So I chickened out. This post was supposed to be about a cayenne pepper, dark chocolate, stout. The plan was mimic the flavours found in a traditional mole, but in beer form. Fail. First I couldn’t find cocoa nibs in any of the fancy grocery stores. I considered ordering online, but apparently I’m too lazy to shop from my couch now and by the time I found motivation it was too late for this particular batch. I did brew with loads of chocolate malt, but there was some fear of adding hot pepper to beer on it’s own. For the record I had a really cool plan of making a tincture out of cayenne pepper, cocoa nibs, and organic vodka and then adding it after fermentation. There, so do I get some credit for being creative? No? Fair enough.
Disclaimer, I don’t like stout. I struggle to make it through a Guinness and that’s with a face worthy of a Buckley’s commercial. Brian loves stouts. He visited the Guinness plant and still talks about it every time we go to an Irish pub. So this beer is for him, because I love him or something.
Nothing really fancy about this recipe. It is my first time working with flaked oats. Oats are one of the reasons why stouts are so heavy. People say drinking a Guinness is like drinking a meal; well that meal is breakfast and oatmeal is on the menu. Oats are also supposed to contribute to the silky mouth-feel of a good stout. They also help make for a creamier head (Beavis and Butthead laugh). Confession: I didn’t actually know what to do with the oats to make all of these fancy things happen. I could have looked it up, but my mash water was already to temperature so I tossed them in my trusty Victoria Grain Mill and ground them with the rest of the mash. Sounds about right?
| Servings |
gallon
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- 1.2 pounds 2-row malt (544.3 g)
- 0.4 pounds Chocolate malt (181 g)
- 0.3 pounds Oat flakes (136 g)
- 0.1 pounds Golden naked oats (45 g)
- 0.1 pounds Midnight wheat (45 g)
- 1.9 litres Water
- 3.8 litres Water
- 0.4 oz Fuggle hops (11.3 g)
- 1/2 packet Safale US-05
Ingredients
Mash
Sparge
Boil
Fermentation
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- Heat water to 160 F
- Add milled grains
- Steep for 60 minutes at 152 F
- Hot break at 170 F after 60 minutes
- Heat water to 170 F
- Filter water through mash
- Boil for 60 minutes
- 0 minutes add 3/4 of the Fuggle hops
- 45 minutes add 1/4 of the Fuggle hops
Cold Break
Instead of ice, I cool my brew pot by dunking it in a sink full of cold water and ice packs from my mom (who is paranoid about food safety and travelling with food) and the local sports injury clinic.
Fermentation
After the beer has cooled, add filtered beer plus 1/2 packet of yeast to carboy and shake vigorously.
Sadly this looks like it’s going to be a relatively low alcohol beer. The specific gravity at 21 C is only 1.048, which should yield an alcohol content in the mid to high 4%. Not terrible, but I never say no to more alcohol. Wait that sounds bad. So back to the hydrometer…it’s science…science is smart and reputable…ok better.
