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**mikeysab** · 11-09-2010, 04:00 AM

BW, I have a question about the cocoa powder you used. I've been researching chocolate beer recipes, and have read some conflicting information, or at least it's unclear to me. I've read that the fat content of the chocolate will lead to problems with head retention. nthe other hand, I've read recipes that use regular (not fat free) cocoa powder, and the beer was fine. I've been looking for cocoa powder in the supermarket, and can't find a fat free powder. I've found that 1/2 gram per serving of fat seems to be the norm. Is there an amount of fat that's dangerous to head retention, or is the amount in any cocoa powder not of any danger? I'm planning on brewing something very similar to your recipe, and would rather not screw it up. Thanks for any help you can offer.

mustafakidd · 11-09-2010, 02:59 PM

If it helps - I used plain Hershey's cocoa powder that only had cocoa in the ingredients list. Turned out great.

DirtyPolock · 11-14-2010, 09:43 PM

I just want to throw in my comments with this beer. I brewed it up to the specs of the original recipe with the following small modifications. I added in the Hershey's cocoa powder with about 20 min left in the boil (just to help it dissolve), and the lactose with about 40 min left in the boil (same reason as before). Also with the lactose this was before I had a scale so I guesstimated 12 oz. based on a 16 oz package.

I bottled a six pack, kegged the rest, and ended up submitting this to a brewing competition. The two scores were a 36 and a 38 (my first competition), with a final of 36. This was the best beer out of the 11 that was in this flight (the stouts were broken into two flights). One of the tasters told me personally that he really enjoyed this beer. The main points taken off were that both judges thought that it wasn't sweet enough for a sweet stout, again this may be due to me guessing the 12 oz. There were more comments that it had a coffee flavor with a slight chocolate tone coming out second especially after warming a bit. Adding the cocoa powder in earlier may have boiled off some aroma.

If you have your all grain brewing techniques down, I highly recommend this recipe.

**mikeysab** · 11-14-2010, 11:13 PM

I did something close to the base recipe. The only mistake I made is, in a drunken stupor one night, I upped my base grain to 13 pounds, and forgot to make the appropriate changes to the other grains. I think I'll actually wind up with more of a porter than a stout, although the wort was super dark. The color was one point shy of a stout in beersmith. The only other change I made was to use chocolate wheat.

As for the chocolate, I'm annoyed at what happened with it. i forgot to add it to the boil, so I just boiled up a can in some water and added it to the fermenting bucket. I'm going to give it two weeks in primary, then transfer to secondary, and add another can of chocolate and two cans of Oregon cherry puree. If this turns out good I'll post my exact recipe and schedule. Thanks to the OP for the recipe

**mikeysab** · 11-16-2010, 09:28 PM

Did anybody that brewed this recipe get any krausen during fermentation? I did 8.5 gallons, split over two buckets, and neither has any krausen at all. I'm guessing this is because of the chocolate, but I read that some people were getting violent ferments, and blowing the lids off their buckets. I used 04, and I've got action, just no krausen.

RIT_Warrior · 12-13-2010, 08:58 PM

Just brewed this yesterday for my first AG batch, the Young's clone version. This morning the airlock was happily bubbling along, but I didn't have any krausen. I did have a slightly alarming film/membrane on top of the beer, but I think that might be the oil from the chocolate. I think that is what is preventing krausen from forming, as the CO2 seems to have trouble penetrating that membrane.

I can't get enough of the color of this beer though, it looks like a liquefied Hershey bar. I couldn't even see the base of my hydrometer through the beer when I was taking my OG, which puts the color at around SRM 7 million I think.

**Boar Beer** · 12-13-2010, 09:26 PM

Wait till tomorrow and you should see some added activity.

RIT_Warrior · 12-13-2010, 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boar Beer

Wait till tomorrow and you should see some added activity.

Actually I was hoping it would stay like that; I only have about half a gallon of headspace. I'll see what it looks like when I get home.

TRainH2o · 01-13-2011, 03:46 AM

I have a question.

I haven't ever added chocolate, fruit or anything else to my beer before. It calls for 0.60 oz Chocolate Extract (Bottling 0.0 min). If I keg, does this go into the keg with the finished beer? Doesn't seem like it would mix evenly to me. However, the 0.0min makes me think it should go in at flame out.

Which is it? Thanks.

DirtyPolock · 01-13-2011, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TRainH2o

I have a question.

I haven't ever added chocolate, fruit or anything else to my beer before. It calls for 0.60 oz Chocolate Extract (Bottling 0.0 min). If I keg, does this go into the keg with the finished beer? Doesn't seem like it would mix evenly to me. However, the 0.0min makes me think it should go in at flame out.

Which is it? Thanks.

You would put the 0.6 oz. in your bottling bucket or in the keg right before kegging. When racking the beer on top of it, it should mix pretty well. My guess the 0.0 min is just what the bottoling program says. Because it says "bottling" you would not put it at flameout.