Utah Beer Forum brew-off recipe discussion

As we were kind of derailing Carlos's "who's entering the brew-off" thread with our discussion of what we'd like to run with I thought I'd start this thread up for us to continue in.

We left off with the idea of a chili-chocolate stout. Rick raised the idea of a Rauch beer along these same lines. i.e. chili rauch.

Personally I'm not a fan of Rauch beers (although Desert Edge's Inversion isn't bad) but I'm more than willing to have my mind changed

Thanks for startin' a new thread, Kent. I was thinkin' about doing this.

Anywho: If we go with a chipotle, pasilla, or ancho pepper, we're going to get some smokey flavor no matter what. Those peppers are dried, smoked versions of the jalepeno, chilaca, and poblano peppers, respectively.

Due to the fact that we're lookin' at getting some smokey flavor from the peppers, I think we should avoid a rauchbier. I like the chocolate stout as a jumping off point.

As for potentially incorporating some aroma/flavor hops: I still think we should keep them at a minimum. I think a dark, roasty chocolate (with a little pepper and smoke)aroma would be a better jumping off point before the beer hits the tongue. But if people would prefer some hop aroma and such, I'll defer.

Well Fuggles is your classic Guinness hop right? It must be pretty subtle. I would agree. I don't think we'd want anything big and citrusy in this. Although I did have Squatters dry hopped stout once and while very different it was damn tasty. But that would probably be a flavor bomb in what we're discussing.

I'm with Carlos in the ancho pepper idea, however chipotle would be wonderful also. I threw the idea of Rauch beer out there because I had never heard of anyone doing it before, yet there very well may be a good reason for that. As for hops, I love fuggles in a way that verges on unhealthy, but I think it would be a good idea to keep the hops to a minimum. So, I say we take a vote. Who wants to keep with the idea of a chili-chocolate stout and who wants to do something different. My vote is to keep with the stout idea.

I'm down with the chili chocolate stout.

Anyone ever done a chocolate stout? Or know a good recipe to start with?

I'm all for the chili-chocolate stout.

I did a clone of Brooklyn Brewery's chocolate stout last year. It was very tasty, but not near as chocolaty as the Rogue chocolate stout for instance. I'll see if I can find the recipe when I get home.

I have a partial mash recipe for a Choc. stout that turned out pretty well. I've been meaning to convert it to all grain, so this will give me a chance. We can compare it against yours Kent and see what would work best with the pepper flavor. All my recipes are hand written and the math is based off of my efficiency, so depending on who's setup we actually make it in we'll have to tweek the hell out of it. When I get home I'll re-work it and see what it comes out to.

I found my recipe this past weekend. I meant to post it and forgot. I may have time this coming weekend to brew up a batch and we can get together and do a tasting as Rick suggested once it's bottled, and see where we want to start off from.

Edit:
7.75 lb American 2-row
1.0 lb 2-Row Chocolate Malt
0.25 lb Roasted Barley
0.375 lb American Black Patent
1.0 oz Fuggle (4.8%) - added during boil, boiled 70.0 min
1.5 oz Fuggle (4.8%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
0.5 tsp Irish Moss - added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
2.0 ea White Labs WLP004 Irish Stout

Original Gravity: 1.052 (1.036 - 1.050)
Terminal Gravity: 1.014 (1.007 - 1.011)

I didn't have time to whip up a starter on this hence the two tubes of yeast.

I've been strangely busy all of a sudden. So, here is my basic stout recipe. I think I may hammer one out some time soon also. However, I'm just as happy to agree on something and take the leap with the peppers. Either way... here is my grain bill for my basic stout, based off a pitiful 68% eff.

7# Two row
3.5# mild malt
.5# roast bar.
.25# black
1# Crystal 70Lov.

It should be rocking about 6% when it's finished, hops and all that should be based of when we figure the pepper situation out. Kent, I like how your recipe has less Roasted Barley and a darker Crystal. That would be a modification that could enhance the beer.

Once again I hope to brew up a test batch of stout this weekend. What's mild malt Rick? I think I'll give your recipe a shot, but I'm not sure what that is.

Also I know pretty much nothing about chilies as far as their flavor goes. Are there any that we should be looking at in particular? Or probably just as importantly any we should avoid?

Kent, I was thinking about trying a version of the stout this weekend also, peppers notwithstanding. Mild Malt is a killer base malt that is used for Mild Ale. It's similar to a Vienna malt and they have it over at the Nut.

