Question about brewing with Cocoa

maxbing · 06-27-2009, 08:16 PM

I brewed this Recipe about a week ago:

Imperial-double-chocolate-stout

It called for 1 LBS of Cocoa. I just transfered it to secondary and it still has a very chocolaty color like chocolate milk. Will the Cocoa eventually drop out of suspension? Is 1 lbs of cocoa too much?

I tried some from my sample from a gravity reading and this is the first "green" beer sample that I could not drink. Please tell me it will get better.

Thanks
Scott

**dwarven_stout** · 06-28-2009, 12:57 AM

I'm pretty new, but I have a rule already:

Never doubt a brew till it's been 3 weeks in bottles.
The ghiradelli chocolate might give you some extra bitterness, but most of it should drop out. 1lb is a lot, but it'll be fine in the end.

michael.berta · 06-28-2009, 01:03 AM

1# of Cocoa power is a lot! I use half a pound per 10 gallon batch and I get lots of chocolate flavor. The key is to use cocoa powder that is 100% cocoa; no sugar. Some of it might come out of solution if you crash cool your carboy.....

**ChshreCat** · 06-28-2009, 01:37 AM

+1 on the one pound being a huge amount of cocoa. I used 9oz in 5 gallons and it's super chocolaty. Although, in that recipe he's replacing the bittering hops with chocolate, so that might need more than what I used. I haven't brewed that way so I don't know personally.

I would've recommended a lot more time before transferring out of your primary. There's a ton of cocoa floating around in there and it'll take time to settle out. Better to leave that behind in your primary. I went over 3 weeks with mine before going to secondary and still got more cocoa out in secondary over 2 weeks in there.

maxbing · 06-28-2009, 04:13 AM

There was already a ton of Cocoa in in the yeast cake. It was a good 3 in thick in a 5 gal bucket. It is in a glass carboy now, I plan on leaving it there for a good 3 week then age in a keg until it tastes good or I get sick of it an dump it out.

maxbing · 06-28-2009, 01:32 PM

When in doubt you should "Relax, don't worry - have a home brew"

I check this morning now that that I can see it in the glass carboy and it is already settling out. What I think I did is not realize that the trub was so thick in my primary bucket that I was sucking a Chocolate slurry through the tube with all the beer.

**Rochefort10** · 09-25-2011, 05:13 AM

I know it's two years later, but how did it turn out?