Chocolate Syrup at Bottling?

Anybody ever used chocolate syrup at bottling time? I have a chocolate stout that used cocoa powder at the end of the boil, and I see some people use chocolate extract at bottling sometimes, so I was just wondering about syrup. I know the syrup doesn't have much real chocolate, but rather corn syrup and chocolate flavoring. But, I guess the question is if that flavoring will give the same chocolate aroma as chocolate "extract" (btw, is the extract artificial also?).

I haven't but it would probably work...There might be fat issues, or not since it is a syrup. The biggest issue is calcultaion how much to use.

The October 2010 Basic Brewing radio was all about alternative priming methods, and the guest (who btw, although he is a minister, from michigan, and is an expert on bottling, is NOT ME, but the coincidence is freaky) offers info on calculating how to prime with strange things.

I'm working on the calculation for using Date Palm Syrup from Bangladesh to prime my Sri-lankin stout.

October 28, 2010 - Alternate Priming Sugars
Home brewer Drew Filkins shares his technique of using alternative ingredients to put the bubbles in his brew.

Click to Listen-Mp3

Hydrometer readings and sugar content charts from HomeWinemaking.com http://www.home-winemaking.com/winemaking-2b.html

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Basically what you need to do is look for the sugar or carbhydrate amount in the syrup and the serving size, they are defining it by.

You also want to first calculate how much corn sugar you would normally use to carb to whatever style you are aiming for, then convert that to grams.

Ie, my stout I want to carb to 2.45 volumes of co2, which measures out to 4.3 oz of corn sugar at 70 degrees.

That works out to 121.9 grams....

Then based on the amount of sugar (OR CARBOHYDRATES if sugars is not listed, which on some products labels they don't) per whatever serving size they give, you then will know how mmuch of the stuff to use..

For example, if a syrup has 60.54 grams of carbohydrates per a 1/4 cup serving, then you would need a 1/2 cup to get close to the 121.9 grams of sugar you need.

Listen to the podcast for a better explantaion...but it's worth a try.

You might want to check the ingredients on the syrup before you add it. I'd be concerned about preservatives/chemicals in there that aren't too good for your yeast.

jeffjm said:

You might want to check the ingredients on the syrup before you add it. I'd be concerned about preservatives/chemicals in there that aren't too good for your yeast.

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That was my thought when I saw this also.

The main ingredients in chocolate syrup are water and sugar. Chocolate extract would likely be a better choice for flavoring.

What the heck is chocolate extract? Is that like other extracts, basically booze and flavoring? Not that I am opposed to booze and flavorings in any whey!!

BTW, who's your avatar Rocketman??

If you want a last shot of Chocloate, I suggest dutch cocoa and corn sugar for bottling.

Luck!

Sean said:

What the heck is chocolate extract? Is that like other extracts, basically booze and flavoring? Not that I am opposed to booze and flavorings in any whey!!

BTW, who's your avatar Rocketman??

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Chocolate extract is like vanilla extract or any other baking extract. Actually, I found some really awesome chocolate extract at my local spice house, along with some coffee extract I might try in the future.

The avatar is me in high school about 11 years ago.