I want to try making a Chocolate Imperial Stout(trying to make a stout similar to Chokolat from Southern Tier, ever since I tried this I have been obsessing over this recipe).
I was thinking the easiest way to go about it would to just start with NB Imperial Stout and add Bittersweet Bakers Chocolate at the beginning of the boil. Anyone who has any thoughts or anything to add I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!
I’m going to brew a Oatmeal Stout tonight and was thinking about turning it into a chocolate oatmeal stout by adding the Coco Nibs that NB sells to the secondary.
Anyone use these before? I’ve heard they are a nice natural chocolate flavor that are not overpowering.
Watkins chocolate extract and/or nibs work much better than baker’s chocolate.
Toasted nibs post-fermentation add a nice flavor and aroma. I didn’t bag them the first time I used them and a couple ended up in bottles - was fun to tilt the bottle up and chew on them (like a worm in mescal).
I’ve made a couple of chocolate imperial stouts and my opinion is that ST uses some kind of chocolate extract in their Choklat. My latest batch was an attempt to clone Choklat (not really a whole-hearted cloning attempt, more just an attempt to see if I can brew a clean, drinkable RIS with chocolate flavor). I used cocoa powder in the boil, then added a cacao nib/lactose slurry the secondary, then finally dry-nibbed. All I got for that effort is a clean, easy drinking RIS with a hint of cocoa in the nose. On my next attempt I plan on increasing the chocolate malt - by a lot - and trying to find a good quality belgian chocolate extract to add to the secondary (and perhaps continue the dry-nibbing for good measure).
