Adding chocolate to secondary?

Hello everyone

I have a stout that has been in primary for about 6 weeks, and I am going to be bottling 4 gallons of it this weekend.

The last gallon I want to experiment with - I have a 1g carboy, I was thinking of racking it to that and adding some baker's chocolate, for a chocolate stout.

Here are my questions -
Does this sound like a good idea?
Has anyone done anything similar?
Should I use Sweet or Semi-Sweet chocolate?
How much?
And for how long?

Thanks in advance!

Corvax

I haven't done it, but everything I have read & heard says you should use powdered cocoa, not sweet or semi-sweet chocolate. There's too much fat in chocolate chips or bars. Putting that in your beer won't necessarily be pretty.

Cocoa will give you all the flavor & you don't need the sweetness since it will all ferment out anyway.

I say caccao nibs or chocolate extract

I've use nibs twice with greay results and cocoa powder once. The nibs were dryhopped for a week. Powder was in the promary.

One thing is to not use A LOT - all you want is a behind the scenes flavor.

I had 1 oz of unsweetened cocoa powder fora 5 gallon batch.

ok sounds like nibs are the way to go. Is this something I could find in any grocery store or do I have to go to a health food store/specialty store?

I've had great success using nibs, purchased at a local spice shop, in the secondary for dry and milk stouts. I usually wait about 2-3 weeks before racking to secondary and then let the nibs float on top for at least a week. If you throw the nibs in too early, while the yeast is still very active, a lot of the flavor seems to blow off. I also will usually throw in a few vanilla beans. The vanilla flavor rounds out the chocolate nicely and frames the flavor profile that most people associate with chocolate.

How in the world do you get any head retention after adding chocolate? Do you have to rack the beer from under the floating oil from the chocolate?

passedpawn said:

How in the world do you get any head retention after adding chocolate? Do you have to rack the beer from under the floating oil from the chocolate?

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You don't add chocolate bars. People either use cocoa nibs or cocoa powder. Nibs have a lot of fat, but since they are not ground up, I suspect none of the fat can really escape. Cocoa powder is just cocoa solids. All the fat (cocoa butter) has been pressed out.

Since I've seen only good reports about nibs, its my theory that a little fat is necessary to gain a good chocolate flavor.

I am having a hard time finding cocoa nibs - would be alright to use Hershey's Unsweetened Cocoa Powder?

thanks guys, my 1g carboy just came in the mail today so I think I will be trying this tonight, if I can find the chocolate.

Use the cocoa that doesnt have cocoa butter in it. I recall you want the cocoa that has high solids, but not cocoa butter.

Early on in my beer making, I did make an imperial chocolate coffee stout. 1 lb of cocoa (1/2 in the boil, half in secondary) and 1 lb of cold brewed Ethiopian coffee (all in secondary). No head retention problems at all.

It got you jacked up! And there was soooo much chocolate suspended in it that the head tasted like chocolate cake, and nothing else; the coffee was definitely noticeable as you drank it.

Yes, Hershey's Unsweetened Cocoa Powder has no cocoa butter & is perfectly great for adding to a chocolate stout. Go for it!

Sweet, im going to try this out tonight - thanks mkling, and everyone else!

If you are going for supermarket cocoa powder, let me recommend the Ghirardelli brand. Its a little more expensive, but a lot better. I've never used it in beer. My girlfriend is a huge baker, so I've experienced the difference between the two in baked goods. Ghirardelli beats out the Hershy's hands down.

So Grinder says 1oz and Maxhavoc says 1lb, I've also heard 8oz. That's a pretty big difference, what's the debate?

oh, 1 lbs was just over the top with all the coffee I put in there. If I was to do it again, Id go to 8oz. I did a chocolate stout with cocoa nibs (2oz in the boil and 4 oz in the secondary) and I didnt feel it was enough.

Sounds like 1 oz of Ghirardelli for a five gallon batch is the way to go, yes?

The Hersheys is fine, I prefer Toll House though. I've used it a couple times in my chocolate stout that won a Gold medal a couple weeks ago, just added it to my recipe dropdown.

Barleywater, your recipe calls for 8oz - will that be alright to add even if I am adding it as secondary, not in the boil?

BarleyWater said:

The Hersheys is fine, I prefer Toll House though. I've used it a couple times in my chocolate stout that won a Gold medal a couple weeks ago, just added it to my recipe dropdown.

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True, the difference may not be as evident in beer. I'm speaking from what I've tasted in cakes, icings and brownies.

corvax13 said:

Barleywater, your recipe calls for 8oz - will that be alright to add even if I am adding it as secondary, not in the boil?

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It should be fine, I just add it at the end of the boil to help it get into suspension in the beer better and because I'm anal about sanitation. Keep in mind, that's 8oz for a 6 gallon batch, so about 1.25oz should be good for you. The longer you let it sit on the chocolate, the more flavor you will get. Also, lactose will turn it from a dark chocolate flavor to a milk chocolate flavor depending on the amount you use.

Great - I feel I have a pretty good handle on this now.

Thanks again everyone!

If I am doing a 1G Chocolate batch how much cocoa powder should I add in the secondary and how long should I leave it??