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  • really, really stupid question.....

    so…. here it goes.....
    im thinking about making a brownie milk stout. or rather, our costumers are kinda demanding it. I was thinking about adding organic brownie mix to the kettle. my 2 questions are: how many lbs per bbl? and any idea on how to estimate OG and potential fermentability?

    I really haven't been on the pastry train so any advice and or experience with this sort of thing is much appreciated.

  • #2
    I don't know about adding it to the boil. I would worry about starch haze from the boiled flour, and clogging the HX with brownie sediment. If you're gonna use brownie mix, I'd add it to the mash. As to gravity, the nutritional information should tell you how many grams of sugar are in the package. You can add that to your recipe in whatever software you use to estimate the additional fermentables. I'd assume the same fermentability as regular table sugar.

    However...perhaps there's another way? I once got my hands on cocoa husks, and added them to the mash for a pale ale. I used the equivalent of 4 lbs/bbl, and the chocolate aroma in the finished beer was amazing. So I decided to use them in a milk stout with some pale chocolate malt, and vanilla beans in secondary. Tasted and smelled like decadent chocolate cake, and there was no chance of weird stuff happening with prepackaged ingredients. Food for thought. Good luck, I love chocolate beers.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by spetrovits View Post
      I don't know about adding it to the boil. I would worry about starch haze from the boiled flour, and clogging the HX with brownie sediment. If you're gonna use brownie mix, I'd add it to the mash. As to gravity, the nutritional information should tell you how many grams of sugar are in the package. You can add that to your recipe in whatever software you use to estimate the additional fermentables. I'd assume the same fermentability as regular table sugar.

      However...perhaps there's another way? I once got my hands on cocoa husks, and added them to the mash for a pale ale. I used the equivalent of 4 lbs/bbl, and the chocolate aroma in the finished beer was amazing. So I decided to use them in a milk stout with some pale chocolate malt, and vanilla beans in secondary. Tasted and smelled like decadent chocolate cake, and there was no chance of weird stuff happening with prepackaged ingredients. Food for thought. Good luck, I love chocolate beers.

      Thanks for the advice, I was concerned about that stuff and the HX. the cocoa husks sounds super interesting though. do you remember where you got them? a quick google machine search only turned up gardening mulch versions with the words "not for human or animal consumption" on the bag.

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      • #4
        I actually got mine from another brewer; never had to deal with a retailer. But a Google search for "cacao husks bulk" led to some interesting leads. Looks like chocolatiers end up with them as a waste product. Hopefully, you don't get raked on cost. As I understand, I'm not the only one who has discovered their usefulness in brewing.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Richard Pivo View Post
          so…. here it goes.....
          im thinking about making a brownie milk stout. or rather, our costumers are kinda demanding it. I was thinking about adding organic brownie mix to the kettle. my 2 questions are: how many lbs per bbl? and any idea on how to estimate OG and potential fermentability?

          I really haven't been on the pastry train so any advice and or experience with this sort of thing is much appreciated.
          Hi Richard,
          I would suggest using Cholaca (https://cholaca.com) in a milk stout. This stuff gives a great chocolate flavor. I’ve added it to a stout, post fermentation. My customers loved it.

          Prost!
          Dave
          Glacier Brewing Company
          406-883-2595
          info@glacierbrewing.com

          "who said what now?"

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by GlacierBrewing View Post
            Hi Richard,
            I would suggest using Cholaca (https://cholaca.com) in a milk stout. This stuff gives a great chocolate flavor. I’ve added it to a stout, post fermentation. My customers loved it.

            Prost!
            Dave
            Thanks Dave. I looked into them and have a sample coming through country malt. Still in search of some cocoa husks that spetrovits recommend. The chocolate makers in my area are asking almost the price of oragnic, fair trade whole beans! I would love to be able to ask such prices for my spent grain. But I guess one man's trash is another's treasure.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by spetrovits View Post
              I actually got mine from another brewer; never had to deal with a retailer. But a Google search for "cacao husks bulk" led to some interesting leads. Looks like chocolatiers end up with them as a waste product. Hopefully, you don't get raked on cost. As I understand, I'm not the only one who has discovered their usefulness in brewing.

              I'm about to use some husks as well, did they do anything weird to the pH?

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              • #8
                You could also use pre-made brownies and add them to the mash tun like a pastry stout.

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                • #9
                  so I ended up importing a few hundred lbs of whole beans from Costa Rica and Guatemala an processing them myself. It was a bit of a pita but the beer took gold in the chocolate beer category at The 2019 GABf! So it was totally worth it!

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