National Homebrew Club Ireland

Dark Chocolate Stout

This is, historically, one of my more successful brewing stories. My most recent batch, which we sampled at the January meetup, was disappointingly lacking in mouth feel due to my neglect to add maltodextrin. Regardless, the recipe, when adhered to correctly, is absolutely delicious and easy to do.

Makes 22L

Ingredients:

• 1 can Coopers Selection Irish Stout
  
• 500g light dry malt extract
  
• 500g dark dry malt extract
  
• 1000g maltodextrin
  
• 10 heaped teaspoons 100% cocoa powder (Cadbury's Bournville)
  
• 10 teaspoons vanilla extract
  

Instructions:
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• Follow instructions on Irish Stout kit, using dry malt extract as the fermentables. Ensure wort is heated while adding fermentables.
  
• After adding fermentables, add the cocoa, maltodextrin and vanilla extract to the hot wort. Stir well, ensuring no clumps of DME or cocoa remain in the mix.
  
• Complete brew process as per Coopers' instructions, using the yeast that came with the kit. Feel free to experiment with yeasts and let me know how it turns out!
  [/olist]
  
  This particular brew definitely gets better with age. 2 weeks is even a bit young. Ideal serving temperature is fridge-region, around 5 degrees. Slightly uncharacteristic for a chocolate stout, but the cold seems to do wonders for the bitterness of the cocoa.
  
  Enjoy!

Loving the chocolate
What's the vanilla extract do?

QuoteLoving the chocolate
What's the vanilla extract do?

Cheers! I was never quite sure. The original idea was to compliment the bitterness of the cocoa with some subtle sweetness, but I'm not sure I could even taste it in the end. No harm in leaving it in though, eh?

Was planning a stout next so gonna give a variation of this a go. Thanks

QuoteWas planning a stout next so gonna give a variation of this a go. Thanks

Please do. And, in the tradition of share-alike, please make something much better than this!

A stout recipe without treacle  ;D

got myself the same kit last week and plan on brewing in the next week.

will use a can of LME and now thinking of adding the choclate.

what other kits have you made.

if ye are in aldi you might come across a lovely can of Spanish chocolate powder, much more chocolaty than cocoa powder if thats suits your brews.

I've done 2 all grain Kit Stouts with mediocre results..... not bad but not outstanding!!!  Even Cinnamoned part of one at Christmas as a try, that mellowed the original sharpness and didn't carry a lot of the spice through, which was unexpected.

I have another to do this weekend and Chocolate was being considered. Its so going in now, and its buddy Vanilla! 

Cheers and Thanks for the Recipe.

sounds delish, but just as a warning on the vanilla extract, i was adding strawberry extract, vanilla extract and some fruit tinctures to bottles and the vanilla came out pretty damn overwhelming as opposed to the others and 10 teaspoons (5ml p/tsp=50ml) is a lot. i used 1.5ml p/ bottle, but that was with an ale, so maybe the roasty stuff in the stout would dumb it down a bit.