Adding Vodka

New to brewing, and for my second batch I bought an Irish Stout kit. being a chocolate fan I asked the clerk at the brew shop about adding chocolate. He recommended grinding some cocoa beans and soaking in vodka before adding to the primary a few days in. My question is why vodka? Why not just water in other words? Also will the vodka have any adverse effects on the fermentation or taste?

Vodka acts as an extract solution. Soluable in alcohol more than water.

Not unless you add a LOT, the flavor will not be impact by the vodka. This is the only way I add spices to beer. I use 8oz of vodka to steep my orange zests and coriander, for example, on my Wit beers and there is no vodka or burning alcohol taste to the beer.

You want to use a measured amount after pulling samples and dousing each with specific amounts, you can then do some simple math to tell you how much you need for the entire batch batch. BTW add it to bottling bucket, not primary.

BTW Cheap rot gut vodka works great.

I agree wtih jlpred55, a vodka "tincture" is the way to go. I make a blond ale then I make a fresh ginger tincture with vokda and add it to the keg, the flavor is fantastic.

Thanks guys! jlpred55, why do you prefer adding to the bottling bucket? I've seen recipes for all stages but it seemed like the primary was the way to go for cocoa beans, coffee, or vanilla (and what the clerk recommended)

The vodka acts to sterilize the add-in ingredients without adding too much other flavor.

IM making a watermelon beer and adding jolly ranchers tot he vodka for 24 hours then adding it to the secondary. Im only using about 16oz of vodka and 30 jolly ranchers.

My questions is, should I repitch more yeast after I add the vodka infused jolly ranchers?