brewing with chocolate

I've seen several recipes that call for cocoa or even chocolate bars...mainly for sweet/chocolate stouts. What would be the best way to incorporate this? Into the boil? Into the secondary?

many many ways, I recommend doing a search, quite a few threads on the topic. I, personally, am keen to cocoa powder (100% no additives/sugars/etc.). I usually add to secondary, if not enough at bottling time, I'll put a little more in before bottling. Always boil a little water first and add th powder to that, then add the chocolate water to the brew.

You can add at boiling time as well. A little cocoa and lactose can make for an excellent addition to a stout

I have put 8-12oz bakers cocoa powder in the last couple minutes of the boil. Using sweet chocolate or a chocolate bar makes it a pain with all the fat that floats. That won't make it sweet, just have a nice chocolate after taste, like double chocolate stouts. To make it sweet, add lactose. I did the Jamil choc hazelnut porter from B3 and loved it. Next time I would do a little less crystal and a little more chocolate. It had a little bit of a sweet "edge" to it. I would rather have it be more creamy....hmmmm..lactose maybe. Hope this helps!


**seefresh beat me to it**

To get the best flavor out of it you'll want to use dutch-process(ed) cocoa. It's had the oils removed, so you won't have to worry about head retention or anything like that.

I've tried cacao nibs 'dry-hopped' in the secondary...good stuff, nice dry chocolate flavor (not sweet) but you have to keep your amounts low. I added 2oz to a recipe I've run before, and it was a lot less subtle than I expected. Nonetheless, good head retention (no oils) with an excellent chocolate/'nutty' flavor.