Clear Chocolate Beer???

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jgln

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I had some leftover grain, about enough to make a 2 gal batch so I decided to try something different since it was small anyway and I always wanted to try something along the taste and color of maybe Rochfort or something.

Anyway, I wound up adding semi-sweet baking chocolate to the boil, smelled great. But now after it has done fermenting I noticed it was completely clear when I went to bottle it. What happened to the chocolate color??

I am still waiting for it to carbonate so I don't really know how it will come out.
 
AFAIK...Just adding chocolate to the boil is not going to get you a dark color...


Most of the color comes from your grain bill, if there were no darker grains then you won't get a darker beer.
 
The chocolate likely precipitated at the bottom of your fermenter. I wouldn't, however, rule out a complete loss of the chocolate flavor.
 
I agree, you should have used some roasted barley or chocolate malt for color. I am guessing the chocolate just came out of suspension.
 
I tried a chocolate beer at GABF a few years ago that looked like a light lager! The chocolate flavor was totally there, but you wouldn't have known it just by looking. Unfortunately, I can't remember which brewery it was because it was toward the end of the session... :drunk:
 
I'm at Odell brewing at the moment, and one of the beers I'm trying is CocoJoe amber. It's an amber ale with fresh ground cocoa in the boil. You can taste the cocoa, and it is a pretty light amber color. Quite good. Yours will probably have cocoa taste to it, despite the color.
 
I tried a chocolate beer at GABF a few years ago that looked like a light lager! The chocolate flavor was totally there, but you wouldn't have known it just by looking. Unfortunately, I can't remember which brewery it was because it was toward the end of the session... :drunk:

There's a beer brewed by Mike Rybinski (4x GABF medal winner) @ Zwanzigz Pizza and Brewing in Columbus, IN called Oompah Loompah White Chocolate Beer that looks like a crystal clear pilsner but is by far the "chocolatiest" beer I've ever tasted. I had it at the Indiana Microbrewers Festival last year.
 
I tried one this weekend, it was fairly carbed but I don't care for the taste, not yet anyway, it is still pretty green. However unless the flavor changes a lot it is not that tasty. I taste a hint of chocolate but my wife says there is a lot.

It was just an experiment that I doubt I will do again unless in a month or two there is a change for the better. It just has a weird taste now and yes I have tried green beer before and it usually tastes much better.
 
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