What you need to know about chocolate for brewing - Page 7

tesilential · 01-02-2012, 02:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thirstin4aburstin

I recently have been creating my own liquid extracts at home (chocolate, banana, and bacon to start with). For the chocolate, I used two tablespoons of cocoa powder and dissolved it in 2 ounces vodka and 1 ounce purified water in a glass jar. It's been sitting for a little over a week and I plan on filtering it next weekend. Every day I give it a shake and take a whiff and it smells very chocolatey, like the sweet, not bitter kind. My eventual plan is to brew a chocolate stout or porter and add the extract at bottling. I've read in previous posts that some people have gotten an artificial chocolate taste by this method but I didn't know if they had made their own extract or used store bought. Please give me some input.

I would read a thread about making extracts <hint><hint>.

**starman** · 01-18-2012, 10:24 AM

Whole Foods sells "Cacao Nibs" raw chocolate nibs. Based on comments it looks like i should roast these before adding to a FBS clone. Can anyone suggest a temp and time for this? Im not sure if ill be able to see them 'toast'

Thanks.

Alchemist42 · 01-18-2012, 11:24 AM

No, you won't be able to see them toast. But you can smell them, and that is your best indicator. It's all dependent on how much you roast, but 300 F for 20 minutes in your oven will get you quite far along. Look for a nice baking brownie smell.

Be slightly aware though that there is a 'raw' chocolate movement going on and many raw nibs are very low fermented and have very little chocolate flavor even when roasted.

**starman** · 01-18-2012, 10:33 PM

Movement to not ferment... What the heck is wrong with people?

Thanks! I'd already opened the bag so guess I'll toast and see.

Alchemist42 · 01-19-2012, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by starman

Movement to not ferment... What the heck is wrong with people?

Thanks! I'd already opened the bag so guess I'll toast and see.

Noting you may be asking a rhetorical question....

There was a study at some point back by Mars that showed that chocolate made OVER fermented cocoa beans had less nutrients and anti-oxidants than properly fermented cocoa beans. In very classic fringe movement style, the notion came about that if that therefore if you followed that rationale all the well that non-fermented just has to be the best....with no documentation to back it up.

I'm now kicking myself for not saving the study, as I now can not find it, but there was data indicating that in fact, non-fermented beans did have more total anti-oxidants....wait for it....but it was massively less digestible (and even worse when not roasted) and the net digestible amount was far less than even over fermented beans.

/rant
/soapbox

jabanico · 02-21-2012, 09:29 PM

Is there any major difference in flavor or content between brewing chocolate as described in this thread, and from boiling cocoa liquor, as it is done in cacao growing countries? In the Philippines, we simply boil tabilla (Spanish word for tablets) and stir, as grinders are not common in Philippine homes.

**Edcculus** · 02-23-2012, 12:51 AM

You could very well boil the cocoa liquor. Since the cocoa liquor has a lot of fat in it, you might have some problems down the line. I think people are having a lot of luck with the unground nibs because although they still have the same amount of fat as the liquor, you are essentially soaking up the essence and not really extracting much if any cocoa butter.

Its been a while since I read the entire thread, so if people are chucking bakers chocolate into the boil, then go right ahead with the cocoa liquor.

Gofastr1 · 03-06-2012, 01:28 AM

I've only used cacao nibs, but have had commercial beers made with cocoa powder and, IMO, the nibs provide a much richer, dark chocolate flavor that seems better blended with the flavor from dark grains in the bill. May be psychological, but the beer brewed w/cocoa powder seemed, well, powdery.

My best success with nibs to date has been a chocolate cherry stout. This was a big beer at 9% ABV, formulated to give just a hint of cherry. I used 7oz of nibs, and 1 & 1/2 vanilla bean per each 5g secondary for 2 months, then kegged 5g, bottled 5g.

A month and a half after packaging, the chocolate flavor was huge. 6 months after packaging it was still very notable, but had mellowed and blended. Took silver in specialty category in a field of 63 entries. Entered twice more over next six months in pretty big comps, taking a bronze and finally a gold.

I never knew nibs had so much fat - had I, I may have opted out fearing the fat would lead to off flavors (rancid?) after a lot of time in the bottle. But I just cracked a bottle of this beer, now nearly 2 years since packaging, and it is still really, really awesome - though I am biased...

**Edcculus** · 03-06-2012, 02:37 PM

Well, nibs do have fat (cocoa butter), but at this point, I doubt much is extracted when soaked in the beer since fats are generally not water soluble. If you take some nibs and grind them up in a mortar and pestle, you will find that it makes a paste, as opposed to coffee beans, which will make a powder.