toucan choc stout recipe check

[gc.camel]

Hi guys,

never made a stout before or used any specialty grains so i thought i'd get your opinion before i start cooking! It's a bit of a combination of other recipies i've found here and on the internet.

Ingredients

• 
  1x Coopers Stout
  
• 
  1x Coopers Dark Ale
  
• 
  500g LDME
  
• 
  500g Dextrose
  
• 
  300g Chocolate Malt
  
• 
  100g Crystal Malt
  
• 
  200g cocoa powder
  
• 
  10g Fuggles
  

Method

1. 
   Steep chocolate and crystal malt in 2L for 30 mins
   
2. 
   strain liquid into second pot
   
3. 
   bring to boil for 15mins
   
4. 
   add cocoa @ 5 mins
   
5. 
   fuggles at flame out
   
6. 
   Steep 10 mins
   
7. 
   cool pot down
   

1. 
   all in the fermenter to 22L using kit yeasts
   

Predicted (using ianH's spreadsheet)
OG-1.066
FG-1.014
IBU- 74.9
EBC-128
Bottled Alc- 7.2%

 

[mwd]

Looks good never used cocoa in stout so no idea what it will be like. Chocolate malt adds more of a coffee flavour than chocolate.

Alcohol level seems a bit high considering the ingredients but I didn't run the numbers to check. I think you will be very lucky to get a FG of 1014 I would expect around 1020 thats what I usually get with toucan and 23l.

 

[gc.camel]

Very few people mention that, but i did pick that up in my research. It's a very decieving name 'Chocolate' Malt I was aiming for more of a chocolate that coffee flavour in the end. Would 300grams of the choc malt give a very pronounced coffee flavour?

 

[manticle]

I do get some chocolate from chocolate malt. Roast barley gives me more coffee. I find choc malt with some lactose gives a real choc character.

I think your recipe is fine. That is a lot of choc malt with the already black stout kit so you could look at dropping that to 200g but either way, put it together and tweak for next time should you so desire. Will be a potent winter warmer - make sure you pitch enough healthy yeast and give her some good maturation time.

 

[Liam_snorkel]

+1 to everything above. Preferably you would chuck in more than just the two kit yeasts (they're 7g apiece IIRC, you probably want double that for 1.066), and splash the water in and mix as much as you can so that it is aerated.

 

[cremmerson]

I would drop the choc malt to 200g or less. I used 200g choc malt, 200g roast barley with 28g coffee beans (dry hopped, as it were) and created an evil toucan lovingly called "Thwocky Thwocky Theocky Stout". Too much and hoping it can be stomached without a fatality with two months bottling.

You've already got a fair amount of potency, I'd suggest underbaking it, then improving after creating something you can drink. (Yes, I'm scared of my Thwocky Thwocky).