Is it just me or does it smell like Chocolate in here?

The big day! Mistakes were made, fun was had, tears were shed. The final recipe I settled on, based on my stocks and some educated guesses-

Makes about 4L of "beer"-

Whoppers, Pre-Crushing

• 12.2 oz Chocolate Ovaltine (a standard container)
• 3.5 oz of Whoppers
• 1/2 lb light DME
• 1/4 lb Chocolate Malt
• 1/4 lb Black Roast Malt
• 1/2 tsp Gypsum
• 1/2 oz Fuggle hops (60 min)
• 1/4 oz Goldings hops (60 min)
• 1/8 oz Fuggle hops (15 min)
• 1/4 tsp Irish Moss
• Harvested Rogue Chocolate Stout (Pacman, I believe) yeast.

Whoppers, Post Crushing

My brewing technique was typical for extract brewing. I steeped the grain at about 160°F for 30 minutes. Then I removed the spent grain bag and added the "extracts" (including whoppers and Ovaltine) as well as my boiling hops and gypsum. At the appropriate time, I added the finishing hops and Irish moss, then sparged.


I included some light DME, and probably should have done more or a second container of Ovaltine, but by the time I realized how little Ovaltine was actually in the container and how low my supplies are, I'd already started. I crushed up the whoppers before adding them to the mix, but this was probably unnecessary as they disintegrated pretty quickly.

Nothing too unusual in the process, except that there was tons of trub when I strained during the transfer, and the whole house smelled like hot chocolate. Mmmm... but not as good as the usual brew smell.

Will it Ferment?- Chocolate Ovaltine and Whoppers

This blog's primary purpose is to give me an excuse to brew more frequently. Its secondary purpose is to help me record some fun, experimental beers done with unusual ingredients.


The plan is to do 1-2 small ~ 4L batches per month, featuring strange ingredients. If I get something good out of an experiment, I'll try to extract the good parts and eliminate the bad parts, eventually resulting in a good recipe, worthy of sharing with the world.


My first brew will contain chocolate Ovaltine and Whoppers (chocolate malt balls). From the ingredients label, in the Ovaltine, we have: 

• Sugar- good! Yeast loves it! More alcohol. No clue as to what kind of sugar, though, unfortunately.
• Cocoa- ok- chocolate in beer isn't too unusual. Can add some nice flavor.
• Whey- not so good- whey is a milk protein and I can't think of anything good that come out of that.
• Barley Malt Extract- Hey-o! That sounds familiar! 
• Beet Juice Color- Shouldn't affect taste.
• Mono- and diacylglycerols - WTF are these? According to wikipedia, "Mono- and diacylglycerols are common food additives used to blend together certain ingredients, such as oil and water, which would not otherwise blend well." Ok?
• Molasses- Yum! More sugars for the yeast. Should add some unique flavoring.
• Natural Caramel Flavor and Artificial Vanilla Flavor- Cool, maybe the flavors will come through
• Soy Lecithin- another weird chemical thing. Apparently, it prevents sticking. I hope it doesn't affect head retention. Head is always good.
• 8 Vitamins and Minerals- I won't go through them all. Food for yeast, I hope?

The Whoppers have a similar ingredient list, nothing too alarming. Here's to a good first brew!