Mayan Gold Chocolate Stout - Recipe & Brew Day

I've been kicking around the idea of brewing this beer for a while now, but have been a bit worried about over doing the chili presence and creating a nuclear meltdown in someone's mouth. Actually, the idea for this beer came to me about a year ago when I happened across Green & Black's Maya Gold dark chocolate bar in a whole foods store out in Akron,Ohio. Being a lover of Dark Chocolate and intrigued by the mix of spices added to the chocolate, I bought a bar to try with a couple of friends back home in Delaware. All I can say is that I was blown away by the taste, the dark chocolate and cinnamon blend great together and there was just a hint of heat in the end. We all agreed it was delicious, and this got me wondering if I could brew a batch of beer, merging these flavors together....

The base beer would be pretty simple, in fact I loosely modeled this recipe after one of my favorites, Rogue's Chocolate Stout. My true concern came about with regards to the spice additions, because I've definitely brewed my fair share of over spiced beers in the past. After looking over a dozen or more Spiced Beer recipes on the internet, reviewing the section in Randy Mosher's Radical Brewing book regarding spice additions and heeding the words of Sam Clalagione in his interview with BYO Magazine, in their September 2006 issue, "Add a little less spice or herbs than your gut is telling you to add.", I felt pretty confident in brewing this beer.

Brew day went fairly well, the only problem I ran into was my propane tank running out on me midway through bring my sparge water up to proper temperature. However, that was an easy fix, just disconnect the empty and slap on a full one.

As I transfered the wort from the kettle to the fermenting vessel, I stole a small sample and was pretty happy with the results. The dark chocolate and cinnamon flavors were there, but not overwhelming, however the heat from the dried chillies was lacking, in fact it wasn't even present, so I might have to dry chili and hope that the capsicum is pulled out by the alcohol in the fermented beer. It will be interesting to see how this beer turns out after fermenting.

Mayan Gold Chocolate Stout (American Stout) – Recipe & Brew Day Stats

Brewed: Sunday, June 27, 2010

Racked: just primary fermentation (minus the 3 gallons sitting on sweet dark cherries)

Bottled/Kegged: Thursday, July 12, 2010

Batch Size (Gal): 7.50

Brewhouse Efficiency: 70%

Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Original Gravity: 1.059

Final Gravity: 1.020

SRM: 45

IBU: 50

ABV: 5.14%

Grains/Sugars (Total Grain Bill (Lbs.): 18.13)

11.88 lbs. American Pale Malt (2~Row)

1.88 lbs. Flaked Oats

1.88 lbs. Chocolate Malt

1.25 lbs. Crystal 40L Malt

.63 lb. Crystal 60L Malt

.63 lb. Roasted Barley

Hops

1.16 oz. Citra, 12.30%, pellet, 60min

0.50 oz. Cascade, 7.40%, pellet,15min

0.50 oz. Cascade, 7.40%, pellet, 1min

Spices

0.56 oz. Cinnamon Sticks (Broken Apart), 1min

0.25 oz. Dried Chili Peppers,1min

4.50 oz. Cocoa Powder, 1min

2.00 Whole Vanilla Beans, 1min

Yeast

WLP001: California Ale Yeast 1500ml. starter

Additives

2 tsp. Irish Moss, 15min

Mash/Boil/Fermentation

H2O/Grain Ratio: 1.32 qt/lb

Sacch. Rest Temp/Time: 152*F/60min

Mash Out Temp/Time: 165*F/10min

Sparge Temp/Time: 170*F/30min

Pre-Boil Vol: 9.32

Post-Boil Vol: 7.93

Evaporation Rate(per hour): 10%

Ferment Temp: 65°F

Primary Fermentation (Days): 11

Secondary Fermentation (Days): (3 gallons will be stored on 4 pounds of pre-frozen sweet dark cherries for a few weeks. Should be interesting!)