Chocolate hazelnut porter

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Bates_Foreman

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I've heard different stories about using cocoa powder. I used a full 8 oz batch of hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder right at the end of my boiling. I've heard some people say that if you let the cocoa powder sit too long, it can cause a bitter chocolate taste in the beer. I'm going for a strong chocolate taste, and i plan on adding hazelnut extract right before bottling. The brew has been sitting for about 10 days after fermentation. Is that too long? Does anyone have any experience with brewing a chocolate porter? I know rogue adds a chocolate extract to their "Chocolate stout" to enhance the flavor. I'm considering this, but does anyone have any info. on doing this? I'm a newb brewer and want this beer to come out exceptionally good, as i will be giving this out as a christmas/ new years beer. Any info helps! Thanks :cross:
 
Bates_Foreman said:
I've heard different stories about using cocoa powder. I used a full 8 oz batch of hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder right at the end of my boiling. I've heard some people say that if you let the cocoa powder sit too long, it can cause a bitter chocolate taste in the beer. I'm going for a strong chocolate taste, and i plan on adding hazelnut extract right before bottling. The brew has been sitting for about 10 days after fermentation. Is that too long? Does anyone have any experience with brewing a chocolate porter? I know rogue adds a chocolate extract to their "Chocolate stout" to enhance the flavor. I'm considering this, but does anyone have any info. on doing this? I'm a newb brewer and want this beer to come out exceptionally good, as i will be giving this out as a christmas/ new years beer. Any info helps! Thanks :cross:

Baker's chocolate is quite bitter. I have not used chocolate extract but it might be worth a try at bottling. Some people add cocoa before flameout and some to secondary. Pure cocoa, cocoa nibs or baker's chocolate will not deliver what I assume you are going for. You may want to try sweetening with lactose sugar. It is also referred to as milk sugar and will not ferment out. I have used it in a raspberry chocolate porter and also a cream ipa. Check the recipe forums for milk stout. Would be a good place to gather some ideas.
 
Thanks for the response... I've read other posts about adding lactose to the brew. Would I add the lactose during bottling? As i said, I am beginner at brewer, and don't want to get ahead of myself in trying to overdue things.
 
Thanks for the response... I've read other posts about adding lactose to the brew. Would I add the lactose during bottling? As i said, I am beginner at brewer, and don't want to get ahead of myself in trying to overdue things.

I would add to bottling bucket and sweeten to taste. I would also add any chocolate extract at the same time. I have learned you can always add more, you can never take it out. Start with 4oz is my best suggestion, milk sugar that is. Add your priming sugar after you have the desired taste. The milk sugar will not carb your beer.

You can check out some of the recipes on HBT, or online, and study some of the specialty grains for future recipes. A lot of the flavors you want can be had by using the right amount of roasted barley and modified grains.

Happy brewing!!
 
Chocolate. Hazelnut. Beer. If this ain't gettin' close to the perfect combination, I dunno what is.

I think you're on the right track; 10 days on 8 oz. cocoa at flameout and then hazelnut extract at bottling is exactly what Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer do in their book "Brewing Classic Styles" (p. 265). In fact, he says that "This recipe is the first Best of Show beer I ever brewed."

Extract recipe below:

OG: 1.066
FG: 1.019
IBU: 36
Color: 38 SRM
ABV: 6.2%
Pre-boil Volume: 7 gallons
Boil time: 60 minutes

Steeping grains:
1 lb. Crystal 40L
1 lb. Crystal 80L
12 oz. Chocolate (350L)
8 oz. Black Patent (525L)

Fermentables:
7.8 lbs. English Pale LME
1 lb. Munich LME

Hops:
1.25 oz. Kent Goldings 5%AA, 60 min.
0.8 oz Willamette 5%AA, 30 min.
0.8 oz Willamette 5%AA, 15 min.
0.4 oz Kent Goldings 5%AA, 0 min.
0.4 oz Willamette 5%AA, 0 min.

Extras:
8 oz. Cocoa powder (unsweetened), 0 min.
0.5 oz. Hazelnut extract, at bottling

Yeast:
White Labs 001 California, Wyeast 1056 American, or Safale US-05. Ferment at 67 degrees.

Note that this is for a full boil (7 gallons): the numbers change for a partial boil. If you're doing all-grain, then the changes are pretty simple too.

When bottling, start out with 0.25 oz. of hazelnut extract and keep going to taste; you can always add more, but once it's in there you can't get it back out.

Hope this helps!

Cheers! :mug:
 
I have had great luck with cocoa nibs. They are better than powder because they don't clump like the powder does. Just soak them in booze overnight (I used vanilla rum and it worked great), and toss them in the fermenter. I used 8 oz of nibs ($7 at whole foods) in about a cup of vanilla run. I let mine sit for about a week. Worked like a charm.
 
I believe that recipe from Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer is the exact same recipe i used. My local brewing store had a book that I looked through and ended up picking up that recipe. Unfortunately, I thought the recipe was for a 5 gallon boil... Any idea how the beer will come out if I did make this mistake? Also, should i remove the beer to a secondary now that it has been 10 days? Bottle it? or wait it out? I've heard too long on the cocoa powder can result in a bitter flavor.
 
What does it taste like? You can't know what to add or rack off of if you don't taste it. Pull a sample and check it out. You'll need to do that to get the amount of hazelnut flavor correct for you too. Whenever you pull a hydro sample you should make it a standard practice to taste you brew, then you have a handle on what is happening in the fermenter.
 
+1 for the tasting idea. At this point it's a good idea to pull a sample to not only get a current gravity reading, but to see how it tastes. If the tastes are balanced and where you want them, you've got basically two options: it might be a good idea to rack to a secondary for a week or two to get it off the cocoa sludge and let the other schmutz settle out, or, if you've arrived at final gravity (the same reading 3 or 4 days apart) and want to bottle immediately, go straight to bottling.

All in all, you've no doubt got drinkable brew.
Relax, don't worry. Have a homebrew. :mug:

Cheers
 
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