I had posted this link in another thread. It will help you with tips on the usage of chocolate/cocoa /cacao nibs & vanilla when brewing. It's been around for a while on the Maltose Falcons site.
If you are sure they are not already roasted, go ahead and roast them and then you'll have to crack them out of the shell to get out the meat out which at this point will be the same as cocoa nibs. It is possible though that they have already been roasted and all you have to do is crack the shell to get the cocoa meat out.
In any case I would definitely go through the process to extract the nibs and you will for sure reap the benefits. No point in throwing out some potentially great cocoa material. Good luck!
I was listening to the Can You Brew It podcast for Deschutes Black Butte Porter on the way to work today and when they were interviewing the brewmaster from Deschutes, they asked him about the Black Butte XX and how they made it. He said that for the chocolate, they used nibs and put them in the boil kettle. Kinda interesting.
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I was listening to the Can You Brew It podcast for Deschutes Black Butte Porter on the way to work today and when they were interviewing the brewmaster from Deschutes, they asked him about the Black Butte XX and how they made it. He said that for the chocolate, they used nibs and put them in the boil kettle. Kinda interesting.
I do not think it would be feasable for a micro brewery to add nibs to a seccondary fermentation tank then need to rack again.
Homebrewers on the other hand can get the most flavor from the nibs by using a them in secondary
Ok so heres my 2 cents. I'd appreciate some input.
So far I have used
8oz Baking Cocoa Power in one stout (Flameout)
8oz Baking Cocoa Powder and 8oz backers choclate bar (Flameout)
10oz roasted Raw Cocoa Beans (2ndary)
The first attempt wasn't really cocoa at all just bitter
The second attempt was slighly cocoa but REALLY bitter
the 3rd attempt with roasted raw cocoa beans well... it was bitter again
So far In my opinon I still cann't get a satisfactory amount of Cocoa Taste in my beer despite using different protocols. I haven't noticed loss of head much. But It seems the more cocoa I use the more bitter things get. I know this is expected but I REALLY want that cocolate taste...
The more research I do on this, and the more feedback I get, its pretty consistent that plain cocoa gives a very bitter flavor. Not too surprising since cocoa powder is extremely bitter. Maybe treat it as you would a roasted grain? They can get pretty bitter too. I think its also important to have enough sweetness in your beer to back it up. Yes, cocoa powder is basically pure cocoa, but thats not what people are expecting when they hear "chocolate". Maybe try it in a sweet stout?
On an interesting note, the ancient Aztecs and other cultures of the time were the first to use the cocoa bean. They ground it up and mixed it with water and other spices like cayenne pepper. They would pour it back and forth between two vessels to make a huge frothy head. This drink was probably extremely bitter. It wasn't until cocoa was brought back to Europe that people started sweetening, addding other spices like cinnamon, nutmeg etc to make hot cocoa. It wasn't until even later that someone had the idea to sweeten the hell out of it and make it into candy.
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Chocolate Extract in the secondary. This appears to be how rougue brewery does it and young's double chocolate stout. I think this maybe the only way to get the flavor i want. I'll throw in a nice dose of crystal malt and attempt to sweeten the entire thing up.
h4rdluck...
Extract is probably the easiest way to go, honestly. Still, if you want to be more 'purest', maybe try adding cocoa powder in the secondary? I did this with a chocolate porter and the flavour and aroma came through quite nicely.
I boiled about a liter/ quart of water to sanitize it, then after it had cooled slightly, I added about 200g (1/2 can) of 'fry's premium cocoa powder'. This made a thick paste that I added as I moved to the secondary. I kept the secondary slightly warm (25 C) with a heat pad underneath it for a few days.
Like you, I wanted to keep the bitterness as low as possible, and my thought was that adding cocoa at boil would extract more bitterness, and boil off aroma.
Another thought I had was adding some cocoa powder to the mash... anyone try? You MIGHT be asking for a disaster?
I attempted a Dogfish Theobroma-ish recipe, and bought some cacao beans from my LHBS. Didn't roast them, but cracked them with a rolling pin and dumped them in the boil at 10 minutes. Haven't tried the beer yet - it's still conditioning - but can't wait to give the finished product a taste.
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