Need help adding chocolate flavor to a beer quickly.

I made a neopolitan milk stout for a festival this Saturday. I added 4 Oz cocoa nibs soaked in vodka, 2 Madagascar vanilla beans, and about 1 Oz of strawberry extract. While all the flavors were good, the strawberry was a bit much. I then blended an additional 1 gallon of plain milk stout back into it to cover some of the strawberry. Unfortunately, the great chocolate flavor it once had seems to have diminished as well. I need to get some chocolate back into it by Saturday. Any ideas?

I am thinking I can run to the lhbs and pick up more cocoa nibs tomorrow, have them soak overnight in vodka and then add it in the morning in a muslin bag and leave it in the keg. Will this add chocolate fast enough?

I also have dark cocoa powder I could use if it will come out better and faster but I have never used it and I am concerned about adding it directly to the keg.

Another idea I read was to actually use Hershey syrup! I think that will definitely add chocolate along with extra sweetness that may not be a bad thing in a neopolitan milk stout? The fats will definitely kill head retention, but on 4 Oz pours, I'm not really worried about that. And considering it will all be gone in a few hours, no additional fermentation or scare of infection will really occur.

So I think my best bet is the nibs, but I am really intrigued with the chocolate syrup. Has anyone done this?

I've read mixed reviews on syrup and have never used it myself. I have used semi-sweet baker's chocolate at the end of the boil and nibs only. It's my understanding (and experience) that nibs take at least a week (I usually go two) to get flavor. Good luck!

I have no experience in adding chocolate to beer, but why don't you try the syrup thing on a small scale? Pour yourself a glass, add the chocolate syrup, maybe a bit at a time to see how it tastes. Then once you find a good level (e.g. so many ounces of chocolate syrup per ounce of beer), scale it up to the keg.

I would be worried about adding fermentables, but I guess if you're just going to kill the keg in a day, then this might be a quick fix.

Toast the cacao nibs and you can get flavour out of them in 2-3 days or so.

I boil the nibs for 1-2min in a bit of water, cool, and toss int he mixture. It instantly gets the flavor and aroma out of them

I've used this sparingly in the past, see if you have a local gourmet bakery shop: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0012DFMZ2/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

You can reduce Choc chips in rum or water and add them before racking. I used a 16oz bag of nestle to a 5 gallon batch of coffee stout. Came out amazeballs.

m00ps said:

I boil the nibs for 1-2min in a bit of water, cool, and toss int he mixture. It instantly gets the flavor and aroma out of them

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Could you expand a little, please? How much for a 5 gallon batch? How much water to use?

I usually go with 4oz of nibs along with 2 vanilla beans ro round out the bitterness. I just stick them in a flask with enough water to cover them and turn the heat on low. Let it boil 1-2min, kitchen smells amazing. Once it cools I swirl it up and add the whole solution, nibs and everything into the fermentor. The pieces are usually large enough to no get sucked into any siphon tip.

This would be for 5gal. I usually do this anywhere from 5 days before bottling. I figure you may get a bit more flavor out if they sit in the fermentor, but I think the boiling gets a good deal out immediately

Kahlúa or Creme d'Cocoa are an option

m00ps said:

I usually go with 4oz of nibs along with 2 vanilla beans ro round out the bitterness. I just stick them in a flask with enough water to cover them and turn the heat on low. Let it boil 1-2min, kitchen smells amazing. Once it cools I swirl it up and add the whole solution, nibs and everything into the fermentor. The pieces are usually large enough to no get sucked into any siphon tip.

This would be for 5gal. I usually do this anywhere from 5 days before bottling. I figure you may get a bit more flavor out if they sit in the fermentor, but I think the boiling gets a good deal out immediately

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Thanks! I was gonna go with a whiskey soak, but I may just try this instead.

Hey there, I agree that roasting the nibs is a quick way to get them in the fermenter, faster than soaking them in vodka. I still don't see the use in wasting vodka. Moop seems to know his stuff and I would listen to his example. Also just to throw this out there, if you use coco powder make sure it's LOW FAT UNSWEETENED and you should only use it in the boil. If powder is used it will take weeks for it to clear up and drop out. A brewer around here, nashville Tennessee, uses chocolate extract and let me tell you it's the best chocolate milk stout I've had in my life!!! You can also add as little or as much as you want when bottling, kegging. So my answer is use Chocolate extract if you can get it, or try moops method of boiling nibs if extract isn't easy to get. Also a little goes a long way.

Wow, thanks for all the quick responses. I think I am going to play around with the syrup tonight in some point glasses to get an idea if it will work. If not, I'll run out and grab some cocoa nibs tomorrow and try the boiling method. If I use 4 Oz for the 5 gallon batch, I think it will be more than enough to bring it up to taste (since I already used 4 Oz before). Crossing my fingers!

No go on the chocolate syrup. Tasted like someone really screwed up my chocolate milk.

Chocolate extract!

Yep Syrup is never advised. It's got too much sugar or fats in it. Extract baby.

Used chocolate cocoa added to secondary. Tasted too rough! Technical term
Would NOT use cocoa again even though it did mellow out and drop , finally!
The best chocolate ( mild ) was from using grain with chocolate taste. I know some people love the chocolate taste but I want a subtle chocolate flavor.

How did it all turn out?

I ended up boiling the cocoa nibs for a few minutes and then dropped the liquid plus the cocoa nibs in a sack into the keg. Definitely brought more chocolate flavor in, but not nearly as much as it had before.

I've used cocoa powder, chocolate syrup, a melted chocolate bar and cocoa nibs in various combinations. But last time I used chocolate extract and that has worked out the best for me. Added at bottling, you get some control of the flavor intensity.