We put together a 5 gallon batch of chocolate stout from a brew kit at the beer store this weekend and it is bubbling merrily away. Two weeks from now we get to bottle it and then wait another week before a taste test. Boy, is it dark -- you can't even see the yeast activity in the carboy, not like the Red Ale we made where it looked like a lava lamp!
What did you use for the chocolate? I have been looking at trying a coffee and chocolate mead for awhile now, but the coffee flower honey is so expensive to ship that I have been putting it off. Anyway I was going to try cocoa nibs, so I don't have to contend with the powder sludge at the end.
Anyway I hope it turns out great for you. It sounds like an interesting brew.
Tea, it was a kit from the beer store, but it looked like cocoa nibs. I've seen some recipes online that use cocoa, some use chocolate extract and others bakers chocolate - melted.
I used to brew beer, but to me it's a PITA. I used to all grain brew, so I had to make my own malt.
Anyway, one of my favorite beers is from 21st Amendment in SF, they make an Oatmeal Milk Stout, it's to die for.
We're bottling the chocolate stout this weekend (probably tomorrow). Then we will let it sit around for a week or two in the garage fridge (not the cheese cave) before popping open a couple. Bottling, for me, is the hard part, because we seem to get sticky beer everywhere!
Yeah bottling is a pain. I keg my brews now, as its less of a hassle. I too all-grain brew, I have a vanilla porter aging in my basement right now. Anyone tried the Kentucky Breakfast Stout from Founder brewing in Michigan? That is my altime favorite. Its a double chocolate, coffee, oatmeal stout aged in whiskey barrels. Yum!
Whoa, that sounds awesome! Have to see where I can get some here in CA.
btw, tea, I used cocoa nibs in the past for a chocolate bock recipe I put together. I put them in the secondary fermenter. It came out wonderfully. Also a friend of mine is in the process of a chocolate stout in which he used (I believe) dutch processed cocoa. Chocolate Mead sounds great! :P (licking lips)
It is great. The brewery is located in my town. They have a release party for it every year. Its a limited supply and is distributed in bottles, but once its gone its gone. It flies of the shelf. My friend bought a whole case himself to last him the year. (more like a week) They also have a breakfast stout thats easier to find which is the same recipe without whiskey barrels. BYO magazine published a clone recipe for this for homebrewers in its latest edition.
There is a place in Providence RI, called the Trinity Brew House that made a chocolate/oatmeal lager aged in old barrels from a micro whiskey maker in the New England area. Good Food & Good Bear always made me happy when I left that place.
Bottling is done -- now wait, wait and wait until we can taste.
there are a lot of good brewerys on the east coast I'd love to visit.
We broke open a few bottles of Stout during the Superbowl Game. It tastes good-- not very chocolatey though, but it can give you a little buzz. We're happy with the results.
I know with mead that the longer you age, the more pronounced the chocolate flavour is supposed to get. Not sure how long you can "age" stout. Glad that it turned out for you though.
If you really want the ultimate in homebrewing you should look into using the 5 gallon soda kegs and CO2 setup. You only need to sanitize one tank rather than 50+ bottles and you can force carbonate. No sediment and shorter turnaround times. There is still some maturing you could do if you'd like. You can bottle from the keg if you want with a counter-pressure filler and not have to worry about sediment. Really is convenient! If you want to really be authentic with the stout you could get beer gas (nitrogen blend) and get that nice waterfall effect of Guiness.
Damn, that made me thirsty... see what you've done! :)
I do the same as Chili, not because I want to but because he forces me to.
Now that's out of the way. Corney Kegs are very cheap to come by. You can find them online 4 for about $25 not including shipping. They used to be what soft drink syrup came in before the syrup in a bag as they have now.
Chili,
you're making me thirsty too!
Carter,
Thanks for the tip on the Corney Kegs-- I will consult with the head brewmaster.
Carter, you should hack a corny keg into pieces for me and I'll use them for molds!!
OK Chili, I have one I can do that to, but why that instead of the PVC. There's no benefit and actually the PVC is way easier to manipulate and if you need to make changes it can be done by anyone. Plus trying to cut that with the ends square would be very very hard.
