How much cacao nibs to add?

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ElJefeBrews

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This will be my first time using cacao nibs for a 1 gallon 6% porter, and I'm not sure how much to use. I want a noticeable chocolate flavor but not a cloying chocolate flavor. I was thinking of using 1 oz in secondary. What is everybody else's experience with this?
 
I usually do 4oz for 5 gallons. So 1oz would probably be fine. I boil it in a bit of water and dump it into the fermentor. No secondary necessary. The boil sanitizes and extracts the flavors

I also like to add vanilla too in order to round out the bitterness from the nibs
 
I should have said I was gonna soak them in vodka overnight first. Just going straight into the fermenter would make things a lot easier
 
Yeah a lot of people use vodka. I never have any on hand and like not having to plan the extended soaking though
 
Soak it in vodka for 5-7 days with a vanilla bean, and then strain through a coffee filter and add only the vodka to the beer. You can add it at bottling/kegging time, or in the secondary if you still wish.

The best part is you can make it ahead of time as it has a shelf life of >1 year.
 
First time, I used 4 oz in the boil. It gave a barely perceptible darkness to the flavor, and nice depth. It only tasted like chocolate if you thought about it.

Second time, I tried 6 ounces, and it was about the same. I'll probably go with 8 ounces next time. Never tried it with vodka or vanilla - I'm not a fan of vanilla in my beer.

Cheers!
 
I used one ounce in the primary for a one gallon batch of a milk stout. Turned out really well. The cacao nibs were raw and I toasted them in a toaster oven for 10 minutes @ 300 degrees. They smelled like brownies coming out of the oven. I let them cool for a few minutes and then dumped then in the primary. I bottled after about nine days.
 
frazier said:
Never tried it with vodka or vanilla - I'm not a fan of vanilla in my beer.
Click to expand...

You won't taste it. Cacao nibs can impart a harsh bitter taste when put in beer. Ever tasted an unsweetened chocolate morsel? It's gross. That's the flavor you'd be putting in your beer.

The vanilla acts to soften the bitterness. You won't taste vanilla, but it adds a sensation of sweetness to the cacao nibs without adding actual sweetness, if that makes sense. In other words, it makes it taste more chocolately, and less cacao nibby.
 
2oz soaked in alc is more then enough imo. i usually add 1 oz during boil and then 2oz thats been soaked in scotch or something like that. i would not add more then 2 oz... personally
 
I say 1oz of nibs in 4oz vodka would do you right. I like to crush up my nibs a bit, and put them in a mason jar with the vodka. That way I can shake the bottle whenever I walk by. I typically soak for a week, then strain using a section of panty hose. It goes straight in the keg, but if bottling, you can mix it in the bottling bucket with the beer and priming sugar.
 
For me, raw cocoa nibs taste like chocolate hard candy, not bad, but not real chocolate. Roasted nibs on the other hand do taste like chocolate, and to me were not very bitter, but I like dark chocolate. After roasting, while nibs are still warm add to a small amount of neutral spirit, vodka etc., and let them become an extract over the course of 4 or 5 days. The finer the nibs are crushed, the faster the extract will finish. Pour strained extract into bottling bucket along with a splash of vanilla. That is what I would do. Four ounces of nibs into 5 gallons of beer will give a subtle chocolate flavor
 
MindenMan said:
For me, raw cocoa nibs taste like chocolate hard candy, not bad, but not real chocolate. Roasted nibs on the other hand do taste like chocolate, and to me were not very bitter, but I like dark chocolate. After roasting, while nibs are still warm add to a small amount of neutral spirit, vodka etc., and let them become an extract over the course of 4 or 5 days. The finer the nibs are crushed, the faster the extract will finish. Pour strained extract into bottling bucket along with a splash of vanilla. That is what I would do. Four ounces of nibs into 5 gallons of beer will give a subtle chocolate flavor
Click to expand...

Reviving an old thread but reading this as i plan to try out a gallon of my 10 gallon milk stout batch with some chocolate via cacao nibs. For your explanation here, how long and hot do you roast them in the oven for? for 1 gallon, how much cacao nibs would you add and how much vodka would you use to make the extract without having a noticable affect on only 1 gallon of beer?

Lastly, by "splash of vanilla" are you adding a vanilla extract or actual vanilla bean into your extract with the cacao nibs? Thanks!
 
For a one gallon batch, I toasted one ounce of raw cacao nibs in my toast-r-oven for 10 minutes @ 300 degrees. Smelled like brownies! I didn't bother with vodka for that batch as I just dumped them in the primary. Turned out well. I've since made a couple of tinctures with pasilla peppers, coffee beans, and vanilla beans. If I chose to use cacao nibs again I would toast them as before and then do a vodka tincture. I would use a mason jar or equivalent and just enough vodka to cover them.
 
If your plan is to keep the cocoa nib "dust" out of your bottling bucket (or anywhere else), I suggest you use as tall and narrow a container as you can find; that way the extract is easier to separate from the "dust". A coffee filter also works well, it kind of depends on how much volume of extract you have and are will to leave behind in the filter.
 

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