cacao nibs in a chocolate stout

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kevmoron

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I'm interested in hearing from those who have used these before. A friend of mine who makes gourmet chocolate for a living gave me a bunch of really great cacao nibs to use in a beer, so this weekend I'll be brewing a stout that I can use them with.

I know that Sam Adams adds these to the secondary fermenter for their Chocolate Bock, and I've heard that other people on here do the same. So I'm thinking of adding 8 oz to the secondary and letting it sit there for two weeks.

My only reservation is sanitation. I know that with dry hopping, sanitation is not such a worry because the hops are antimicrobial, but this is not the case with nibs. Does anyone that has used these in the secondary have a secret as to how to do this safely, or should I just take the risk and hope for the best?
 
I ground them up slightly with a coffee grinder to expose the insides then roasted them in an oven @350 for 30 minutes with no issues. You could also soak them in a neutral spirit like vodka for a day or so and then add them.
 
I threw 7oz in a hop bag and let them sit in secondary for a week. I've been told that longer than a week starts imposing "smokey" flavors. I pulled it out of secondary and bottled it on Sunday and the aroma was awesome. Very distinct bitter chocolate. Definately cacao.

I didn't really do much, sanitation wise. The beer in secondary already has some hops and alcohol to help it defend itself, but giving the nibs a dunk in star-san probably wouldnt hurt them or the beer.
 
I had mine in secondary for at least three weeks and did not experience any smokey flavors.
 
I just threw them in and didn't have a problem. I let it sit for two weeks and got a pretty chocolatey flavor.
 
From what I have read the best thing to do is add them to the secondary. The alcohol really helps bring out the cocoa. People at Pro brewer have no worrys about it.

2 weeks is the max you should have them in though otherwise things get rather acidic but . . . . as the above say - no probs.

Just toss them in like hops I was told.

I have 8 oz waiting for a batch. they taste YUCKY!!
 
I added 6 oz of cacao nibs in the secondary of a stout 3 weeks ago and it appears, air lock is bubbling, to still be fermenting. I feel like its been long or too long but do not want to bottle if it will make "bombs." Stout was in secondary for 2 weeks before the addition of the nibs with no bubbling.
Tasted it and did a gravity, no change in the 3 weeks but once in a while a bubble. Bottle or wait it out?
 
Welcome aboard! Guessing as to your circumstances entirely... But has there been any rise in temps for the fermentation area? Dissolved CO2 will degas as the temp rises, showing some activity in the airlock... But another question might be have you had a static gravity reading over a few days time?
 
There is a member here that does something I really have liked when I did it. They were soaking them in Bourbon for a few weeks before adding it all to secondary. I presume you can use neutral spirit as well. I use to just toss em in after a quick 15-20 min soak in spirit just to kind of help sanitize them a little and always had luck with at as well. I guess you really can't go wrong what ever you do.

Good luck

Cheers
Jay
 
6 oz sounds like a lot to me. I typically use 4. But as has been said, just let them sit in some cheap vodka for a bit and dump it in your secondary fermenter, then rack on top. Secondary is the best way to go because if you add in primary or at flameout, the nibs will sink to the bottom and become part of the yeast cake. In secondary, this is not a concern and the nibs are more exposed to the beer, resulting in better flavor.
 
One brewer here actually tosses them into a small amount of boiling water and dumps it all in, and claims to get good chocolate flavour that way. I am going to try his method on this winter warmer I have going currently, just gotta wait for fermentation to end first.
 
I used 4oz in a choc/coffee/oatmeal stout. Turned out great. I threw them right in the primary for 10 days, most of the nibs seemed to float up top and hang in the krausen, then dropped out after a the krausen settled. Racked to secondary for 24hrs to cold crash before bottling. It was a rushed batch but it turned out awesome.
 
There is a member here that does something I really have liked when I did it. They were soaking them in Bourbon for a few weeks before adding it all to secondary. I presume you can use neutral spirit as well. I use to just toss em in after a quick 15-20 min soak in spirit just to kind of help sanitize them a little and always had luck with at as well. I guess you really can't go wrong what ever you do.

Good luck

Cheers
Jay


I use rum and it turns out beauty...
 
I'd read soaking the nibs in vodka for 3-7 days, straining the nibs out and adding the liquid to your priming solution also works nicely. I haven't tried this, and am coming up on the time when I decide to add the nibs to my Milk Stout directly or try this other method. Thoughts?
 
I spent part of the past weekend experimenting with nibs preparation methods. My attempt was aimed at yielding a cocoa extract that could be added to beer without clouding it, since I'm working on a stout that requires significant post-fermentation dilution with chocolate liquor (Sam Smith's organic chocolate stout).