P.S. SC, you are local if you can't find one let me know and I can sell you one of mine.
Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.
would it make you all jealous if I tell you that yesterday I was part of a Russian Imperial Stout brew? To add insult to envy... it's going into a Jack Daniels cask for maturation ;D
Looking forward to my 5 gallons of JD cask matured Russian Imperial Stout... in December!
Sounds great :) and yes that does make me very jealous :-\.
chilipepper, where would one find nitrogen blend beer gas? I have co2 tanks filled at a nearby paintball shop but have been wanting to do a nitro tap. Any ideas of where to start searching?
I'm not chili but...
You can find nitrogren at a lot of places, such as some home brew shops have a drop off where they will have your tank filled, all welding supply places will have it and then there is beverage services that go around picking up and exchanging tanks to local bars and restaurants. Just make sure it's for food use. I've been told that some contains oil in the tank, but I'm not sure the guy knew what he was talking about.
If you buy a tank off ebay or craigslist get the cheapest one, don't get a pretty one because almost all places exchange and you'll never get your shiny new one back, that is to say almost none will fill "your" tank.
sweet! thank you cartierusm. I'm gonna work on this. I would love to have a nitro tap at home.
NP.
Quote from: chilipepper on February 03, 2009, 04:02:28 AM
If you really want the ultimate in homebrewing you should look into using the 5 gallon soda kegs and CO2 setup. You only need to sanitize one tank rather than 50+ bottles and you can force carbonate. No sediment and shorter turnaround times. There is still some maturing you could do if you'd like. You can bottle from the keg if you want with a counter-pressure filler and not have to worry about sediment. Really is convenient! If you want to really be authentic with the stout you could get beer gas (nitrogen blend) and get that nice waterfall effect of Guiness.
Damn, that made me thirsty... see what you've done! :)
We have a kegorator.... I'm glad we bought it!
Quote from: Tea on February 03, 2009, 01:02:40 AM
I know with mead that the longer you age, the more pronounced the chocolate flavour is supposed to get. Not sure how long you can "age" stout. Glad that it turned out for you though.
A regular stout - 7% and under - is best within 6-12 months of the date of bottling.
A Russian Imperial Stout - 7% and over - can be bottle aged for up to 10-15 years, depending on the ABV.
Coz, sorry about not responding...Carter beat me to it. For Nitrogen beer it is a 70/30 mix of nitrogen and CO2 (beer gas). Also, be aware that you will need a different tap/faucet for nitrogen dispensing. Maybe NEED is the wrong word but you will not get the full benefits of the beer gas if you do not have the proper faucet. They sometime refer to it as a creamer faucet. I've found I get really wierd looks at the welding shops when I ask for beer gas but the liquer distrubutors and such will be a little more in the know!
Ach! I can't wait 6-12 months for my beer, although the two more weeks it hung out at room temp to age made the head on the beer stay around a little longer when poured. The bottles are in our garage fridge now, I don't think any of them will be around in 2 months - never mind 6-12.
Ah......homebrewing.
I always used to cram as much corn sugar in mine to crank up the alcohol content much to the dismay of unwary drinkers. :P
Make a Rauch beer. I did once and used liquid smoke. It was GOOD.
Spending too much time on mead lately but will have to make beer for the Spring and Summer.
Brian
Quote from: Brian on February 24, 2009, 03:28:27 PM
Ah......homebrewing.
I always used to cram as much corn sugar in mine to crank up the alcohol content much to the dismay of unwary drinkers. :P
I would be more "what is this c**p?!!? I asked for BEER, not BUD!"
:-P
No no no no.................................these were good home brewed IPA's and stouts to start. Then I added a pantload of corn sugar. I remember my sister in law sitting in a chair outside, drinking a Rauch beer I always served in mason jars. She got up to use the bathroom and almost fell over.
Ah, good times.
I never, ever had made anything close to "Bud".
Brian
thank you chilipepper for the response to my earlier question. :)
I was just going to say kegging makes brewing so much more enjoyable! I hate washing and filling bottles! It even makes traveling easier - grab a few kegs throw them in a barrel and go!
