It has been a while since I posted.
A very busy summer and severe disappointment with my Tripel. Way to sweet and about 90% of the bottles were very flat. I’m not sure if I didn’t clean adequately or if there was something in the secondary that contaminated the beer. I’ve had to pour several bottles down the drain, which kills me. The alcohol level wasn’t lacking at all though. Very strong and a pint was all I cared to drink on a conservative evening.
The Biere de Garde and Chocolate Stouts turned out well and friends/family have enjoyed thoughout the summer. I’ll definitely make the stout again. Now for something new.
I’ll be moving forward this fall with an IPA extract kit from Northern Brewer. I’ve really enjoyed IPAs this summer so I thought one should be in order. I’ll be using a yeast starter. More to come soon.
I wanted to post earlier but haven’t gotten to it. I bottled my Chocolate Stout on April 15th. It still had a FG of 1.020.
Update on the stout. I tried one about 3 days ago in a test bottle. Still pretty flat but a really nice burnt coffee taste with a lot of chocolate taste. It was the amount of chocolate that I expected, but I’m sure it would be too much for connoisseurs of chocolate stouts.
Update on my Tripel. I took a hydrometer reading and it was at 1.017. That is down from an OG of 1.089. If it is the same in a couple days I will rack to secondary. I took a taste and it was about 5 oz of heaven. I am really excited to try it. It was strong (about 9.6%abv) and you could taste it AND feel it 
Maybe I’m a lightweight but I’ll have to be careful with this one.
I racked to secondary this morning with a hydrometer reading of 1.020 @ 70 degrees. That will give me an ABV of 4.3%. I put in the 2 oz. of vanilla extract. I’m not sure if it was the cocoa or lactose, but there was a film on top that didn’t quite seem like krausen. It was a harder coating, which can be seen in the photos below. The beer had a nice rich black/brown tone to it.
Chocolate “Stimulus Stout”
Malt 1: 6 lbs. Dark LME
Grain 1: .5 lb 60L
Grain 2: .5 lb Roasted Barley
Grain 3: .5 lb Two-Row
Grain 4: .5 lb Chocolate
Hop 1: 1 oz Cluster
Yeast: Used - 1318 London Ale III
Suggested – Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale
Adjunct 1: 2 oz. Vanilla Extract
Adjunct 2: 8 oz. 100% bakers cocoa powder
Adjunct 3: 1 lb of lactose powder
Boiling Schedule:
Steep grains at 155°F for 30 minutes. Bring to a boil. Remove water from heat and mix LME and lactose until dissolved @ 90 minutes. Bring water back to a boil and add Hop 1 @ 90 minutes. With 10 minutes left mix 8 oz of baker cocoa until dissolved.
Notes:
Transfer to secondary fermenter after ~7 days or begin taking daily hydrometer readings – when hydrometer readings are the same on consecutive days, primary fermentation is complete. Proceed to bottling or secondary fermentation and add vanilla extract. Bottle with .75 cups of corn sugar. Bottle condition for up to 3 weeks.
