I recently received a Irish Stout extract with a brew kit. Im currently in the fourth day of primary and was wondering if it was too late to turn it into a Chocolate or even a Chocolate Cherry Stout in secondary. Could i add them to secondary, and if so, what ingredients, what amounts, and when and for how long. The recipe kit was from MidwestSupplies (sorry NB, it was a gift) the recipe ingredients for this kit include: 6 lb. Dark liquid malt extract, 4 oz. Chocolate Malt, 4 oz. Caramel 10L, 4 oz. Roasted Barley, 4 oz. Flaked Barley specialty grain, 1 tsp. Gypsum, 1/2 oz. Nugget, 1 oz. Willamette pellet hops. Im looking any tips, tricks, etc, etc. Keep in mind this is my first brew, but difficulty is not an issue, Im just looking to excite this brew a little more with some complexity. ANY help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks, Mike
I will ask my standard question on these types of posts… Why?
First brew, you don’t know if you will like the original recipe or not and you have dozens of thing to learn for the first time. And you want to muck with the recipe so you won’t really know how well your first brew turns out? Why?
Looks like a tasty recipe.
Having said that, there seems to be two types of brewers- those who try to perfect a recipe before moving on to another, and those who are constantly experimenting to find the ‘virvana of brew’.Or maybe just want to try something to see what it tastes like.
I tend to be #2, and I have turned out some great stuff, and two notable flops- a year ago I did the simple wheat extract kit from NB, but added 2 lb. honey, juice and zest from a couple lemons, and 1/2 lb of ground ginger root. Then I bottle carbed it with maple syrup to 3.5 volumes co2. Even a year later, with all that ginger and high carbonation it works well as a stomach tonic, but it ain’t much of a beer. :oops: I still most of the time change up the recipes- adding more grains to partial mash it, change the hops, change the yeast, etc. BUT I have become more restrained.
To answer your original question- IMO the best time to add flavoring agents such as chocolate or fruit or coffee is in the secondary. Usually a week or maybe two before bottling.
There are a few previous threads about the best way to extract cocoa flavor from nibs and cold brewing coffee. The 4 oz. bottle of cherry extract that comes with the NB Cherry Stout kit seems to be about right for most. If interested I’m sure you could find something similar at your LHBS or other online stores.
Good luck, and Good brew!
