Smooth Hazelnut
What is the best beer recipe for a dark beer?
I like them dark, as in DARK, with the smooth chocolate malt finish. I'd like to get a hazelnut or coffee tone in there too, but I don't know how to do that yet. (Ameteur brewer here.)
Any good brew recipes or tips to reach my goal?
Thank!
Okay as for what I want, I'll clarify. I want to duplicate a dark beer I had 3 winters ago at the Ram Bighorn Brewery in Washington state.
It was very, very dark (black/drk brown), and had a chocolate tone and coffee in it. I think they called it a stout of some sort. It was the BEST beer I have ever had. I called for the brew recipe but its a trade secret, and I understand that, so I just wanted to get as close as possible.
Thanks for the ideas!
Darkness of a beer is referred to by its color. This is generally measured in SRM units. For the most part it is a factor of the roast of some of the grain you use.
To give you an example I make a amber bock that is 5 lbs 2-row, 5 lbs Munich, and 1 pound Crystal 120. It is from the 120 I get the color, a SRM of 17.1 (making it a medium to dark brown). If I added no 120 it would be a SRM of 7 (a dark yellow). If I add 2 pounds of 120 it would be a 24.5 (it would look almost black). To see those colors look up SRM and its value.
The point is it is not the malt content, but the addition of a few dark roasted malts, that gives it a color. What I would suggest you do is look up a nice bock recipe and work on it from there. If you want something with a bit more malt taste, try a stout, esp an imperial stout. And if you want to make one of my favorite winter beers, look up a recipe for a coffee stout.
All of those require (well not exactly, but you really want to) a kegerator converted for fermenting lagers (meaning turn the temperature up). If you do not already do lagers look for an amber ale and see if you like it. See if you actually want less hops, not more malt. Basically try a few and see what you like.
To make this requires you know how to malt grain, brew beer and lager it.
11 lbs 2-row (also called pale ale)
1 lb crystal 120
1 8 oz chocolate malt
1 4 oz roasted barley (not malted)
Northern Brewer hops
1 gallon cold brewed coffee
Target OG 1.080
Target FG 1.016
(yes I copied this out of my brewing software)
Make like a normal beer adding 1/2 the hops at start of biol, the other half for the last 15 mins. Add the cold brewed to top of the primary fermentor (some people crash the coffee with the grain bill, I do not like the bitterness of the coffee beans). Ferment like any other lager.
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