Boulder "Shake" Chocolate Porter

[MetallHed]

Does anyone know of a recipe for Boulder's "Shake?"

I had this beer last week and holy mother of crap was it good. I tried a search on here and google with no luck.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[wobdee]

Bumping up this thread, we need to brew this!

 

[Tfreier31]

I'm there with you. I need to brew this one too.

 

[bigbirdga]

I have created a recipe using BeerTools, but have not brewed it yet.
It is more of a sweet stout than a porter, but you could easily back dow the color and depth of flavor and adjust the hop schedule. It is listed as Chocolate Shake Ale in the BeerTools library. I've been brewing for 30 years and my friends are usually pleased with my clone attempts.

 

[Colorado_Wanna_Be_Brewer]

Anyone take a crack at it yet? I love this beer!

 

[Hello]

Drinking this right now and I need to brew it!

 

[wrench001]

bump

any ideas?

 

[adamelb]

Had this a couple weeks back on nitro and thought it was great. I really don't have much to add except what's available on their site.

"Shake Chocolate Porter

Our twist on the traditional robust American Porter, Shake Chocolate Porter is dark black in color with rich, sweet aromatics and flavors of dark chocolate, coffee and caramel. This unique brew blends five different grains, including Chocolate Wheat, that along with cacao nibs create a devilishly delicious chocolate finish with a velvety mouthfeel. 5.9% ABV 39 IBU"

I'll be keeping an eye out, or maybe asking around a bit for more on this one as I'd be interested in brewing it myself.

 

[Hello]

I emailed the brewery, never got a response. I'm unsure how I feel when a brewery just completely ignores an e-mail. I think waiting just over a month is an acceptable amount of time to consider the e-mail ignored.

Good news is, I made a chocolate milk stout that does the job. I will brew and drink this on the go forward.

 

[mrumple]

Boulder Shake is my wife's new favorite. Can you share the chocolate milk stout recipe you made?



Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[thewinner]

Can either of you gentlemen share your recipe for your chocolate stout?
I love shake, and I'm a new homebrewer but I've got to figure this one out .

 

[Hello]

Boulder Shake is my wife's new favorite. Can you share the chocolate milk stout recipe you made?



Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

Can either of you gentlemen share your recipe for your chocolate stout?
I love shake, and I'm a new homebrewer but I've got to figure this one out .

You bet. I will post it as a recipe in just a little bit.

 

[pdm1982]

I just had this beer for the first time over the weekend. It's pretty awesome. Hopefully we can get a clone recipe going for it soon.

 

[atli126]

Anything would be appreciated I'm down to try this one soon

 

[atli126]

In for info

 

[brewjamin_Franklin]

Bump on a dead thread for a hope of a recipe coming out


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[Hello]

They never responded so I brewed my own and even won 2nd place in a comp. I guess it was okay.

 

[Hanso]

This is really good. Just had it. Subscribed.

 

[atli126]

hello will you share your recipe I would really like to give it a shot!

 

[beersk]

Here's my idea:

5 gallons chocolate milk
750 of vodka

Mix together, carbonate, and drink.

 

[Hanso]

Hard to know how much nitro influenced mouthfeel. . Any guess on the mash time and temp for this?

 

[atli126]

Can we get recipe?

 

[Hanso]

I took a crack at it and feel I came close, especially for a first attempt. If I rebrew with tweaks I will post it in a new recipe thread. The key is the malt bill... i went with Briess Pale Ale malt, aromatic malt, chocolate wheat, carafa I special, and cara aroma. Wyeast 1332 Northwest Ale, 1.053 and 24 ibu, 33 SRM. 4 oz nibs and 1 split vanilla bean in the keg. I encourage you to play around with this direction, if nothing else you'll have a very good chocolate porter.

 

[AllusionsOfGraindeur]

The key is the malt bill...

Would you mind sharing the amounts of grain you used? Even percentages of the overall bill would be a helpful starting point for the community to help dial in the recipe.