First of all, roast the nibs - don't use raw ones. They are roasted to make chocolate, and the flavor/aroma is much more "correct" if they are roasted. If you chew the roasted nibs, they taste just like totally unsweetened chocolate. You can control the darkness of the flavor with your roast profile (a whole 'nother subject).

Once roasted, decide whether to use them whole or coarsely grind them. If you do the latter, you expose more surface area, and they fall apart, making them very soluble into liquid. Use a gentle, non-heat-generating method if possible. I used an old fashioned manual coffee grinder.

Then, pick an option:

Drop them into the beer, perhaps in a nylon sack to facilitate removal
Soak them in vodka for a few days, strain, add the liquid
Simmer them in water to about 170*F for 10-20 min, strain, add the liquid

I was able to strain in 3 stages; first with a stainless mesh kitchen strainer, then with 200 micron and 75 micron filters. You can let it cool and settle in between stages if you like. This clarifies the liquid fairly well, but not perfectly. It's still a bit cloudy. Most of the fat seems to get caught in the filter, though.

I ended up doing the vodka method, soaking 4 oz. ground nibs for 5 days in 8 oz vodka, then adding the resulting 4 oz of extract to my 3 gallons of finished beer. This produced the clearest extract. I think I'll taste the chocolate, but it won't match the target beer profile - Sam Smith's chocolate stout is just way too mega-chocolatey.

So I'm going to try again with a new batch of beer and use the water method, because I actually need a significant volume of liquid (14% of the beer volume) to dilute it while adding the chocolate flavor.
 
I'm interested in hearing from those who have used these before. A friend of mine who makes gourmet chocolate for a living gave me a bunch of really great cacao nibs to use in a beer, so this weekend I'll be brewing a stout that I can use them with.

I know that Sam Adams adds these to the secondary fermenter for their Chocolate Bock, and I've heard that other people on here do the same. So I'm thinking of adding 8 oz to the secondary and letting it sit there for two weeks.

My only reservation is sanitation. I know that with dry hopping, sanitation is not such a worry because the hops are antimicrobial, but this is not the case with nibs. Does anyone that has used these in the secondary have a secret as to how to do this safely, or should I just take the risk and hope for the best?

My experience with cocoa nibs has been a big disappointment. If I want a good chocolate flavor in my beers without astringency I use chocolate wheat malt.

But you say these are quality cocoa nibs, so your experience will probably be better.
 
There has not been any rise in temps for the fermentation area? There has been a static gravity reading over a few weeks.
*I racked it off the nibs today and plan to let it sit a few days and then bottle.
 
i just soak my nibs in some vodka for a few days then add the nibs and the vodka to the secondary. it always turns our nice. not a super fake chocolatey flavor either
 
One brewer here actually tosses them into a small amount of boiling water and dumps it all in, and claims to get good chocolate flavour that way. I am going to try his method on this winter warmer I have going currently, just gotta wait for fermentation to end first.

I might have to try that out too...
 
Yes, I encourage anyone to try the near-boiling water method... And drink a sample! It's essentially raw hot cocoa. You can sweeten it, you can add a little milk if desired, and it's quite delicious. Even fairly watered down, the aroma is plentiful. The only issue is clarity, which is why I would suggest multiple stages of filtering and settling before adding the liquid to your beer.
 
Yes, I encourage anyone to try the near-boiling water method... And drink a sample! It's essentially raw hot cocoa. You can sweeten it, you can add a little milk if desired, and it's quite delicious. Even fairly watered down, the aroma is plentiful. The only issue is clarity, which is why I would suggest multiple stages of filtering and settling before adding the liquid to your beer.


Unless doing a stout :)
 
I ended up doing the vodka method, soaking 4 oz. ground nibs for 5 days in 8 oz vodka, then adding the resulting 4 oz of extract to my 3 gallons of finished beer. This produced the clearest extract. I think I'll taste the chocolate, but it won't match the target beer profile - Sam Smith's chocolate stout is just way too mega-chocolatey.

I use this method with the modification of 2 weeks in grain alcOhol, then after straining the nibs, I freeze the remaining fluid to separate the fatty oils then decant. Its a great way to make a tincture and control the amount of chocolate flavor you want.
 
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Ive never secondary'd nibs so I cant comment on the outcome. What I have done several times is adding 4oz (crushed) to 8oz of Kettle One in a mason jar, for a week, then straining the contents into the finished keg (usually 5-6 oz total liquid). Gives a great chocolate flavor and aroma. I usually do this on dark beers such as stouts and porters with a moderate FG (1.014 or higher) so the remaining sugar can aid in the chocolate flavor giving that sweet chocolate taste to the beer without being overwhelming.
 
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