First Porter and cocoa powder?

I'm doing my first porter (All Grain). I'm using a small amount of oats to hopefully aide in mouthfeel and have been reading about adding cocoa powder with 10 minutes left in the boil. This is my sixth batch overall and I've never used oats or cocoa powder. I guess my question is, should I forego the chocolate since I'm already adding a variable I've not used before? Seems like it could go either way on the cocoa powder. It's a 2.75 gallon batch so I was thinking of using like an ounce of powder. Any thoughts?

Maybe the lactose is the trick with the cocoa powder. I did cocoa powder in a Porter, it tasted raw and nasty. One of 2 beers I've ever dumped. I just did a chocolate porter for V-day, used nibs (8 oz. for 3G batch). I tried cocoa powder, made a tea with it, just didn't like the flavor at all, so I didn't add it. With only nibs, it is absolutely fantastic, has a roasted Porter flavor, but strong, deep dark chocolate flavor. Just bottled it, I think once carbed it will be fantastic.

I just finished a chocolate milk stout. I put in 8 oz of Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder and 1 lb lactose at 5 mins. Slight chocolate flavor but really brought out the roastiness of the grains. The lactose didn't add much sweetness, it did add a nice silkiness and also made the cocoa much less bitter. IMHO I wouldn't add cocoa powder without the lactose.

Thanks for the replies. I didn't have any lactose so I opted to not use the cocoa this time. Seems like too many folks have had bad experiences. Maybe after I'm a little more seasoned I'll go for it. I did add 1/4 pound of oats to my mash. Pretty interested to see how it turns out. Getting a good amount of activity through the blow off about 12 hours in. Fingers crossed.


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Do you guys know anything about cocoa nibs? How long is too long in the secondary?