Adding flavors to keg - 1.040 FG Stout

[beerdragon]

So my 10 gal stout is ready to keg, despite the high FG. I was attempting an imperial stout with melted bittersweet chocolate added at the start of the boil. However, using a new mash tun, I didn't have a baseline for max # of grains and ended up a nearly overflowing mash tun. Needless to say, I completely missed the efficiency mark with not enough fermentables, ending my FG to 1.040. I pitched more yeast and it stayed at 1.040, confirming my worst fears. No sugars left to ferment.

So I'm going to keg and let it age. The flavors is pretty strong with chocolate but it doesn't taste that good. It almost tastes harsh, with the chocolate. I'm thinking in one keg, to steep coarse ground coffee to make it more drinkable and balanced. But need ideas for the 2nd keg. Oak chips with whiskey? Sweet orange peel? Or just leave it be?

Thanks and let me know if you need more info.

 

[rwing7486]

So my 10 gal stout is ready to keg, despite the high FG. I was attempting an imperial stout with melted bittersweet chocolate added at the start of the boil. However, using a new mash tun, I didn't have a baseline for max # of grains and ended up a nearly overflowing mash tun. Needless to say, I completely missed the efficiency mark with not enough fermentables, ending my FG to 1.040. I pitched more yeast and it stayed at 1.040, confirming my worst fears. No sugars left to ferment.

So I'm going to keg and let it age. The flavors is pretty strong with chocolate but it doesn't taste that good. It almost tastes harsh, with the chocolate. I'm thinking in one keg, to steep coarse ground coffee to make it more drinkable and balanced. But need ideas for the 2nd keg. Oak chips with whiskey? Sweet orange peel? Or just leave it be?

Thanks and let me know if you need more info.

Soak some Madagascar vanilla beans in some vodka for a week and then add the beans and vodka to your keg. Should help with the chocolate. Question for you did you use sweet or bakers chocolate? and how much did you use?

 

[helibrewer]

So my 10 gal stout is ready to keg, despite the high FG. I was attempting an imperial stout with melted bittersweet chocolate added at the start of the boil. However, using a new mash tun, I didn't have a baseline for max # of grains and ended up a nearly overflowing mash tun. Needless to say, I completely missed the efficiency mark with not enough fermentables, ending my FG to 1.040. I pitched more yeast and it stayed at 1.040, confirming my worst fears. No sugars left to ferment.

So I'm going to keg and let it age. The flavors is pretty strong with chocolate but it doesn't taste that good. It almost tastes harsh, with the chocolate. I'm thinking in one keg, to steep coarse ground coffee to make it more drinkable and balanced. But need ideas for the 2nd keg. Oak chips with whiskey? Sweet orange peel? Or just leave it be?

Thanks and let me know if you need more info.

Something you might consider. Take 5 gallons of that and dry it out with candi sugar. Once that completes do some blending trials with the high FG batch and you should be able arrive at an Imperial Stout with good body...then you can mess with flavoring if you wish.

 

[day_trippr]

How much sugar would it take to drop five gallons of 40-weight beer down to something less suited for pancakes? Like, somewhere in the twenties?

I'm thinking: a hella lot of sugar...

Cheers!

 

[beerdragon]

Just an update for those who replied, the lhbs suggested high gravity yeast (wlp099), they suspected that it went from 1.100 to 1.040, there could have been too much alcohol that put the yeast to sleep. I gave it a try and it actually worked, got it down to 1.032. Tasted it, it was a lot better. 5 gallons were steeped with 3 oz coarse ground coffee beans soaked for 24 hours. That was perfect but hardly no chocolate flavor. So I added 8 oz vodka soaked cocoa nibs for 48 hours, that did the trick. The other 5 gallon had oak chips and sweet orange peel soaked in raspberry vodka. I like it, it's a little sweeter but the oak flavor didn't really come through that good (steeped for 7 days).