Mint Chocolate Sweet Stout

[SDbrewerJake]

So here it is... Ingredients on order...

Morebeers Sweet Stout

6 lbs. Dark LME
Cascade Hopps (4 oz...??? IDK IDC)
1 lb Lactose
Whirlflock tab
us-04
4 oz dextrose (conditioning)

Additions...
1 lb. corn sugar (get buzzed)
2 lbs. Dark DME
4 oz cocoa Nibbs
another us-04

I will add 4 oz of cocoa powder at 10 minutes as well as 10 mint tea bags at about 30 minutes. Pretty sure will also dry hope with a few Oz of fresh mint soaked in Vodka for a week. Anyone tried something similar? Ive read the other threads... But I brew Extract.

 

[overG]

I brewed up a mint choc stout from the same kit. I added 6 teabags during the last 10 minutes of the boil and 2 teaspoons of mint extract during bottling. It tasted like mouthwash until after about 5 months of aging. I would watch adding to much mint flavor. If I did it again I would cut all the flavoring in half, but its pretty tastey 6 months later.

 

[SDbrewerJake]

Yeah I probably won't add extract but maybe kick back on the tea bags. How did you do the chocolate?

 

[Kiichi]

I am interrested in how yours turns out, as I am planning something similar. Though I am thinking about trying to rely more on Polaris hops and less on actual mint. Polaris is described as having a minty, fresh taste to it. Might work very well.
Though the way you are going about it with tea and vodka soaked mint sounds very promising. When you put the mint in vodka I would "crush" it before so you get the most out of it.

I brewed a IPA yesterday (second ever batch, first extract brew from own reciepy) which is now fermenting like crazy, where I used Polaris as a bittering hop, cause with 22% alpha, why would I not? Hope it gives some smooth bitterness I heard it gives and maybe a hint of freshness as I also used a touch @ 10 min.

 

[SDbrewerJake]

I am interrested in how yours turns out, as I am planning something similar. Though I am thinking about trying to rely more on Polaris hops and less on actual mint. Polaris is described as having a minty, fresh taste to it. Might work very well.
Though the way you are going about it with tea and vodka soaked mint sounds very promising. When you put the mint in vodka I would "crush" it before so you get the most out of it.

I brewed a IPA yesterday (second ever batch, first extract brew from own reciepy) which is now fermenting like crazy, where I used Polaris as a bittering hop, cause with 22% alpha, why would I not? Hope it gives some smooth bitterness I heard it gives and maybe a hint of freshness as I also used a touch @ 10 min.

Never heard of Polaris hops. Might look into it. Please tell me how it works out. Pretty buzzed right now off of sn hoptimum and stones 10th ruination ipa. Sure could go for a sweet stout right about now... Mint chocolate preference

 

[overG]

Yeah I probably won't add extract but maybe kick back on the tea bags. How did you do the chocolate?

I don't have my brew notes handy but I'm pretty sure I used 4 to 6 ounces of coco powder during the last 10 minutes of the boil. That part turned out well

 

[HopHearted]

So those who brew something similar dont make the same mistake I did...

Here was my recipe:

8 oz cocoa nibs in the secondary (1/2 cup everclear, 1/2 cup water)
1 tbsp spearmint at bottling (1/2 cup everclear, half cup water), 2 tbsp of vanilla
1 package of Andes Mint home made extract (1/2 cup everclear, 1/2 cup water) in secondary

Grains
1 lb English Chocolate Malt, 1 lb Fawcett Pale Chocolate
1 hr at 155 F
Malt
6 lbs Gold Malt Syrup
1 lb Briess Golden Light DME
1 lb Lactose (15 min)
8 oz bakers chocolate (5 min)
Yeast
Wyeast NeoBritania
Starter 1.5 L Boil 4 oz Light DME

Hop Schedule Time IBU
1 oz Perle 60 min 19.2
1 oz Perle 15 min 9.5
28.7

As you can see, there is a lot of chocolate in there, and it does come through. However, as was stated above, watch out how much mint you add!!! When I made my spearmint extract, I only used 1 tbsp. Next time, I will only be using 1 tsp. The spearmint gives it a very mouthwash-y taste that finally became drinkable after about 6 months (and even now is too minty). I think the spearmint is still a good idea for a light mint flavor, but i will definitely be using less.

For a mainstream taste comparison, this tastes like a chocolate-ier version of Right Brain's Dirty Girl Stout.

Edit: Oh, and putting mint in the boil did nothing. I had to dump my first batch of this after 3 weeks because it got infected, and I had put the mint in the boil. You could definitely get the mint after the initial hydrometer reading when it went into the carboy, but after three weeks, there was no mint flavor or nose whatsoever. That is why I moved to the extract at bottling.