Chocolate Stout Ideas

[philm63]

Looking to do a Chocolate Stout soon and I am developing the recipe now. I really want folks to think they are drinking a good quality chocolate bar with a solid stout playing the supporting role.

I've already got a pretty solid basic American Stout recipe for a base, it's the chocolate part I've never done before. Here's what I'm thinking - add toasted and crushed cocoa nibs to the mash at mash-out, add cocoa powder to the end of the boil, and add chocolate extract to the keg at packaging time.

Just looking for a reality check. Does this approach come close to making sense? Any suggestions on any of these additions?

 

[Dgallo]

The best chocolate stout I’ve ever made was;

75% - 2row
8% - Carafa III
8% - Oats
5% - special b
4% - Chocolate Wheat
1lb of lactose (if you want it to be a milk stout)

4 oz of cocoa nibs added as a “dryhop” on day 7

 

[_HH_]

Try this - batch volume is 12L but BrewFather lists % so should be simple to scale to whatever volume you need.

NB - if you’re going to copy verbatim I would check the water additions based on your water, it will be different from mine

 

[philm63]

Anyone know from experience if chocolate extracts are any good? I've seen extracts on various sites - some look as if the quality should be good - tough to say without actually trying them. Also interested in the application of extracts, if I should choose that route. Can I just place the extract in the keg and transfer the stout on top of it?

I see cocoa in the primary for the recipe in the previous post - assuming this is regular cocoa powder, yes? And do you put it in before, during, or after primary fermentation? I've seen it added to the boil as well - anyone have luck with this?

 

[_HH_]

Anyone know from experience if chocolate extracts are any good? I've seen extracts on various sites - some look as if the quality should be good - tough to say without actually trying them. Also interested in the application of extracts, if I should choose that route. Can I just place the extract in the keg and transfer the stout on top of it?

I see cocoa in the primary for the recipe in the previous post - assuming this is regular cocoa powder, yes? And do you put it in before, during, or after primary fermentation? I've seen it added to the boil as well - anyone have luck with this?

I haven’t tried chocolate extracts, but cocoa powder in primary after fermentation as you would dry hop works well.

Regular cocoa powder is fine, Dutch processed is less astringent.

 

[NTexBrewer]

I brewed a chocolate stout that used 6 oz (10gallon batch) cocoa powder the last 15 minutes of the boil. I then added cocoa nibs and vanilla soaked in vodka to the primary before kegging. For the first couple weeks the chocolate aroma was awesome. You could smell the chocolate as you poured it from the tap. After awhile the chocolate faded and while still good it definitely losses the obvious chocolate aroma. I brewed this beer last December and by the end of January when I wanted to enter it into a beer competition the chocolate had faded so much I decided to enter it as a Tropical Stout instead of 30A Spice Beer. It did score a 44 as a Tropical Stout so it was still a great beer but not the obvious chocolate bomb.

I thought about adding chocolate extract but never did.

 

[Jag75]

I brewed a chocolate stout that used 6 oz (10gallon batch) cocoa powder the last 15 minutes of the boil. I then added cocoa nibs and vanilla soaked in vodka to the primary before kegging. For the first couple weeks the chocolate aroma was awesome. You could smell the chocolate as you poured it from the tap. After awhile the chocolate faded and while still good it definitely losses the obvious chocolate aroma. I brewed this beer last December and by the end of January when I wanted to enter it into a beer competition the chocolate had faded so much I decided to enter it as a Tropical Stout instead of 30A Spice Beer. It did score a 44 as a Tropical Stout so it was still a great beer but not the obvious chocolate bomb.

I thought about adding chocolate extract but never did.

That's a really good score, congrats . Technically you did add extract