ryan_howard

Recipes 

I'm going to make a simple extract Nut Brown ale today - a full five gallon batch.

But, when I go to bottle (I don't do a secondary), I'm thinking of putting a gallon or two into a smaller carboy and adding cocoa powder for a "sub batch." Then, letting that sit for a couple of weeks

Any opinions on that method to get a stronger chocolate flavor into the beer? Or, would it be better in a primary? I could just as easily put a portion of the original wort in a smaller vessel and add the additional chocolate then.

Thanks!

day_trippr

Recipes 

I have doubts that you can get cocoa powder to actually dissolve in room temperature wort...

Cheers!

FATC1TY

Recipes 

Cocoa nibs in the secondary, or use a chocolate extract.

Powder won't give you the flavor you want. You'll want to use it in the boil.

Take the nibs and soak in vodka or bourbon, then add to the secondary after a couple of days. Helps to sanitize and extract flavor from them easier.

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Bubba's Backyard Brewery

JLem

Recipes 

I second using cocoa nibs. They give a wonderful chocolate flavor and aroma.

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Brewing blog at Brew by Brew

Herky21

Recipes 

Do both nibs and extract. I'd recommend spiced rum and a split vanilla bean or two to accentuate the chocolate .

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Bottles on hand:

(1) Breakfast in Bed
(2) American-British Collision Amber Ale
(3) Apricot Cider Ale
(4) Second Best Cream Ale
Primary:
(1) Empty
(2) Empty
Secondary:
(1) Belgian Brown aged on Sugar Whiskey Staves

ryan_howard

Recipes 

Thanks all! The nut brown is going right now. Unfortunetly, I'm might have to put the entire batch into a secondary. I only got about half the hops out before pouring down into the carboy.

Docgineer

Recipes 

A great article on the topic from those west coasters:

http://www.maltosefalcons.com/tech/formulating-and-brewing-winning-chocolate-porter

ryan_howard

Recipes 

Thanks all for the replies. I think I'm going to go with the cocoa nibs. I'll check out our local organic market to see what they carry. My guess is that they'll have something there that will work.

It seems the standard ratio is 8 oz to 5 gallons. Since this is only going to be a 1 gallon sub batch, I'm going to with about 2 oz in the secondary. I appreciate the ideas on vanilla beans and other ingrediants. I'm going to go simple, unless you feel strongly that I won't get a decent flavor from the 2 oz.

Thanks!

-Ryan