After my first try, I thought I'd step up my game. The lessons learned from my first brew, things like equipment, timing, and just general knowledge had to be picked up or learned. Even though my first brew was just me trying it out, it would've been nice to have the right equipment at least. So I went to the homebrew shop that had a decent selection of everything I was looking for, picked up my new equipment and ingredients.
I, again, had gone to Old Flame Brewing, and had a chance to try out their Perry's Chocolate Orange, a wonderful stout, and so something I had to try. Of course, duplicating isn't something of an easy task, so it did come out more of my own creation, but still very close and, I might say, very tasty. At least I got this one right.
The ingredients are as follows:
Grain
7.5lbs of 2-row barley
12oz of Carafa 3 Special (dehusked)
12oz of Pale Chocolate
4oz of Carafoam
Hops
0.5oz Citra Hops for 30 minutes
0.5oz Summit Hops for 10 minutes
Yeast
1 pkg Safale US-05
For a 5 gallon batch this worked out to a preboil gravity of 1.037 and an OG of 1.047. Using the US-05, the FG came out to 1.010.
I bottled the beer, but again, me being the impatient person I am, couldn't wait that long for it to condition, I had to try this one, and I mean right away. So of course I put some through the SodaStream. Now one problem with doing this is getting just the right amount of carbonation, and to this day I still can't seem to do it. Nonetheless it was carbonated, albeit over-carbonated, and it was time to try it...
Now if I thought I'd had any beer that was chocolatey, this was it. The pale chocolate malt really stood out in this one, it really took over I think, but it really made the beer, rather than taking away from it. The orange notes weren't what I was looking for, but still were enjoyable.
As I had said, I had originally tasted a bottle from the SodaStream, but eventually waited for the bottles to be conditioned, and this beer just got better over time, it really was an excellent beer. One interesting note however, the beer was so dark I could hold any flashlight up to it and it would not shine through at all, it was certainly a dark brew.
Not bad for only my second shot at it...