Malt
.25 lb Black Patent
1.25 lb Roasted Barley
1 lb Chocolate Malt
.5 lb Instant Oats
.75 lb Crystal 120
.5 lb CaraPils

Steeped in a single infusion mash at 152-155 degrees F for 60 minutes, mash out at 175 degrees F, batch sparge at 180 degrees F.

60 minute boil with single hop addition (1.5 oz Fuggles @ 60 min)
With 10 minutes remaining in the boil I will add one dry and cleaned New Mexico red chile (whole), 10-12 oz lactose, 1 tsp gypsum, and .5 lb Orange Blossom honey. One whole chipotle pepper added at flameout.

Cooled to 70 degrees, transfer to primary and pitch WLP001 California Ale Yeast (my go to for nearly all ales).

After 2-3 weeks, rack into secondary onto bourbon soaked oak chips, spice tea made from simmering 2 whole cinnamon sticks and 1/4 cup of 70% caco cocoa powder in 2 pints of water, and 3 vanilla bean husks, split and cleaned.
with one month left in secondary, I will add one or two more dried red chiles, cleaned and steamed to sanitize. The brew will age in secondary for a minimum of 2 months, preferably 3 or 4.

IBU: 32
OG: 1.057
FG: 1.014 (at 76% AA)
ABV: 5.5%


Again, please provide feedback, I know it seems ambitious, but, it's been a while since I've gone balls to the wall. RDWHAHB!

 

[bertmurphy]

Wow, sounds interesting.

Make the spice tea with the chili peppers so you have more control over the flavor that the peppers are going to give to the beer. Also, I'd brew a small batch first if it were me.

 

[DrawTap88]

Someone else tried this in another thread. I'm interested in finding out how yours turns out too. I'd say to watch those peppers...depending on how much heat you want or can stand. I'm kinda worried, but not too much, about them taking over the flavor.

 

[uwjester]

Not that I have a problem with it, but why the bourbon? I like the idea of the oak chips for vanilla, but what are you expecting from the bourbon? Also, maybe consider maybe .25# of honey malt. You get the flavor which may belong in the original drink.

 

[zgardener]

Not that I have a problem with it, but why the bourbon? I like the idea of the oak chips for vanilla, but what are you expecting from the bourbon? Also, maybe consider maybe .25# of honey malt. You get the flavor which may belong in the original drink.

The bourbon is mainly to sanitize the oak chips, maybe give it a little bit of a nutty flavor, but i was going to dry them in the oven on a sanitized baking sheet before adding them to the carboy.

 

[zgardener]

Tweaked it a lil again.
Upped base malt to 7#
lowered roasted barley to .5 #
added .5# of de-bittered black to make it a little smoother
and (per uwjester) added .5# honey malt (a lil more than suggested, but i figured with all the dark malt I may want to add a little more so the honey flavor comes thru a lil more)

These changes will change OG to 1.062 and FG to 1.015 and up the abv to 6.1%

 

[zgardener]

Any other comments, like i said, this is my first stout, how's the grain bill look? Anyone able to give me a general idea of the flavor profile without all the extra spices/peppers/chocolate added in?

 

[zgardener]

Just brewed today, sweet wort tastes and smells amazing. Can't wait for it to ferment out. OG right around 1.065, right around 84% efficiency with my final grain bill, best I've had so far. I'll keep updates of how it is progressing.

 

[zgardener]

Racked it saturday, taste test was great, gravity droped to an even 1.020, just about right, may drop a lil more, but i doubt it.
Added 5 tablespoons of 100% coco powder and did the spice tea with 2 dried red chiles, 3 cinnamon sticks and a chipotle. The flavor was not near as intense as i expected, but i put it in anyways, who knows, maybe it'll come thru. In addition to the coco and tea, i threw in 2 cleaned vanilla beans, 2.5 oz french oak cubes and an additional cinnamon stick and chile, not it'll sit for a couple months, can only pray it'll come out as i hope.

 

[DrawTap88]

Thanks for the update. What kind of coco powder did you use?

 

[zgardener]

Hershey's special dark 100% cacao powder, added while racking it to secondary

 

[DrawTap88]

Mmmmmm...special dark.