 

[Hanso]

Yea... I was away from my recipe but just did from memory. I had 80% pale ale malt, 7.5 choc wheat, 5% aromatic, 3.5 carafa i, 3.5 caraaroma. For the nibs next time I might up the amount to 6 oz for 5 gal batch. Also I don't trust the Boulder info you can find on the IBU... I am thinking at most 25 IBU tinseth. It could very well be they are measuring in Rager or something, or factoring in dark grain bitterness. .. either way the hops should not be much more than 25 tinseth.

 

[Hanso]

Whoops I got that wrong, my gravity was 1.058 on this batch and I felt it could have been higher. I mashed 70 minutes at 152, batch sparged 10 minutes at 170 for mash out. Treated water for a porter based on my source water which means about a teaspoon each of chalk and baking soda.
I also don't plan the change the yeast next time, it did vert well.

 

[atli126]

Cool thanks!

 

[jamboo]

Anyone have a tried and true (meaning you brewed it and it taste like the commercial example) of this beer?

 

[cbaha]

bump on a dead thread! need to brew this beer!

 

[castillo556]

If anyone is looking to come up with a clone this is what they say they use:

Our twist on the traditional robust American Porter, Shake Chocolate Porter is dark black in color with rich, sweet aromatics and flavors of dark chocolate, coffee and caramel. This unique brew blends five different grains, including Chocolate Wheat, that along with cacao nibs create a devilishly delicious chocolate finish with a velvety mouthfeel.

ABV → 5.9% ABV

IBU → 39

Malts → Pale Malt, Caramel Malt, Chocolate Wheat, Chocolate Malt, Black Malt

Hops → Nugget, Tettnang

Plus → Cacao Nibs

 

[joegbeer]

I've been monitoring this thread because it's only Internet discussion I've found on Boulder Shake. I did my first attempt and it was an okay chocolate porter. Drinkable, not special. My brew had many characteristics that were similar to Boulder Shake, but it needs tweaking. I brew partial mash/extract. Here was my first attempt recipe:

1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)
12.0 oz Chocolate Wheat Malt (400.0 SRM)
4.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)

Steeped 25 minutes @ 150

1 lbs Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM)
6 lbs 9.6 oz English Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM)
2.0 oz Milk Sugar (Lactose) (0.0 SRM)
1.00 oz BSG Nugget [15.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min
1.00 oz Brewcraft US Tettnang [6.40 %] - Boil 30.0 min
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)
2.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056)

Fermented 10 days. Roasted 8oz of raw cocoa nibs at 300 for 18 minutes. Added nibs in a sterilized hop bag into primary for 10 days. Kegged at 11 PSI. First pint was poured 2 weeks later.

Here were my notes on the differences in a side by side comparison:

1. Boulder Shake is sweeter, mine was more Baker's chocolate bitter.
2. Flavor of the finishing hops complimented the chocolate flavor better in the Boulder Shake.
3. Chocolate flavor is stronger in Boulder Shake

Next batch corrections:

1. Going to try 8 ounces of lactose
2. Moving the Tettnang hops boil time to either 10 or 15 minutes. Might increase the amount to compensate for the IBU loss. I'm still learning, but I think boiling at 30 minutes was not leaving enough of finishing hops flavor in the wort.
3. I thought 8 ounces of chocolate nibs was going to be an overkill. I can't tell if bundling the nibs in the muslin sack reduced the surface area. Maybe the increase in lactose will enhance the chocolate flavor. I'm leaning towards either not putting them in a bag or raising the nibs to 12 ounces.

Open for suggestions. I was hoping to nail this and then post the recipe. http://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/images/smilies/rockin.gif

 

[castillo556]

Don't kid yourself, either. They are using chocolate flavoring. There is no way they aren't.

 

[Hanso]

You certainly can do this without artificial flavor. Of course it's a possibility they are using it... but as a business why would you source that if you can do it for cheaper and not open up a whole new supply chain?

All of the flavors of Shake are consistent with and obtainable from the ingredients they claim. Sure they may have purposefully neglected to mention a key ingredient or something, but to me the biggest aspects needing answering are the amounts and the process. Mash time/temp is likely a big factor and I'd wager the answer is unusually short and relatively high.

