Breakfast of Champions

[jamie_savoie]

I wanted to brew a stout with chaga mushroom for awhile, I drink the stuff every day so it was only a question of time before I brewed something with it.  I brewed the tea in 8gal of water the day before and used it for mashing and sparging.  For those who don't know, chaga is a highly medicinal mushroom and has huge lists of benefits.  It's the single most antioxidant thing on earth, almost 10x more than blueberries.  Chaga tea taste a little bland but it has a slight woody / maple / vanilla flavour.  I based my recipe on Mike's Get Out of Bed Stout http://www.themadfermentationist.com/20 ... stout.html
The wort was one of the best I ever tasted!  Tasted like coffee cookies and yet there's no coffee in it (will add 2 days prior racking)

Recipe: 17 - Breakfast of Champions
Brewer: Jamie
Style: Oatmeal Stout
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7,56 gal
Post Boil Volume: 7,02 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 6,00 gal  
Bottling Volume: 5,60 gal
Estimated OG: 1,056 SG
Estimated Color: 36,8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 30,8 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70,00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 78,8 %
Measured Efficiency: 73,4%
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          %/IBU        
1,00 lb               Dried Chaga Powder (steeped in 8gal of hot water for 12hr)
9 lbs                 Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3,0 SRM)         Grain         69,2 %        
2 lbs                 Toasted Oatmeal (toasted @ 350F for 25 min)            15,4 %        
12,0 oz               Carafa I (Weyermann) (320,0 SRM)         Grain         5,8 %        
8,0 oz                Carafa II (Weyermann) (415,0 SRM)        Grain         3,8 %        
8,0 oz                Caramunich II (Weyermann) (63,0 SRM)     Grain         3,8 %        
4,0 oz                Caramunich III (Weyermann) (71,0 SRM)    Grain         1,9 %        
2,00 oz               Willamette [5,50 %] - Boil 60,0 min      Hop           30,8 IBUs    
2,00 oz               Coffee (Secondary 2,0 days)              Flavor                  
1,0 pkg               S-04 English Ale (SafAle  #S-04)         Yeast                
           

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 13 lbs
----------------------------
Name                   Description                             Step Temperat Step Time    
Mash In                Add 16,90 qt of water at 168,3 F        154,0 F       60 min        

Sparge: Fly sparge with 5,14 gal water at 168,0 F

[Richard]

Where do you source your chagas, or do you have spores / myc to spare? I'd be interested to give this a go.

[jamie_savoie]

I pick them myself (I'm a huge wild mush hunter) on birch trees.  I sell them 25$/lb but I would gladly give you some   how much you want?

[Richard]

1lb would be great - I'd like to give this recipe a whirl

[jamie_savoie]

I'll prepare you a bag and will give you chunks with lots of black, the good stuff is concentrated there.

[Richard]

Excellent; thanks

[Richard]

Any idea when I could grab this off ya?

[jamie_savoie]

pm me your address

[Brian_S]

I'm curious how this turned out?  Knowing chaga isn't very flavourful as you mentioned I assumed the grains overpowered it.

I've been planning a mead using it....Ummm jet black mead....as I've read boiling temps may be detremental to the medicinal properties.

B

[jamie_savoie]

Turned out pretty good actually.  I'm planning on making it again eventually and the change I would do is either less coffee or 1 day instead of 2 days secondary and more roasted grains.  The chaga was not meant to add any flavour but only the medicinal properties.  
The way I prepare my chaga is I put a big pot of water for boil, when boiling I stop the heat, add 2-3 chucks of chaga, cover and let it steep for at least 8h.  The day after I decant and reuse the chaga 1 or 2 additional time

Next week I'm shipping 1000# to http://mountainroseherbs.com/   8-)

[Waterlogged]

Hi Jamie, a coworker just found a couple of lbs of Chaga and I am going to make this stout. How would we go a drying it for this beer?

[jamie_savoie]

If you intend to use all of the chaga for this stout, you can just clean and freeze them and use them when you're going to brew.  If you wanna dry them, chop them into pieces; place them in a hot and dry place (90-110F) for a week or so.  It also works in an oven at the min setting with a crack in the oven door.  The smaller the chunk the better extraction you're going to get, I chop mine around 2 inches square.  Make sure to infuse the chaga in hot water for at least 6-8h or the only thing you'll get is the color.

If you have any questions don't hesitate