Thin Mints Stout Homebrew Recipe

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WATCH: Thin Mints Stout Brew Discussion & Tasting Notes

This homebrew recipe comes to us by way of our pal Paul Illa and was inspired by Michael Dawson’s Mashmaker recipe book and a sweet tooth for Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies. The recipe is similar to the Ryed Irish Stout recipe from Dawson’s book (remember our episode on brewing that beer?) But, it takes several liberties to add new layers of flavor – namely the inclusion of crushed Thin Mint cookies to both the mash and a brief secondary conditioning. The recipe also comes in at a bit higher ABV (the original is more like 4.8%) and subs in Admiral hops in place of Dawson’s called-for Northdown hops, which Illa found adds an herbal evergreen note to complement the cookies. The combination of Chocolate Malt and Chocolate Rye is a brilliant option for bringing deep chocolate notes to the beer as well as a bit of wintergreen-like spice that, again, complements the beer so well.

Thin Mint Stout

OG: 1.063
FG: 1.015
ABV: 6.4%
Bitterness Ratio: 0.526
IBU: 33
SRM: 36

Malt

  • 9 lbs 8.6 oz 2-Row Pale Malt (71.1%)
  • 2 lbs 6.9 oz Flaked Rye (18.1%)
  • 8 oz Chocolate Malt (3.7%)
  • 8 oz Roasted Barley (3.7%)
  • 7.2 oz Chocolate Rye Malt (3.4%)

Miscellaneous

  • 2 sleeves of Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies

Hops

  • 0.85 oz Admiral @ 60 minutes (33 IBUs)

Yeast

  • Lallemand Nottingham

 

Process

Crush cookies into rough-sized chunks inside one sleeve of Thin Mints.

Mash grains with one sleeve of cookies stirred in at 152F for 60 minutes, then raise to 168F mash out temperature and hold for 10 minutes. 

Sparge and collect wort in a boil kettle.

Bring wort to a boil, adding hops as noted above.

After 60-minute boil, kill the flame, and chill wort to yeast pitching temperature of approximately 62F.

Pitch yeast at and ferment between 62-65F.

When primary fermentation is complete, crush the second sleeve of cookies into medium-sized chunks inside the sleeve, then dump the cookie chunks into a muslin bag; tie a knot to seal the bag opening. Place the cookie bag in a secondary vessel (preferably something with a wide-mouth opening to make it easier to remove swollen cookie bag) and rack beer onto it. Take a sample each day until the flavor level you seek is reached. This might only take one or two days, or could take longer. But when you hit the sweet spot, get the bag out of there.

Bottle or keg, and enjoy along with a third sleeve of Thin Mint cookies for an epic pairing.

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