Christmas Chocolate Stout

[sheffstevie]

Looking through the brew cupboard I realised I needed to use up some stuff from the past years ingredients and as its approaching the festive season I thought I would get a seasonal brew on that was fairly beefy in terms of OG but not too heavy so that it would be mature enough on draught (King Keg) to be drinkable by Christmas Eve -so today I brewed something similar to winter brews I have done in the past but with the addition of crystal wheat malt which I have not previously used and a couple of hop varieties that I got from the Malt Miller in summer which I doubt would normally feature in this type of brew - One is Archer which is a very low alpha hop (and I bought cos it was on offer at a couple of quid!) and the other is Nelson Sauvin which I used half of the sachet for an IPA a couple of months ago and worked great - the Youngs ale yeast was used as it was coming up to its use by date and if it doesn't show signs of activity in the first day I have several sachets of Nottingham just in case - however I bought 2 sachets of this last year and the first sachet did a good job so I thought let's give this a go rather than let it wither away at the back of the cupboard
- It's a 3 gallon batch in order I could hit the relevant gravity with just a large pot on the stove without dragging out the big guns and I wanted something that would evoke Christmas pud and chocolate without being cloying.
Anyway here's what went into the brew today - it's a bit of an experiment as it relies on leftover stuff that was used in previous brews - I will post on the results when it's in the cask but comments welcome as to what others think might be the result

Chrimbo Chocolate Stout - 15 litres - OG 1065

1.5 kg Maris Otter crushed pale malt
250g crushed chocolate malt
250g roast barley
200g flaked barley
100g crystal malt
100 crystal wheat malt
1.5 kg light LME
150g white sugar
25g Archer hops - 60 mins
25g Fuggles hops - 60 mins
5g Nelson Sauvin hops - 60 mins
5g Nelson Sauvin hops at flameout
Youngs ale yeast -
Grains mashed between 66 - 68C - LME and sugar added - boiled for 1 hour with the hops and final NS addition at flameout.

[charliemartin]

Looks good. Not sure how much chocolate flavour you'll get, but should be tasty anyway.
I personally wouldn't bother with a flameout hop addition in a stout, particularly when it's just 5g. Chuck it in at 60.

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[JonB]

I personally wouldn't bother with a flameout hop addition in a stout, particularly when it's just 5g. Chuck it in at 60.

I'd agree, the aroma will just be overwhelmed.

If you are trying to add a bit of flavour I'd go with a 10-minute addition instead, and up it by a factor of at least 2 (ideally 4), but I'd expect Nelson to get absolutely swamped in a beer like this and contribute little perceptible character.


I'd expect this to be more on the roasty side rather than chocolate, but should still be very nice! You could consider swapping out some roasted barley for a lighter chocolate an/or more crystal if you wanted more dark-chocolate notes. "Dry hopping" with cacao nibs will also push the chocolate flavours more if that's something that might interest you? (I'd sample first, then sample periodically during this addtion if you're doing this to avoid overdoing it)

[sheffstevie]

Thanks for the feedback lads- take your points about the hop addition - Fermentation went well and I have had this in the King Keg now for a few days and will be bottling it in a week or so to give it a month's maturation before Christmas. I've just pulled off a nip glass for sampling purposes.

Well! Aroma is definitely fresh espresso coffee with some chocolate in the background - no discernable hop aroma but that's no great surprise. Taste - dark bitter chocolate - like one of those bars that has 70/80% cocoa solids but with a residual sweetness which I imagine will diminish once the yeast gets to work on the dextrins once bottled. So far so good!