chocolate / vanilla stout

[YorkshireTiger]

Hi there, got me boiler working ok now and dead keen to get a choc/vanilla stout on the go. Does this look about right for a 5 gallon brew? Im really grateful to several guys on here who have given me different bits of advice to put together something like this.....

6k Pale Malt
300g chocolate malt
200g roasted barley
100g crystal malt

125g bournville or green & blacks cocoa powder last 10 mins boil
2 vanilla pods soaked chopped up and soaked in vodka overnight and then thrown into a 2nd FV after primary fermentation for a couple of days before bottling.

I have got some black malt, wheat malt, amber malt, munich malt, torrefied wheat and flaked barley that I could add to the grain bill if desireable.

As regards hops, Ive got
Challenger 4.5%
Styrian Golding 4.0%
WGV 7.7%
Brewers Gold 6.39%
Target 12.66%
Fuggles 5.1%
East Kent Golding 7.04%
Bobek 4.38%

What do you reckon? Oh yeah and either Nottingham or S04 yeast?

Sorry to be a very 'needy' forum member at the moment, look forward to being able to make more of a contribution in the future!!!

Thanks in anticipation, Matt

[Normski]

Hi Matt

You could add some Flaked Barley 200-400 g would work quite nicely. The cocoa powder sounds wrong to me, But if thats what Critch has recomended then Im sure it will work. I always add 100g torrefied wheat, but you may not need that. As youve got plenty of grains in the list already.
With stout the hops dont show through as much as with a lighter beer, So some of the Fuggles would be good maybe up to about 90g all added for the whole boil.
The Nottingham would be my 1st choice for the yeast, but S04 is also a great back up.

If this is going to be your 1st brew then good luck.

[YorkshireTiger]

thanks Normski, I'll stick the flaked barley in too, adds a bit of 'body' from what Ive heard a few people say? Appreciate your advice. Done about 7-8 brews before, pale ales always ok, but my darker beers have always gone Pete Tong, but got high hopes for this one because Ive finally got my boiler working properly i.e think Ive managed to bypass the cut-off at last. Bought some vanilla pods today, hopefully get a brew on this week if I can get a flier from work for change. Thanks again, I'll let you know how it goes on...

[bigdave]

If you want your stout really nice and thick, mash a few degrees higher than usual. works a treat!

[YorkshireTiger]

eh up dave, you mean about 70 degrees then? Not that I understand the chemistry part of it all, but thought that a higher temperature would inhibit the enzymes? Do you still get a similar OG and abv whilst getting a nice thick beer? I'll be having a crack at this on Sunday, thanks matt

[critch]

68 ish mate id drop the cocoa to 120g dont use green and blacks the fat content was too high. it killed the head on the test batch i did .bournville had the lowest fat content i could find. a lot of other cocoas have calcium oxilate that enhances bitter flavours so whatch out for that


brewing my one next week!

[YorkshireTiger]

ta critch, I'll use bournville then, I dont suppose there's any advantage to using blocks of bournville rather than powder? All being well getting cracking with it tomorrow. How much vodka do you soak the vanilla pods in? Good luck with your own! really appreciate the advice, matt

[fego]

I'm trying out a chocolate vanilla Stout tomorrow. The recipe I'm going for is:

25 litres
4100 Pale
250 Choc Malt
230 Amber
200 Caramalt
400 Flaked Barley
100g cocoa powder

90 min mash @68C

45g Target @90 mins
25g Fuggles @ 10 mins.
Not sure on yeast yet.

I like slightly sweet Stout. Any comments?

[dave-o]

My tip for a sweet stout is to bung a tin of black treacle in the boil for the last 5/10 minutes.

[critch]

use the powder, propper chocolates got too much fat in it, as i said i use the extract in my commercial brew in the secondry ,for the pods id chop em up and just cover them, steep (covered) for24+hrs and throw it into the secondry btw the chocolates quite bitter

[GARYSMIFF]

DIY Toasted Flaked Oats will only add to the brew go on you know you want to

[fego]

I made it up per the recipe on Sunday. I tried to share the day with re-felting a roof which went horribly wrong and made for a tiring and long day.

Mash was left for three hours initially at 68C but fell below 65 by the time I opened it. Mixing in the cocoa powder was interesting and the hop strainer fell out which made for a slow run off. I forgot to warm up the yeast of my choice (whatever that would have been) so quickly rehydrated a S04 sachet which got going within a couple of hours. Colour wasn't as dark as I was expecting but the flavour was very nice going into the FV. OG was 1046 which was target but volume slightly under. The only change I made to the recipe was to steep the remnants of a pack of Fuggles, about 15 gm, post boil for about 15 mins.

It looks like fermentation has ended after just two days dropping down to 1.010. Next step to add the vanilla pods. I was planning on adding two into secondary. Presumably this is the pods in whole? or do I scoop the seeds out and use them instead? And is 2 pods too much or too little in 25 litres?

[dave-o]

With the pods, slit them lengthways and chop them into 2-3cm pieces.

I used 2 in the boil and 2 in the keg. It was only subtly vanilla-y.

[YorkshireTiger]

Finally did the brew on Sunday just gone.

Brew went pretty well until when drawing it into FV late Sunday night realised my metal kitchen ladle (which I use for skimming the scum off when it first starts boiling was in the boiler!) Missus came out and distracted me and thought Id just put it down somewhere - i had - in my boiling wort! Anyway -it seems ok. Came out at about 1040 which I was a bit disappointed with, but first time I have used Bairds, which a few guys have said you do get a lower yield from - but at 19.49 per 25kg from WHS you cant really grumble, eh?

Pitched the yeast Mon night, still bubbling away nicely and had a sneaky taste - nice chocolatey note, (thanks critch et al).

In my first post in this forum I had moaned about my dark beers tasing odd, abn have made a few adjustments with the advice of some of you guys i.e started to use campden tablets, less speciality malts, and Ive finally got a proper boil going on having bypassed the cut off on my tea urn.

So all looking reasonabley good at the mo. Critch - how much much choc extract would you put in the secondry? I ended up putting 80g of bournville powder in the boil, didnt have as much as I though? cheers Matt

[critch]

ive never used any chocolate extract, never even seen any. ive only ever put the cocoa in at the end of the boil. i add about 130 mls of a 2% vanillan extract in the secondry(in fact our racking wallah is doing that now)

check the vanillan rate with whatever extract you use and adjust accordingly (some go up to 10%!)most are mixed with about 30%alcohol so be aware of this