AG#2 Death by Chocolate Stout

[The Goatreich]

This bank holiday weekend I'm going to do my second AG brew. Death by Chocolate Stout.
The recipe was taken from this thread, but I've changed the quantities in beer engine to match my equipment (30l boiler)http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=20939

Maris Otter pale malt 3250g
Chocolate Malt 198g
Amber Malt 182g
Caramalt 158g
Flaked Barley 317g
Bournville cocoa powder 80g

90 minute mash @ 68C

2 vanilla pods @ 90 mins
Target 36g @ 90 mins
Fuggles 19g @ 10 mins

S04 yeast

Batch sparging
Total liquor - 29.2l
Mash volume - 10.5l
Top up - 6.5l
Batch 2 - 12.2l

Giving hopefully 24.2l wort pre boil and 20l post boil
Aiming for an OG of 1045 finishing around 1012.

Any thoughts or improvements?
Do I put the cocoa powder in with the grist and mash as normal?

 

[Muddydisco]

Cocoa powder goes in at end of boil :thumb:

 

[The Goatreich]

Great stuff cheers. I guess it'll cake all over the chiller etc as there won't be an easy way of mixing it in will there?

 

[Muddydisco]

Run some wort out at end of boil, mix in in seperate FV then add it back to boiler.

 

[The Goatreich]

Brilliant, cheers.

 

[oldstout]

:drink: :drink: :drink: :drink: :drink:

Me mouths watering, I'm just off to the shed....... :lol: :lol:

Hope this turns out as good as it sounds


:

 

[pittsy]

I'm not a big stout fan but even I want to try a pint (or 2) of this.

 

[dennisdk2000]

Sounds excellent, might have to give it a go, though I'm going to try and see if I can get hold of some cocoa nibs in place of the cocoa powder.

Dennis

 

[oldstout]

I'm not a big stout fan but even I want to try a pint (or 2) of this.

:lol:

 

[beffrey]

Do not boil the vanilla!

I am currently making my way through a keg of vanilla oatmeal stout and have learnt a few things about its usage.

Initially I put 2 pods in after initial fermentation - say 5-7 days. A few days later the vanilla flavour was perfect, but after 3 weeks in the fermenter the vanilla taste was all but gone. So I then added another pod three days before kegging (three days is all you need to extract all the flavour), and then another pod in the keg itself.

I think the best usage is throw in two pods three/four days before you bottle or keg.

 

[simonkidder]

I've bought some coco powder to add to a stout kit. I was just wondering does it have any preservatives in and do you boil before adding to the kit. The coco powder I have is cadburys bournville coco powder.

 

[oldstout]

I've bought some coco powder to add to a stout kit. I was just wondering does it have any preservatives in and do you boil before adding to the kit. The coco powder I have is cadburys bournville coco powder.

FWIW, I made a Milestone Black Pearl two can kit stout and melted a bar of really dark chocolate in one of the tins whilst dropping into the FV - MEGA BREW :thumb: did a Coopers Irish Stout untouched after good reviews on here and was v disappointed - what a thin beer that turned out to be, nowhere near the Milestone, which I half expected as the Coopers was only a one can kit

Experiment

:

 

[simonkidder]

Well it's the coopers one I have. I'll brew it short and add the coco and see what happens. I'll pick up a milestones kit for next time

 

[oldstout]

Well it's the coopers one I have. I'll brew it short and add the coco and see what happens. I'll pick up a milestones kit for next time

Highly recommend it Simon - quality brew

 

[simonkidder]

Would you say I need to worry about the preservatives in the coco powder or not as I don't know if it has any

 

[LeicesterLad]

Just looked at our tin of Cadburys and I’m confident there's no preservatives to do any damage, I'd add the cocoa to the FV before pitching the yeast and add vanilla pods as suggested before kegging. Sounds yummy by the way!

 

[simonkidder]

Well even tho it is nearly 1 am I couldn't wait. I've just put the 250gm coco powder in a pan with some water and a 1kg beer kit enhancer I had lying round with a random splash of sugar for good measure. Poorer in FV with the coopers stout kit. Topped up to approx 17ltrs (a third of the way between the 15ltr and 20ltr mark on the FV, I know it's not accurate but I've had a few n thought why not) pitched the yeast and took an SG of 1.060. Not that this is too useful as I don't know the temperature or volume. Are there any calculations that may help me to work out the alcohol content if I measure any extra water I add? I'll probly only add another 3 ltrs

Excited already it smells so chocolatey

 

[The Goatreich]

great tips guys thanks. I'll add cocoa post-boil and the vanilla after a week in the fv, then leave it for another week before bottling.
off to buy some protofloc tablets today if the cardiff brew shop is open. if not I might have to put this off a week or something.

 

[dennisdk2000]

Are there any calculations that may help me to work out the alcohol content if I measure any extra water I add? I'll probly only add another 3 ltrs

I may be wrong, but I think the way to do it is to correct your SG and use that corrected value along with your measured FG to calculate ABV. However, if it's already fermented, I'm not sure if it would be right... However, to correct your SG (and again, if anyone thinks I'm wrong, please say!):

SG[corrected] = { {SG[measured]-1} * ( V[original] / {V[original]+V[added]} ) } +1

Hope it helps!

Dennis

 

[simonkidder]

Yeah that helps Ive worked out roughly it should be about the 5.7 percent dependent on what it goes down to.