Mmm, chocolate

[robharper]

Rather pleased with myself as the house now smells of chocolate, orange and hops. I'm improvising up (using ingredients I have to hand, so probably not all ideal choices) what I hope will be a drinkable chocolate ale for a chocolate party next month. The unhopped wort tasted bloody lovely, so I have hopes. If it works out OK I'll post the recipe.

[WishboneBrewery]

chocolate party

That sounds kinky.. I mean Interesting!

[Carpking]

Go on.... post the recipe anyway...

[robharper]

Have patience, grasshopper. I'll be able to tell you within the week if it's looking good, and a week or two after that if we're really on to a winner. You can wait a couple of weeks, right?

Still smells of chocolate, though!

[pauljmuk]

Had a wonderful beer at local beer festival at the weekend, that was called Chocolate Orange, and tasted just like that!

Would this stem from a chocolate malt with orange zest, or orange blossom etc?

[robharper]

Well, I've just bottled this stuff and it tastes OK. Not too bitter and you can taste some of the chocolate in there. Should be good in a couple of weeks or so. My only real concern now is if all that cocoa I put in will settle out with the yeast or if I will get a murky brew. I'll find out soon enough and will report back (probably with the recipe).

[pauljmuk]

You used cocoa?

[robharper]

Yep. I know people usually use choc malt for a hint of chocolate flavour, but for various reasons I wanted this to *really* be chocolate beer. I'll probably have a try of this over the weekend to see how it is going.

[chris_reboot]

interesting....

[pauljmuk]

not sure how cocoa will clear

[robharper]

Me too, Paul. Isn't that part of the fun?! I'll certainly let you know how it works out.

[delboy]

Well, I've just bottled this stuff and it tastes OK. Not too bitter and you can taste some of the chocolate in there. Should be good in a couple of weeks or so. My only real concern now is if all that cocoa I put in will settle out with the yeast or if I will get a murky brew. I'll find out soon enough and will report back (probably with the recipe).

Shouldn't be a problem cocoa in my experience sinks like a stone, it was probably all on the bottom of the fermenter just a few hours after going into it.
I've tried to get an authentic chocolate taste into beer and to be honest its not that easy, i used real chocolate and cocoa and still struggled to detect it.
What did do the job though was a bottle of chocolate essence from the cooking aisle, gave it a slight chocolate taste and crucially a chocolate aroma.

A lot of naysayers reckon that choc beers are an abomination and that the fats extracted from the cocoa etc will kill the head retention, however i didn't notice any significant affect on head retention despite using both cocoa and real chocolate.

That said I'd save my money and effort and eschew both cocoa and real chocolate and go with the essence if i was brewing a choc beer again.

[robharper]

Hi Delboy, thanks for the tip on the choc essence. I'll remember that, in case I want to do anything similar in future.

As for the cocoa settling out in the FV -- well, I'm pretty sure it was still in suspension when I bottled (and I could taste it at that point!), but it might have just been yeast and the dark colour from various ingredients (including some molasses).

[robharper]

Just cracked the first sample bottle of this and I'm quite pleased with it. There is only really a hint of chocolate, but it is definitely there. It is also crystal clear and a lovely, ruby red colour which I could hardly be happier with -- whatever else, I just *love* that colour! Naff all head, though, which may be down to the oils in the cocoa, but I can live with that.

All in all, this is a beer I am very happy to be drinking. So, I guess now to try to improve on it. I'll have to try using some chocolate malt, for a start, and also experimenting with different hops.

The party this was brewed for is this coming Saturday, so we'll have to see how it goes with discerning (ish) friends.

[robharper]

Oh, the recipe (now it's proven to be not awful)...

Brew length 10 litres.

150g crystal malt
3 x 454g jars of Holland & Barrett LME.
2 tbsp molasses (also from H&B)
3 tbsp cocoa powde
10g progress hops
10g East Kent goldings hops
zest of 1 orange
yeast (S-04)

Steeped crystal at ~65C for ~30 mins, then removed from liquor.
Added LME, molasses, orange zest, cocoa (mixed to thin paste with a little water), progress hops, water to 6 litres. (Yeah, I know hop utilization won't be too good with this, but I wasn't really after serious bitter).
Boiled for 45 mins, then added goldings and boiled for a further 5 minutes.
Cooled pan in a sink of cold water to ~45C.
Strained into FV, topped up to 10 litres with water, then pitched 1/2 sachet of S-04 yeast.

O.G. 1.040
F.G. 1.014 (it'll do!)