When I picked up this kit from MoreBeer (fermentationfrenzy.com) originally, I thought the chocolate and hazelnut were in reference to a nutty flavor and chocolate malts … not so!  It included a vial of hazelnut flavoring and 8oz unsweetened cocoa.  Wacky.  Not sure I would have picked it up if I’d known that ahead of time, but it’s sure to be interesting.  Anyway, reset your clock for 3pm on October 12, 2008 and here’s how the brew day went!

3:00 – started 6 gallons cold water, pulled 2 yeast (WLP001 CA ale), added grains (1lb munich, 1lb crystal 40L, 1lb crystal 75L, .5lb carapils, .75lb chocolate malt, .5 black patent)

4:00 – grains removed @ 170º

4:30 – removed from heat, added cocoa, hazelnut, 8lbs ultralight, .5lb light DME and returned kettle to heat after mixing thoroughly

5:00 – added boiling hops (1oz sterling)

5:30 – 1oz willamette

5:40 – chiller into wort (sterilizing)

5:55 – whirlfloc

6:00 – aroma hops, heat off, chiller on

6:55 – strained into carboy @80º, pitched 2 vials WLP001, aerated for 2 min

Original gravity 1.076 @ 66º (estimate was 1.082).  Taste was clean and sweet, so far so good.

Notes — brew seemed to go smoothly, directions didn’t indicate when to add cocoa or hazelnut, so I chose to add them with the sugars (@60 min).  I’d originally planned to make a yeast starter to kick off aggressive fermentation, but didn’t plan ahead enough so pitched the 2 yeasts to make up for it

[time passes – it’s now October 30th – racking day!]

Racked the porter to secondary and left a good 2-3″ of sediment behind. No problems – specific gravity now 1.021 @66º

[more time passes, 60 days actually – it’s now December 29th – bottling day!]

Bottled into 23x 1/2 liter bottles and 1x 2 liter jug!  Total brew yield = 13.5 liters.  Final gravity 1.025 @65º

6.7% ABV (as calculated by http://www.brewersfriend.com/abv-calculator/)

Last taste test was clean, tasty and a little bit sweet (hopefully that was just from the corn sugar), I’ll open a bottle in 1 week but I suspect that for full bottle conditioning I’ll want at least 3 weeks and this strikes me as a beer that will improve the longer I leave it in there.