Substitute for cocoa nibs??

I have looked everywhere, locally, and cannot find them. I know I can find some online, but I have the mash going now for my KBS clone. I have plenty of bittersweet chocolate, unsweetened bakers chocolate, and plain ole milk chocolate.

The recipe calls for "1.5 oz unsweetened cocoa nibs (15 mins)"

Is there a way to get similar results with what I have on hand?

anyone??

FWIW, you can get cacao nibs (the bean is cacao, cocoa is the processed final product) at Whole Foods around here.

Personally I'd go with unsweetened cocoa (Dutch process if you have it to limit bitterness), and I'd use it in secondary instead of during the boil. Maybe 5-8 oz or so in a 5 gallon batch. Make it into a paste with hot water.

http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2009/12/chile-cocoa-coffee-vanilla-maple.html has some interesting ideas for split-batch breakfast stouts...

You don't want to use full-on chocolate, BTW--the fats in it can kill your head retention among other things. Going with cocoa gets you the flavor without the lipids.

I used an ounce and a half of unsweetened Bakers chocolate and recently cracked a bottle of my KBS Clone... loved it and had another.

If adding them to the secondary, make sure you sanitize the nibs first in some boiling water or with high proofed vodka... I didn't and my nibs had some brett one them. Turned into one funky tasting chocolate porter...

I went with 1 oz of unsweet bakers chocolate. I tried some for the first time to see how it was.......Bitter is the first thought I ran through my mind. Should be good. We will see. This is the thickest, muddiest stuff I have ever brewed. I cant wait to drink it in a few months!

I used the usweet bakers chocolate in my breakfast stout and it turned out well. No problems with head retention.

Rambling on my chocolate search:
I was going to use unsweetened dutch-process cocoa powder (Wondercocoa, fat free) for all the chocolate in my upcoming Breakfast Stout but the yeast will be ready Saturday and I won't get it until Monday (and I'm a slave to the yeast). So I did some searching and finding dutch-process cocoa powder locally was way more difficult than I expected.

I looked back at the recipe in Zymurgy (recipe had input from Founders head brewer) and it said Belgian bittersweet chocolate. I remembered something I read about Callebaut being voted 'best' in some cooking magazine (fwiw, Ghirardelli was one of the worst). Callebaut is Belgian and Callebaut bittersweet chocolate (70.4%) was at Whole Foods. Not cheap of course.

Still wanting to use powder instead of the nibs, I finally found some at Williams Sonoma but had to pay through the nose for it. The brand is Pernigotti and it has a little natural vanilla in it which is fine with me. I gave it and some organic cocoa powder (that I found at Whole Foods) a sniff test and the Italian stuff smells WAY better (and is way darker as expected), I wanted to dive into that can it smelled so good.

So I'm prob going to go with 2.5 oz Callebaut bittersweet chocolate plus 1.5 oz Pernigotti cocoa powder, both @ around 15 min left in boil.

Where are you at SpanishCastleAle???

Im near Mt Dora, in Lake County!

Not too far away, I'm in Oviedo. You a member of CFHB?

SpanishCastleAle said:

I did some searching and finding dutch-process cocoa powder locally was way more difficult than I expected...

...Whole Foods.

Click to expand...

I just bought some Dutch process cocoa at Whole Foods here, FWIW. Maybe worth keeping an eye open whenever you're there to grab some for the next batch if it shows up.

SumnerH said:

I just bought some Dutch process cocoa at Whole Foods here, FWIW. Maybe worth keeping an eye open whenever you're there to grab some for the next batch if it shows up.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I looked (and asked) and all I could find was that organic stuff and it's not dutch-processed. I had read somewhere online that some WF stores have DPC and some don't and some of the ones that do have it keep it in an unexpected place (and employees often don't know that they have it at all).

Ha, I've spent more on chocolate/cocoa powder for this batch than some batches cost in total. And I don't care.