arover

Recipes 

Hey guys,

I don't have much experience with doing chocolate beers so I figured I'd ask around and get some opinions =) I'm doing a Chocolate Hazelnut Porter, it's about 8 days in the primary right now--The chocolate added was 8oz cocoa powder at boilout. I just did a gravity check and took a taste test to see where the chocolate was at. It's a bit too faint for my liking right now, but having never done chocolate beers before I don't want to touch it at all until I know what effect it'll have (plus it's barely been over a week). I was considering adding 4oz nibs before leaving for 5 days, but from what I've read, 8oz cocoa powder seems to be a good amount. What do you guys think?

Also, the beer finished a bit lower than expected @ 1.014-1.015 (from 1.066). I was shooting for 1.019-1.020 but my mash temps dropped more than expected. I was considering adding some maltodextrin to compensate for this at kegging (I'm going to bottle after I get the carbonation and hazelnut to a point I like) since I know it's going to be more thin. Good idea? Bad idea? How much to add?

Thanks, as always!

Oldsock

Recipes 

With something like chocolate it is all a matter of personal taste. You could certainly add the cocoa nibs to the keg (in a mesh bag of course) and pull them out when the flavor is where you want it. It may be that the beer is still young and yeast and that is covering up the cocoa. Same deal with the malto-dextrin. I’d add it in 4 oz increments until the body is where you want it (a bit more than ½ lb will get the FG back up close to 1.020).

__________________
Check out The Mad Fermentationist for my adventures in fermentation (cheese, bread, ginger beer plant, and of course plenty of funky beer).