I've played around with this a bit and was happy with my first attempt. The result was definitely pretty close but I didn't use all of the same ingredients they claim. I'm not really interested in achieving a "perfect clone"... just a great porter inspired by the flavors of Shake.

To your concerns/questions... I think lactose is not needed at all and I doubt it is in Shake. To get the balance sweeter, rather than adding sweetness on top of the bitterness, simply leave sweetness where it is and back down as needed on the bittering agents (hops and roasted ingredients).

The bakers chocolate bitterness issue:
The 12 oz steeped chocolate wheat or the roasting of the nibs are certainly the source of it, depending on how much roasting affected the nibs (I've never done that myself) I'd put my money on the chocolate wheat being too high, that 450L stuff is bitter as heck (although not tannic per se).

A vanilla bean will really help with bringing out the nibs...and I see no reason to roast them. Continuing to roast them while also increasing the amount can only make the risk of bakers chocolate bitterness stronger (if that was the source). I would either secondary 4-6 oz raw (or keg them loosely in a bag along with the vanilla). Eating them raw they don't taste potent but in beer it will really pull out the soft chocolate and mingle well with the chocolate malt elements.

Hops:
I'll just flat out say that Boulder's reported 39 IBU is higher than my perceived hop bitterness, either because of measuring system or something else. For a 15ish plato beer, no way. I'm assuming they mean 39 Tinseth from hops. If they are measuring in Rager or something else like factoring in roast bitterness, then fine. 25-30 IBU tinseth seems an appropriate target. Every self respecting American brewery knows IBUs numbers sell. Just sayin.

Anyway, I get almost no aroma/flavor from hops when I drink Shake, but maybe that's just me... personally I'd just go with a single 60 min addition of Nugget. I guess there's no reason to /not/ believe tettnang are also in there, but are they added as maybe a 30 min addition? Either way it's a pretty light dose.

Misc:
I'd also be surprised if Shake had that much Crystal, especially for an extract batch that seems high, but keeping it high is probably ok and it's best to change only one or two of the more obvious variables at a time.

Bottom line is roast less, bitter less, and use a vanilla bean if not already. No need for lactose to complicate matters. If you use black malt (they say it's there), just a tiny pinch.

These suggestions all come with a grain of salt (not literally (or wait, maybe??)) as I don't do extract brewing much and not sure entirely how to translate between all grain and extract with precision as the mash process affects the malts without diastatic power differently than if they were steeped in water.

Has anyone bothered to degas one and measure the final gravity? That is obviously key to the mash question, and if FG is high, could explain the reason why 39 IBU can still taste balanced.

 

[castillo556]

It's a pretty sweet beer, I bet the FG is somewhere around 10.16 or higher.

 

[joegbeer]

You certainly can do this without artificial flavor. Of course it's a possibility they are using it... but as a business why would you source that if you can do it for cheaper and not open up a whole new supply chain?

All of the flavors of Shake are consistent with and obtainable from the ingredients they claim.

Agree. That's my thinking as well.

To your concerns/questions... I think lactose is not needed at all and I doubt it is in Shake. To get the balance sweeter, rather than adding sweetness on top of the bitterness, simply leave sweetness where it is and back down as needed on the bittering agents (hops and roasted ingredients).

I've emailed Boulder brewing and they provided me all the ingredients with no measurements. Their email lists lactose as an ingredient:

Here's a list of the hops and grains we use in Shake:

• Pale malt
• Crystal malt
• Black malt
• Chocolate malt
• Lactose
• Nugget
• Tettnang

We use raw cacao nibs in Shake, but when I asked the brewmaster about any additional ingredients and processes, he said they were "trade secret."

The bakers chocolate bitterness issue:
The 12 oz steeped chocolate wheat or the roasting of the nibs are certainly the source of it, depending on how much roasting affected the nibs (I've never done that myself) I'd put my money on the chocolate wheat being too high, that 450L stuff is bitter as heck (although not tannic per se).

