chocolate orange Ale/stout

[Dan_Nicol]

Right I want to do a chocolate orange Ale/stout. But ill be honest I have no idea where to start
I have only ever done kits so don’t know what all grain etc means really

Can someone please help me and give me a Dummys version of how I can do this please

Many thanks

 

[clibit]

I'm not one for putting things like chocolate and oranges into beers. But there is chocolate malt, which provides chocolate flavours, and there are hops that provide orange flavours. Amarillo is probably the best, First Gold on a more muted level.

You can add orange zest near the end of the boil though, a common technique with continental beers.

Choc malt, First Gold hops and orange zest is probably a good way to go.

 

[MyQul]

One of the best beers I've ever tasted is a beer called 'Chocwork orange'

https://www.brentwoodbrewing.co.uk/product/bottled-beers/chockwork-orange/

I've often thought about having a go at making something like it but never get around to doing it.


There are a number of ways to get these sorts of flavours into beers:

For the chocolate it is possible to add proper chocolate but it can be hard as you can over do it plus you need to take steps to deal with any fat in the chocolate as fat can kill the head on a beer. For the chocolate I'd follow Clibits suggestion and go with chocolate malt but I'd also add some crystal in there too to bring some sweetness so the chocolate malt flavour tastes really chocolatey - like milk chocolate.

For the orange: Whilst Clibits suggestions undoubtedly would work, when I was thinking about doing this I looked into using essence of orange at bottling time to go for a very orangey flavour. I think it's also a bit easier to do to.

 

[clibit]

One of the best beers I've ever tasted is a beer called 'Chocwork orange'

https://www.brentwoodbrewing.co.uk/product/bottled-beers/chockwork-orange/

I've often thought about having a go at making something like it but never get around to doing it.


There are a number of ways to get these sorts of flavours into beers:

For the chocolate it is possible to add proper chocolate but it can be hard as you can over do it plus you need to take steps to deal with any fat in the chocolate as fat can kill the head on a beer. For the chocolate I'd follow Clibits suggestion and go with chocolate malt but I'd also add some crystal in there too to bring some sweetness so the chocolate malt flavour tastes really chocolatey - like milk chocolate.

For the orange: Whilst Clibits suggestions undoubtedly would work, when I was thinking about doing this I looked into using essence of orange at bottling time to go for a very orangey flavour. I think it's also a bit easier to do to.

Good idea about the crystal malt - maybe a dark crystal? Or medium?

Orange essence in beer? Sounds revolting to me!

 

[MyQul]

Good idea about the crystal malt - maybe a dark crystal? Or medium?

Orange essence in beer? Sounds revolting to me!

Not sure tbh. I remember making a London Porter once and I think I mashed it really high by accident and it came out with a really milk chocolately flavour. I used medium crystal in the receipe

I've seen reciepes with vanilla essence and chocolate essence, so why not orange essence?

 

[clibit]

Not sure tbh. I remember making a London Porter once and I think I mashed it really high by accident and it came out with a really milk chocolately flavour. I used medium crystal in the receipe

I've seen reciepes with vanilla essence and chocolate essence, so why not orange essence?

Just me, I hate the idea of putting essences in beer. Probably pure snobbery! :hat:

 

[MyQul]

Just me, I hate the idea of putting essences in beer. Probably pure snobbery! :hat:

I know your not keen on putting other stuff, other than hops and malts in your beer. Thought I'd give the OP some other options to think about though :ugeek:

 

[clibit]

I know your not keen on putting other stuff, other than hops and malts in your beer. Thought I'd give the OP some other options to think about though :ugeek:

Absolutely. And it may be a great way to do it. I would chosse the more natural route myself, but I'm sure plenty of people make great beers with essences and the like.

 

[MyQul]

As per my PM to the OP I entirely missed that you're a kit brewer rather than AG brewer.
Knowing clibit I'm sure he would say this is the perfect opportunity to dip your toe into dark water (he'll even knock a reciepe out for you). But if your not ready to take the plunge there is an intermediate step you can take: Steeping/hop tea

You could take a kit, like the excellent Coopers stout kit and for the chocolate addition of a chocolate orange stout you could steep some chocolate and crystal malts and add that to the kit. Never having been a extract brewer, I'd have to defer to those who are experienced in the arts of grain steeping as to how much grain to use and how exactly to steep it.

For the orange addition; if you were going for the clibit au naturale hop route you could steep some Amarillo hops (I'd say First Gold hops wouldn't have enough orangey flavour to punch past the roastyness of a stout) in 1L of 75C water for 20mins then add it to the kit. I'm thinking about 30g but others who have more experience of making hop teas might disagree with this

 

[clibit]

If using a stout kit (Coopers Original is a good one), steep maybe 150g choc malt in about 2 litres of water at about 60-70C and boil it for 20 mins. Add the hops about 5-10 mins before the end, and you could add orange zest then too. Take the zest off one or two oranges. Add the liquid to the FV as part of the 23 litre total.

 

[H0PM0NSTER]

As has already been suggested, I would recommend a coopers stout kit as a good base for this beer. Don't go too heavy on the chocolate malt as a little seems to go a long way in my experience of steeping it as an addition for the coopers kit (I've used as little as 70g with good results).

For the orange flavour I would also recommend adding orange zest (grated peel) from fresh oranges. I added the zest of 6 oranges to my last brew - a winter spiced ale and although it's still conditioning the orange flavour was pretty good in the bottling day tasting. The zest was added to the boiling water needed for the kit and I gave it a good 10 min boil. Remember to blanch the oranges in boiling water and rub them dry with kitchen roll before grating the peel. This helps remove the wax which you don't really want in your beer.

 

[rodabod]

I think you could run the risk of becoming too astringent with adding chocolate malt to a Coopers Stout kit. Maybe a small amount. Adding some medium crystal isn't a bad idea either.

Cocoa nibs are the usual way to add real chocolate flavour. Make sure whatever source of cocoa you add has very little fat content.

 

[Dan_Nicol]

Whats the diff between hops and pellets
the local home brew shop in hull said they struggling with hops but have pellets?

Ta

 

[rodabod]

Pellets are just pre-crushed hop flowers. Both are good and have their own slight advantages/disadvantages.