Chocolate in secondary

OK, My next beer is a Belgium style Double Chocolate stout. I plan use 100% unsweetened Cacao in the secondary.

How does it work just shave some and drop it in?

Does it have to be sanitized and how much is too much?

I just finished making a chocolate beer, it wasn't Belgian but it did turn out VERY chocolate-y and delicious but not overpowering.

I used 1 cup of cocoa powder (100% unsweetened but already powdered) at flameout, and when I racked to secondary I added somewhere between 2tablespoons and a cup of more cocoa powder.

I also used 3/4 of a pound of chocolate malt in the mash. These quantities are all for a 5gallon batch.

Hope this helps, good luck!

Wow, that's a lot of chocolate.

I think for the type of beer I want to make I'll add a cup of shaved chocolate to the secondary.

I'm going for chocolate subtleness in a way where you may not even tell there's chocolate unless I tell you and then maybe even a notch from there.

I can add Cherries to it and it will make a great Holiday stout.

Cant wait to brew this next week. Still working on the recipe I'll post when I have it.

Sounds yummy! If you want it more subtle, then 1 cup should be good.. I just wanted something chocolatey as hell for the holidays.

Anybody out there know if there's some sort of compensation between equal volumes of shaved and powdered cocoa?

This is the recipe I came up with so far.

8.5 lb (69.4%) 2 Row Pale Malt; Malteurop
1.0 lb (8.2%) 2-Row Caramel Malt 80L; Briess
1.0 lb (8.2%) Oat Flakes; Gilbertson & Page
10.0 oz (5.1%) Roasted Barley; Briess
10.0 oz (5.1%) Carafa Special® TYPE III; Weyermann
8 oz (4.1%) Chocolate (Mout Roost 1400); Dingemans
.5 oz (76.9%) Chinook; HOPUNION (11.7%) - added during boil, boiled 60 m
.15 oz (23.1%) Chinook; HOPUNION (11.7%) - added during boil, boiled 30 m
0.0 ea White Labs WLP550 Belgian Ale
10.0 tsp Chocolate (unsweetened) - added dry to secondary fermenter


riginal Gravity: 1.061
Terminal Gravity: 1.018
Color: 33.49 SRM
Alcohol: 5.65%
Bitterness: 26.6


I'm going for a Malty easy drinking stout without all that crazy roastiness I hope to get a great head from the oats.

jotakah said:

[...]Anybody out there know if there's some sort of compensation between equal volumes of shaved and powdered cocoa?

Click to expand...

You probably don't want to use any solid form of chocolate due to the head-killing fats/oils that bind it together. Stick with low fat powdered cocoa...

Cheers!