Having trouble adding my late additions...
250g Cocoa powder 5 mins left in the boil
250g Coffee beans 12 hr before bottling
100g ground coffee in tea bags 12 hrs before bottling
Brew day. Had to change up the malt bill and have saved those.
Lowered mash temp 30 mins in gave it a good stir. Not too vigorous though. Temp was overshooting. At time of stir, sitting at 67...after stir, 72...tells you how hot it is inside. No wonder I have been having efficiency issues...
We shall see what the pre-boil gravity reading is.
1.052...a bit off...
2 x 2 litres sparges over boil kettle
2 x 2 litres sparges in secondary fermenting/ holding vessel. All runnings added back to boul vessel.
20 litres into fermentor
1.056...bit off again.
Gravity on Day 6 1.024. Doing pretty well. Won't measure again until Day 10.
Gravity on Day 10 1.021. Not come down as much as I was hoping. Probably won't be bottling on Day14. Might go to Day 18...
Day 14 gravity...hasn't budged. Still 1.021. Bumping temp to 20c to try to get it over the line...
Pitched 5g of rehydrated Champagne Yeast on Day 16.
Day 17. Gravity 1.0205...maybe. Added 50g table sugar in solution and 38ml vanilla extract (contained glucose). Only 10% vanilla, so I am not expecting vanilla overkill. Slight gamble of course. But now maybe better to add it with that sugar content. Keep fermented at 20c. Measure again on Day 20. Hopefully be bottling or adding coffee beans and ground coffee then.
Measured gravity on Day 19 1.0205 ish. So yeast had already munched through the extra 50g and glucose in the essence and possibly more. Sample tasted the same as previously with no real detectable vanilla element, surprisingly.
Measure again day 21.
Last night (day 21) gravity hadn't budged. Added 200g of beans and 100g ground coffee in tea bags. Bottled 12hrs later. Sample at bottling tasted quite astringent and bitter which was a surprise. However, we have 2 weeks of bottle conditioning. Primed primary with 110g of table sugar in a warm (boiled) water solution. Two weeks of conditioning has done this a lot of good. No longer astringent. Mellowed a lot. Coffee and chocolate are noticeable. Coffee more than chocolate. Aroma is a odd. Very pleasant drink.
Have had Krausen-looking foam on the beer in the bottles which is surprising given that the gravity was stable over three days at room temps.
Anyway, decent drink. Bottles are now stored in a cool location and no bulging caps or gushers so far.