question about adding chocolate/coffee

So right now I have a brewers best Oatmeal Stout sitting in my fermenter and was planning on bottling this weekend. It will be 4 weeks in the primary as of Saturday. Now due to the giant cluster f snow storm that hit Texas my shipment from Austinhomebrew has been stuck in Texas and doesn't look like it will make it to me by the weekend which leaves me with a bit of a quandary.

I have everything I need to bottle the oatmeal stout this weekend but if I do so then I will have an empty fermenter for a week until my Blue Moon clone finally gets here but I really don't like the idea of having an empty fermenter.

So now here is the real question, I was thinking about turning the oatmeal stout into either a coffee or a chocolate oatmeal stout. If I were to add the coffee or chocolate to the primary on Saturday and let it sit for a week would that enough time to absorb the flavor of the coffee or chocolate? Would this be advisable or possible ruin my beer?

Thanks for the advice

What's the big deal about having an empty fermenter?

JMSetzler said:

What's the big deal about having an empty fermenter?

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It just seems like a waste of space, I prefer to have them filled at all times.

often, a coffee addition isn't something the beer 'sits on' - but is a true addition - make a strong pot of coffee, or better, espresso - then pour into the bottling bucket with your beer and priming sugar. Let it age 4-6 weeks in the bottle - (really better after about 12 weeks, flavor-wise, IMO).

I see, thanks for the info and I think I'll try to let it sit in the primary for another week and then probably add the coffee when I bottle.

I've also heard about adding coffee beans or cocoa beans to the secondary. I made a mint chocolate stout a while back, and added a bunch of unsweetened cocoa powder at the end of the boil. Definite cocoa flavor in the final product

I added my chocolate (and coffee grounds) to the wort when I did my initial boil. The problem with adding chocolate at this point is, it wont be melted and wont incorporate enough.