Forum Christmas Brew

[user 18729]

Fucket, goes against all my instincts, but I'll brew it up and learn to love it. Your dates are a bit out though, Hopsteep. You've given us conditioning time, but no brewing time.

Moved it back one week thanks for that

 

[user 18729]

I won't be following your grain bill, but I will be taking the 'chocolate malt' as inspiration for my christmas partial malt brew that I'll be starting late oct/early nov

Crack on. Please feel free to post your recipe and of course some photos of your brew day

 

[Andrew Taylor]

Interesting I had already lined up a chocolate vanilla stout for my Christmas brew. I was planning to add the nibs at 10 minutes in the boil but I see the suggested recipe recommends adding them in the fv at primary, is there any harm in my idea or would the best option to be in the fv, or maybe half and half? All thoughts welcomed. Thanks

 

[DavidHatton]

Chocolate Stout, brewday planned for sunday.
Do like a youngs double choc stout.

 

[user 18729]

Interesting I had already lined up a chocolate vanilla stout for my Christmas brew. I was planning to add the nibs at 10 minutes in the boil but I see the suggested recipe recommends adding them in the fv at primary, is there any harm in my idea or would the best option to be in the fv, or maybe half and half? All thoughts welcomed. Thanks

No harm in doing both. They are very delicate so how much the boil would evaporate off I’m not sure. It works well in primary but I’ve never tried adding to the boil before

 

[samale]

I have a few questions.
Cocoa nibs, geterbrew don't seem to sell them or HBC can I just use the ones on Amazon.
Inverted sugar, might be a stupid question but could you provide more detail

 

[user 18729]

I have a few questions.
Cocoa nibs, geterbrew don't seem to sell them or HBC can I just use the ones on Amazon.
Inverted sugar, might be a stupid question but could you provide more detail

Got to go to the post office in a minute (before I get done ) but I’ll post a bit later on mate and give you some more detail

 

[Clint]

Nibs...H AND B sell them..

 

[user 18729]

Christmas Brew Chocolate Stout

Grist (Quantities scaled to a 23L batch)
Pale Malt | 69.2%| 4600g
Pale Chocolate Malt | 10.4% | 700g
Flaked Oats | 6.9% | 450g
Light Crystal | 2.3% | 150g

Adjuncts
Invert No.3 (Homemade) | 6% | 400g | Added in the boil
Lactose | 5.2% | 340g | Added in the boil

Raw Cacao Nibs | 150g | Boiled in one litre of wort for 30 seconds, then added to primary before pitching the yeast. Alternatively, I believe you can soak them in a little vodka for a few days and then add the lot into primary.

Hops
60 Minutes | Fuggles | 17.7 IBUs | 53g
60 Minutes | Target | 14.1 IBUs | 11g
10 Minutes | Fuggles | 2.8 IBUs | 23g

Yeast
Ringwood / Wyeast 1187.
Dry alternatives: Lallemand London ESB or Mangrove Jack's Empire Ale M15

Stats
OG 1.062
FG 1.020
ABV 5.6 %
IBU 34.5
EBC 57

Water
Ca 166, mg 13, Na 43, SO4 104, Cl 197, PH 5.4

I've had a look through my notes and I mashed this at 67 degrees for an hour.

For the Invert Sugar

If you're going to make some it's worth making a big batch and freezing some for future brews as it does take a while. Basically it's one pint (American) of water to every pound of cane sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid per pound of sugar.

1) Heat 2 pints of water (946ml) and bring to the boil.
2) Turn off the heat and slowly add 2 lbs of sugar (907g), stirring to dissolve it
3) Add half a teaspoon of citric acid
4) Heat gradually to 115.6 degrees C (Be as precise as possible)
5) Maintain the temperature Between 115.6 and 121.1 degrees and stir it occasionally.

No.1 Invert (12-16 SRM) simmer for 20-30 mins
No.2 Invert (30-35 SRM) simmer for 90 - 120 mins
No.3 Invert (60-70 SRM) simmer for 150 - 210 mins
No.4 Invert (275 325 SRM) simmer for 240-300 mins

I think my invert was around No.2/No.3 when I last made some.