I've done about 20 batches and I love stouts and porters. I've never brewed with chocolate wheat before. I absolutely love the flavor and the mouthfeel of chocolate wheat in this beer. It's outstanding. I don't think it's the source, but I'll keep it in mind. I think the core Porter recipe here is not too far off. Right now the biggest problem with my recipe is that it does not have enough sweetness or chocolate flavor.

I think the bakers chocolate bitterness is coming from the nibs. I ate some of them after I roasted them and tasted it. Maybe I need to roast them longer? The reason I'm reluctant to go down on the nib volume is because there isn't enough chocolate taste in the beer. Although, I was thinking that the lactose might enhance the chocolate flavor with more sweetness. Kind of like what you were recommending with the vanilla bean.

A vanilla bean will really help with bringing out the nibs...and I see no reason to roast them. Continuing to roast them while also increasing the amount can only make the risk of bakers chocolate bitterness stronger (if that was the source). I would either secondary 4-6 oz raw (or keg them loosely in a bag along with the vanilla). Eating them raw they don't taste potent but in beer it will really pull out the soft chocolate and mingle well with the chocolate malt elements.

I like the idea. Agree that vanilla would probably enhance the chocolate flavor. Hell, I might even like it more than Boulder Shake. But I'm not convinced they are using vanilla and want to focus on coming close to the original before I start to innovate.

Hops:
I'll just flat out say that Boulder's reported 39 IBU is higher than my perceived hop bitterness, either because of measuring system or something else. For a 15ish plato beer, no way. I'm assuming they mean 39 Tinseth from hops. If they are measuring in Rager or something else like factoring in roast bitterness, then fine. 25-30 IBU tinseth seems an appropriate target. Every self respecting American brewery knows IBUs numbers sell. Just sayin.

Anyway, I get almost no aroma/flavor from hops when I drink Shake, but maybe that's just me... personally I'd just go with a single 60 min addition of Nugget. I guess there's no reason to /not/ believe tettnang are also in there, but are they added as maybe a 30 min addition? Either way it's a pretty light dose.

I got the hop list from Boulder. Just don't know amounts or timings.

I'm a nut about chocolate beers. I've had all the readily available chocolate beers. In Shake I really taste a subtle hop bitterness that compliments the chocolate flavor unlike any other chocolate beer I've tried. I really like it. It's definitely a very subtle flavor that I'm looking for. I'd say this is something I notice, but not a huge issue.

Misc:
I'd also be surprised if Shake had that much Crystal, especially for an extract batch that seems high, but keeping it high is probably ok and it's best to change only one or two of the more obvious variables at a time.

Bottom line is roast less, bitter less, and use a vanilla bean if not already. No need for lactose to complicate matters. If you use black malt (they say it's there), just a tiny pinch.

Agree 100% about keeping black malt very low. I'll adjust the crystal amounts once I fix the chocolate and sweetness issues.

Has anyone bothered to degas one and measure the final gravity? That is obviously key to the mash question, and if FG is high, could explain the reason why 39 IBU can still taste balanced.

I have not. Not a bad idea.

Thanks for your help.

 

[slym2none]

It's a pretty sweet beer, I bet the FG is somewhere around 10.16 or higher.

That would be one darn sweet beer!

 

[applescrap]

Don't kid yourself, either. They are using chocolate flavoring. There is no way they aren't.

I lived in boulder and if there is a brewery in the world who doesnt use artificial i would guess them but i could be wrong. There used to be a brewery in boulder called oasis that served food and beer they had a killer blueberry beer sorry just thinking of boulder

 

[aprichman]

If they're using an artificial flavor it would have to be disclosed on the label.

 

[castillo556]

That would be one darn sweet beer!

Woops. 1.016

 

[303Dan]

I lived in boulder and if there is a brewery in the world who doesnt use artificial i would guess them but i could be wrong. There used to be a brewery in boulder called oasis that served food and beer they had a killer blueberry beer sorry just thinking of boulder

Did you know that Oasis is back making beer again? Prost, down in Denver, lets them brew periodically on their equipment and you can now get a few of their old beers (Scarab Red, Nut Brown, etc) in bottles at a few different locations around town. Pretty nostalgic for me, I spent quite a bit of time at their old brewery when I went to college in Boulder in the mid 90s.