bigredbarn
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Alright, so I have all the ingredients for this delicious looking recipe in Beersmith, and it's telling me OG is to be 1.106. Where am I screwing up?
I'm planning on doing this brew in the coming weeks. One question, though: Do you guys filter out the chocolate and coffee before putting it in the fermenter? I normally put my hops and other additions in a bag during the boil but doing so with chocolate seems wrong. However, I'm not sure how much I want to be cleaning 4 ounces of chocolate out of my carboy or bucket.
I'm planning on doing this brew in the coming weeks. One question, though: Do you guys filter out the chocolate and coffee before putting it in the fermenter? I normally put my hops and other additions in a bag during the boil but doing so with chocolate seems wrong. However, I'm not sure how much I want to be cleaning 4 ounces of chocolate out of my carboy or bucket.
The chocolate melts into the wort and mixes in, so it's not like it gets caked on anywhere. I will say this though, on my second batch of this i left it in the primary for 5 weeks, and it soaked up a LOT of the bitterness from the coffee. I wouldn't keep it on the grounds for that long. Transfer to secondary in a reasonable amount of time, and you won't have any issues.
I brewed this on July 4, primary for 10 days, then secondary for about 5 weeks. Just tapped it the other day and I am surprised how coffee-forward it is. Not so much bitter but intensely coffee-flavored. I only used 2 ounces of fresh ground coffee and didnt even bother with the cold brewed. I love coffee so it's great but my friends aren't impressed. Weird. I would probably back off on the grounds next time. Nice recipe though!
I racked mine onto 2.5 oz of moka java beans and .75 oz of american oak chips.
I've had a double batch in crawl space for a couple weeks now. It only has CO2 pressure on it to keep it clean, it is not carbonated. Do you suggest carbonating before I age it, or wait until after aging to carbonate?
Any input welcome. Cheers...
I Don't necessarily agree that this is better young, unless you consider 6 months young. I have had this at 3, 4, 5, all the way up to 8 month intervals. All were good, but to me the 6-8 month interval were the best. The chocolate and coffee flavors might have mellowed, but to me they seemed to meld better with the beer. Coffee is very up front, dominating when this beer is young. Granted I put coffee and chocolate in boil, secondary AND at bottling. I still have a few but haven't had in 4 months, so I'll let u know how it has aged after a year
I have never made a beer this big before. Usually I just leave in the primary until bottling. Is it necessary to rack this off the primary, or can you leave a big beer like this on the cake for 2 weeks or more until bottling?
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