An alternative is to use some partially inverted sugar syrup (golden syrup) directly in the boil. But if you want to try something new I recommend making your own. It really does add some fruity complexity and its well worth trying.

 

[An Ankoù]

Hopsteep's Chocolate Stout is getting brewed this week if the hops arrive. Following Hopsteep's recipe to the letter except I know I won't enjoy it with chocolate nibs in it. So I'm ditching the nibs and substituting the entire hop bill for Phoenix (a chocolate flavoured hop). I'll see what yeast I've got available close to RIngwood.

 

[user 18729]

Hopsteep's Chocolate Stout is getting brewed this week if the hops arrive. Following Hopsteep's recipe to the letter except I know I won't enjoy it with chocolate nibs in it. So I'm ditching the nibs and substituting the entire hop bill for Phoenix (a chocolate flavoured hop). I'll see what yeast I've got available close to RIngwood.

That sounds really interesting, never used Phoenix before. The chocolate using nibs is very subtle and will fade over a few weeks. It's not like the Sam Smiths/youngs stuff I promise

 

[Mrhandsome]

Excellent, I'm planning a Russian Imperial Stout and I wanted to brew a stout first to give me a big yeast cake to pitch the RIS on top of. Just got to choose a yeast for it now.

 

[stephen1546]

Well looks like the Chocolate stout came out as the winner!

This beer tastes the best between 4 and 6 weeks conditioned as the chocolate faded a little over time, so I recommend brewing this one in November.

If everyone is happy I’d like to propose a brew week between the 2nd and 8th November (subject to everyone’s commitments).

Edit- I’ll post detailed recipes for all-grain and extract versions, but they aren’t strict. Feel free to play with my recipe especially if you have a yeast strain or malt you would prefer to use

 

[Clint]

Right...I'm placing an order today and will stock up to get the choc stout in the go...I've crunched the numbers through brewers friend using the recipe percentages for a 23l batch but the OG is way out..BF gives me 1.048,FG 1.015,ABV around 4.5%.
Used BF template for sweet stout and invert and lactose placed as "late addition".
Any pointers as to where I'm going wrong?
Hmmm.tried again putting invert as a standard addition but the result is the same...OG 1.048??

 

[OldPeculiar]

I'm another for the Chocolate Stout, I made a Choc milk stout last year which went down a treat. Clint, you also can get Cacao nibs in Aldi, i used them and steeped in a vanilla vodka for a few hours before dumping into FV on 4th day, lovely subtle chocolate taste (no vodka came through) Perfect for Christmas.

 

[An Ankoù]

That sounds really interesting, never used Phoenix before. The chocolate using nibs is very subtle and will fade over a few weeks. It's not like the Sam Smiths/youngs stuff I promise

That's exactly what I was thinking of, that and Young's Double Chocolate.

In any case, I don't think I can get chocolate nibs in these parts so it would have to have been cocoa powder.

 

[Clint]

Ah,I seen your 23l scaled recipe,thanks Hopsteep...I really must pay attention!!
I've got choc malt,but it's the darker stuff. Oats...porridge variety?
Think I'll go with the MJ Empire yeast..
Invert...can I use dark candy sugar?
No...they're not the same!!
Reading about invert sugar...it's a mixture of glucose and fructose..both are easy to buy in small amounts but less so for the invert...can you just mix fructose and glucose or is there a ratio?

 

[Cowman]

I'm doing the original recipe with 319g of golden syrup and 11g black treacle to make invert no.3 at the start of the boil
also adding 17g of sweet orange peel so its a chocolate orange stout

 

[user 18729]

That's exactly what I was thinking of, that and Young's Double Chocolate.

In any case, I don't think I can get chocolate nibs in these parts so it would have to have been cocoa powder.

I think the Phoenix version would be really nice, just been reading about them online. Really interesting to see everyone’s own take on things

 

[Clint]

Are both those only part invert? Does it matter? Would the treacle be detectable taste wise as "treacle"?Does the invert taste change a lot as the colour darkens?