Maybe it would be a good idea for you to brew up your basic Stout and I'll brew up my basic Stout and we see which one would be the best with the peppers. Or what aspects of each we should use for the the Pepper Choc. Stout. As for peppers, and what one(s) to add to the brew, I haven't to foggiest. If it was fully up to me I would throw some Rauch malt in the brew, and put in a couple Chipotle peppers in secondary and call it done. I'll look at some books this weekend as see what people recommend and we can take it from there.

---Ricky Hansing

Sounds good. I'm hoping to have some free time on Sunday to do a batch up.

I'd brew a chocolate stout too if I didn't have plans to do a weizen this weekend.

And then my fiancee wants to do something Belgian next, so that'll take up a couple of weeks.

But if you brew these, let me know!

As for peppers, chipotle sounds good to me. What you guys may want to do (if possible) is split your batch after fermentation. Put half into a secondary and drop in some chipotles. The other half you can bottle or try a different pepper or a different amount of the same pepper.

I have a few 1gal jugs if you want to use those for this. They're kinda annoying to bottle out of, but it works.

Carlos, that seems like a really killer idea. We could even do that with the final batch, do 5 gallons and then try different peppers on each gallon, and then even blend them like a scotch. Anyway, have fun doing the Weizen and Belgian and let us know how they turn out.

Well I didn't brew this weekend. I went and bought a motorcycle instead

Hopefully one night this week.

kent wrote:

Well I didn't brew this weekend. I went and bought a motorcycle instead

Hopefully one night this week.

Ricky or Kent: You guys get a chance to start the pepper chocolate stout? What's you guys' general plan for the peppering?

I grabbed ingredients this weekend, so I'll be brewing up the test stout this week sometime. As I recall (terrible note taker me) I did two weeks in the primary and then bottled last time so we should be able to taste this pretty quick.

My plan is to take a couple gallons of it and throw some peppers in for a week or so in secondary.

I also picked up ingredients for a Stone Ruination clone

Well,

I've yet to actually brew my stout yet either. I only get to brew every other sunday, and yesterday I (as odd as this sounds) hosted a "Historic" beer tasting at a renaissance fair. And the brew day before that one it was a family birthday party... so in a week or two I'll brew it. I think I'll do what Kent is planning and toss some peppers in secondary for part of it. We should just blend our batches and call it good. I'll totally post when I can finally get a batch under my belt.

I'll try and brew something up if I can. Have to see how the current batch works out, plus my fiancee Maria has to brew her test run batch for the brew-off. And we each have to brew our "release" batches for the brew-off, so we'll see how this goes. Unfortunately we only have enough space/equipment to brew one batch at a time.

As for the "dry-peppering", have you guys thought about any specifics yet? Meaning, out of a five gallon batch, 1gal no pepper, 2gal a little pepper, 2 gal a lot pepper? I have no idea what might be considered a little vs. a lot of pepper, but a test strategy like this might work. If I get around to brewing the stout, I'll probably employ this sort of strategy, though I only brew three gallons at a time.

Blending could very well be good, but, if we have the time and space, brewing up a plethora of unblended batches might be the best first step. Get familiar with how things are affected and what not. Of course, we could always "test blend" the unblended batches by mixing them in a glass after conditioning/carbonation.

Looks like we're on to something here...

http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2010/05/chile-chocolate-vanilla-cinnamon.html

Exciting.

So,

My test batch in in primary and bubbling away like crazy. Thank goodness for holiday weekends, I've been able to brew three batches with my brew-buddy. A Wit, a Braggot and the Stout. I looked into peppering and Randy Moser of "Extreme Brewing" seemed like the best source. He suggests anywhere from .25 oz to 1 oz in the boil, depending on the peppers heat. I also talked to my buddies at the Beernut and they suggested that I boil the dry chipotle, remove the seeds and then add more than an ounce in secondary. That way we get more tasty smoked pepper flavor and not as much heat. I'm incline to take their advice and just de-seed one ounce of pepper and toss it into the full batch for a couple days, taste it and either rack off or add more pepper.

Anyway, Kent how is your batch doing?

---Ricky H.

Sorry I've been away and didn't see this until today. It just went into the primary. I'm thinking of trying an Ancho chili in the secondary. I'll go ahead and follow your amounts Rick.

I found some Ancho and Chipole peppers at a local market down the street yesterday. I am not 100% satisfied with the quality of them, so I am going to check a few more Mexican markets and see what I can find. I would hate to spend all this time and money on a good batch of beer and pop in some musty peppers at the very end. I'll let you know if I find a really fresh source of peppers, and if you have any suggestions let me know.

---Ricky H.