BeerBorg

I picked up a nice one from Samuel Smith yesterday, but despite being the best one I've tasted so far, it's still to sweet and overpowering. I want a beer with chocolate accents and flavors, not one that tastes like a Cadbury in a bottle.

Have any of the Borg tried to brew their own yet? I may make this my February project brew.

My suggestion based on your tastes is to brew a basic dry irish stout, and add a small amount or replace a bit of the roasted barley or whatever other roasted malt is in it with a bit of British Chocolate Malt and a little bit of pure vanilla extract (not artificial). 1TBSP of it works well in a 2.5 gallon batch. The vanilla will bring out the chocolaty flavors of the malt, but being a dry irish stout base it will not be sweet.

Another option would be to brew it as directed, and add say 1/4C of dark cocoa powder (not chocolate bars or chunks, but dutch processed cocoa powder which is low in fat or non fat). And I'd use vanilla extract there too. That again assumes 2.5 gallon batch.

Do not use real chocolate, the fat does very bad things to your beer. Do not use artificial vanilla extract, it also does very bad things to your beer.

chocolate essence or extract at bottling

I brewed a Chocolate Porter that turned out great and was really well received. I never had Sam Smiths Chocolate Stout but I know what you are saying. I used a mix of different dark malts and cocoa powder at the end of the boil. I also added some vanilla and hazelnut extract at flameout and added vanilla beans to the secondary.

Your taste is all your own. But a good start is to remember a beer can be malty without being sweet. Malty is a flavor while malt sweetness is a character of the beer. Unsweetened cocoa adds a nice character without being like a chocolate bar. I actually got a lot of coffee flavor from the roasted grains and chocolate too...it was really good.

I had a great chocolate stout from Harpoon. It wasn't overly sweet. The chocolate taste was subtle.
It would be interesting to see if a clone recipe is available.

I bought the chocolate milk stout from northern brewer. I cold steeped some starbucks espresso (about 3/4 Liter) for a couple days and added it to the wort at flame out. I had the cacao nibs soaking for a couple days in vodka to extract and sterilize. .. added to secondary fermenter after 2 weeks.

it took a long time to condition nicely but it was not overly sweet. first taste, the coffee was too forward..next time use less. the yeast us04 I think, gave it a fruity quality that seemed out of place for a stout to me. perhaps next one will be with a liquid yeast. the last bottle after sitting for months was perfect. a nice balance of coffee and bakers chocolate... a smooth quality from the lactose... and though the fruity quality of the yeast prevailed, it balanced the choco/coffee nicely. the chocolate taste was not icky sweet but like a fine dark cocoa ... 87-95% cacao chocolate bar would approximate the taste.

fermented at 62-64f.

side note: a single half liter bottle acted like a tonic for me. I did not get the caffeine jitters but man, after drinking it I just could not get my body and mind to shut off for sleep. it was like an energy shot. for my first go at it I was quite pleased with the final product.

Thank you all! I'll be sure to take my time and get this right. Or as right as a first effort can be!