Batch 10

I decided to make this beer during spring so that I could save a bigger 1 liter bottle for Christmas, just to see how it would taste after some storing.

I was very happy with my last stout Batch 2, despite not reaching the desired OG so that’s what I aimed to fix this time. I reused the original recipe Imperiets Vinterporter again but changed how much of each malts type and spiced it up a bit by adding cacao nibs. These cacao nibs are just crushed cacao beans but the good thing about nibs is that they usually come roasted which prevents a bitterness to the finished product.

The beer turned out great, very delicious with balanced chocolate flavor. I actually thought the amount of nibs wasn’t enough and I was thinking about adding more but since this amount was recommended by others I went with the more “safe” option. I wouldn’t complain if it was heavier on chocolate but I also think that this more balanced approach is better, even though it would fun to try it out in the future and see the result. The beer is thicker with a bigger mouthfeel than the previous one, which should be the case since it’s a lot heavier.

So how was the brew day? Challenging, to say the least. This was by far the most heavy mash I’ve done with this kettle and I misjudged (or ignored) the calculated water/malts ratio which made dealing with the mash a lot more difficult. I had trouble keeping a steady mash temperature and because the mash kettle was so full it was difficult not to spill while stirring, messy indeed.

Another thing that can be challenging is mash efficiency as it can drop when pushing the kettle volume to its limit and as a result miss the target OG. This wasn’t a problem for me as I did reach the target 1,086 but instead, I had a lot less wort than calculated. I was supposed to have 18 liters in the fermenter but only received 13 so short on 5 liters which is a pretty big chunk. I could’ve accepted the fact that this batch will be smaller than anticipated but greedy as I am, I had to fix this. I used dry malt extract and made me small 3 liter beer and added it to top it to at least 17 liters which had to do.

The cacao nibs was split and I used the first half during the boil, added at 20 minutes. While they were boiling I put the other half in a vodka bath and stored it in the fridge until it was ready to be added to the almost completely fermented beer. I let the nibs sit in the fermented beer for another week before cold crashing. This time I measured FG before starting the cold crash step..

Speaking of fermentation and what not. I used the yeast strain Nottingham and what-a-beast! I almost didn’t have time to put on the fermenter lid before it started eating sugars like crazy. The amount of activity in the airlock was also something I had never seen before and was a fun experience since yeast can be very boring compared to other stuff, usually there’s just waiting time who likes to actually just sit and wait?

For being very active, it was less active when producing carbonation on bottles, but this was not a surprise. It’s common for yeast to be tired after being so active with a high SG wort and also with high amount of alcohol. Carbonation levels was a bit low in the beginning but fixed itself with time. Stouts should’ve less carbonation than other styles so it actually didn’t matter too much this time but the lack of foam however mattered more.

All in all, yet again a successful brew and I’m already planning to do another one but maybe try a porter at 5,5% would be nice. I might even try out cacao nibs again, or why not something smoky?