I have 11- 5 gallon kegs and 10 -3 gallon kegs I don't ever plan to bottle again! Well except two from every batch so I can see it but I used the little 8 oz bottles for that.
We made a coffee-chocolate stout in which we used Ghirradeli cocoa powder. I think the Irish moss we added helped make it less cloudy. I'm not sure if you can use that with mead...
Jaq
Guys and gals,
Hi there,
I'm brand new here. I just caught glimpse of this thread and thought I'd chime in. While I am insanely new to cheese making, I would like to think that I am an accomplished brewer. My close friend and I are 40 batches deep in a competition project that we are hopeful will yield some winning results for us this year. As far as the chocolate stout goes. My advice to a beginner is to go ahead and bottle the entire batch. Kegging is wonderful, but in my opinion it is a certainty that you will indeed want to one day bottle your beer. We have a twin keg setup and we keep an American Stout on tap at all times. I can say that for your chocolate stout (depending on starting gravity and target ABV) that bottle aging it is a superb way to enjoy the fruits of your labor. My advice (as a newbie to this forum I realize) is to go ahead and enjoy a couple of your young beers the moment you believe them to be ready. After you have experienced the thrill of your your efforts. Don't touch another one for two months. Then you will truly come to understand the value in aging a fine ale. Stouats are not like Corona (as I'm sure you're well aware). they don't fight degradation from the word go. Provided you store them properly out of direct light and the temperature doesn't exceed about 74 degrees or so, you should be enjoying a fine aged stout in a few months. It's like a black and white difference between the "green" beer and the true finished product.
Best wishes. Feel free to ask me about brewing whenever you'd like...
- Jacob
Kegging is definately the way to go. I got tired of chasing down bottles and washing them. I have 12 - 5 gallon kegs and 10 - 3 gallon kegs much easier. For parties I just grab a few kegs and carry a few of the hand sized CO2 cartridges and go. So much easier!
I've also use the kegs for picking up raw milk without having to return bottles or pay for deposits.
Where do you get empty kegs?
They are getting harder to find with metal prices so high but the soda companies were dumping them like crazy for awhile. They use the bag in box system now like the wine that comes in a box. Less cost and less space. Many home brew suppliers still have them and eBay is another source. There is one company that still make them somewhere.
There are also two basic types and that is personal preferance. Coke made a pinlock fittings and everyone else used a ball lock fittings. These guys are pretty nice and they sell used kegs.
Go here (http://store.homebrewheaven.com/beer-kegs--kegging-c11.aspx)
Craigslist or http://www.chicompany.net/. (http://www.chicompany.net/.) Chi used to have a 5 pack special they would sell for a little over $100 shipped for corny kegs. Not sure if they still do that.
Actually Chi has several interesting items. They do state on their writeup that kegs are now going for $50 apiece in some places. So how do you fill these things? Does the entire top screw off?
1- An electric brew heater with a stainless element. This could probably be used for heating a small vat.
Brew Heater (http://www.chicompany.net/electric-brew-heater-621.html?zenid=30c0803634424e06befd7da325677440)
2- A Freezer Conversion Thermostat. Could be used to control cave temp in a frig or freezer. This is BY FAR the cheapest solution that I have seen.
Thermostat (http://www.chicompany.net/freezer-conversion-thermostat-remote-bulb-933.html)
3- A heavy duty heating pad. I use a seed starting pad for ripening cream cheeses, yogurt, etc. This one is reasonably priced, a compact size and looks like it could hold quite a bit of weight. You can use the same thermostat above for precise temps.
Heating Pad (http://www.chicompany.net/brewer-s-heating-pad-593.html)
http://www.chicompany.net/ball-lock-kegs-4-pack-36.html (http://www.chicompany.net/ball-lock-kegs-4-pack-36.html)
That's the deal I was talking about. It's a good deal for cleaned kegs, and you don't have to hunt craigslist for them. I like Chi for their service and good prices for industrial food service type supplies. I think last time I compared prices, they were the cheapest on a lot of items.
The top comes off corny kegs, and you can fill them up.