Imperial Chocolate Coffee Stout

We're caught up! Onto the current brew.

Secret Santa Stout was only my second homebrew, but it was definitely the best I have made. It's my kind of beer -- boozy, malty, with some added flavors -- and it came out well. I gave away half of it for Christmas presents, and blasted through another dozen that I brought to a ski getaway with friends. Even though it's the best beer I've made, it's the one I drank the least. That has always bugged me.

That's why, after three consecutive brews that all disappointed in one way or another, I'm going back to the well. This Christmas, I'm making another big-ass stout. Haven't thought of a name yet, so for now, we'll just call it the Imperial Chocolate Coffee Stout.

Ingredients:

5 lbs light dried malt extract
3 lbs wheat dried malt extract
2 lbs chocolate malt
1 lb roasted barley
1 lb dextrine malt
1 lb CaraMunich malt
1 lb Special B malt
4 oz Kent golding hops
1 oz Galena hops
4 oz ground coffee
8 oz baking chocolate
8 oz cocoa powder
1 vanilla bean
1 oz French oak
Irish ale yeast

Wow! That is a crap-ton of ingredients. Incredibly malty, which is to be expected, but also the hoppiest beer I've ever made (it would have to be, if any hop character is going to break through all those sugars). There's just so much going on here. I'm very much looking forward to seeing how it turns out, but also wary that it's a bit more complicated than I'm used to. Every step has a couple of considerations that I don't usually need to worry about.

Before brewing, I took the time to make a yeast starter. Partly, this is because I got burned when making my Belgian strong ale earlier in the year. Also, the yeast package that came with the kit specifically says that it's good for starting gravities of up to 1.060, but the recipe calls for a starting gravity of 1.090-1.095.

Here's what I don't understand. Underpitching is apparently endemic among beginning and intermediate homebrewers. When you're buying a recipe kit, the vendor has all the information they need to provide you with an appropriate amount of yeast. Why don't they? You could argue that the customer should know better, but they don't, so why not help out? Price it into the kit. No one would complain about that.

Anyway, I filched a half-cup of the dried malt extract and boiled it for 10 minutes in 2 cups of water. Separately, I sanitized a half-gallon glass jug. When the boil was done, I cooled it to 70 degrees and added it to the jug. Then I poured in my liquid yeast. (The yeast, by the way, was a Wyeast smack pack, which I had never used before. Definitely more fun than a packet of dry yeast or a vial of liquid.)

I covered the jug with a sanitized piece of aluminum foil. There was some debate on Homebrewtalk about whether to use an airlock or the sanitized foil, but the consensus seemed to be the foil, so that's what I did. For the next 24 hours, I swirled it repeatedly and observed some fermentation activity. After 24 hours, I put it in the fridge. The morning of the brew, I took the jug out of the fridge to let it come up to room temperature.

Crushed all 6 pounds of the grains and tied them into 2 large muslin bags. Brought 2 gallons of water up to 170 degrees, then added the grains. Attempted to hold the temperature at 170 for 45 minutes, with moderate success. I had to keep adjusting the temperature and moving it on and off the burner. On an electric stove, this isn't easy. Still more successful than the last time I tried this.

Separately, brought a half-gallon of water to 170 degrees, then put into a pitcher. Placed a strainer over a pot, then added the grain bags one at a time and sparged with the water from the pitcher, thus answering one of the first questions I ever asked in this blog. Added the sparged liquor to the brewpot.

Only later did I realize that I had essentially done a "mini-mash," which is a slight step up in complexity from your usual extract brewing. Considering that I've been using specialty grains from the start, it was hardly a leap, but it felt like progress all the same. Of course, in reading about mini-mashes, it doesn't sound like I really did it the way you're supposed to, but I followed the directions that came with the kit, so I did my best!

Brought the pot to a boil, then removed from heat and added the dried extracts and Galena hops. Boiled 50 minutes. Added baker's chocolate and 2 oz of the Kent golding hops. Boiled 9 more minutes. Added the remaining 2 oz of the Kent, boiled for one minute and removed from heat.

This wort REALLY wanted to boil over. I tend to perch over my pot for the entire boil anyway, but this time it was necessary. Came very close a couple of times, but in the end, everything remained in place.

Moved the pot to a sink full of ice water, and added 2 gallons of refrigerated spring water to the fermenter. (By now, I don't need to mention that I sanitized my equipment beforehand, do I?)

Strained the wort on its way into the fermenter. The amount of sediment was ridiculous. I had to use two wire strainers and a rubber spatula, and it still took about 10 minutes to get all the wort into the bucket. (This is where the spray bottle of Star San really comes in handy -- when I realized I needed the additional equipment, I just sprayed it down.)

Aerated the wort with my power drill. Used a sanitized baster to squirt some of the wort into the jug of yeast in order to acclimate it, then pitched the yeast. Judging purely by visuals, the amount of yeast slurry seemed significantly increased from what had come out of the package initially, so I'm optimistic that it will do the job.

Unfortunately, my hydrometer is broken, which I did not realize until I tried to use it. The end has chipped off, so I was unable to take a reading. It sank straight to the bottom of the sample. In a way, it's freeing. In another way, I probably should get a new hydrometer.

Put the lid on, attached the fermentation lock, and brought it down to the basement. Fermentation activity was observed within about 8 hours, which I take as another sign that the yeast starter is working. Within 24 hours, the lock was bubbling more ferociously than I've ever seen. After 48 hours, it had slowed a bit but was still bubbling away. And unlike with Secret Santa Stout, no blowouts yet.

That was that. Once again, the recipe says to rack after 3-5 days, but because of my schedule I am actually going to give it 2 weeks. At that point I'll transfer it to the secondary along with some more flavorings to condition... but I'm getting ahead of myself.