Cocoa nibs in suspension

[SaisonMan]

As the title says, I have cocoa nibs floating in my fermentor after five days. Next time, I'll use some sort of bag. My question is whether a cold crash will get the nibs out of suspension or whether I'll need to figure out a way to filter them out.

 

[day_trippr]

I can't recall ever having my cocoa nibs float, they're probably too drunk from soaking in dark rum for a week or more to swim
Anyway, I've crashed a lot of different styles of beers with all kinds of different fermentor adds and anything that was floating has already sunk by 45°F...

Cheers!

 

[odie]

Never had mine float either. Maybe slap the side a couple times. the vibration might break the surface tension enough to let them fall.

 

[BrewerofBeers]

Agree with surface tension comment. Also can easily filter with food grade mesh.

 

[Andres Falconer]

Did you soak them overnight booze prior to adding to the fermentor? Did you add close to the end of the fermentation, when things are already pretty quiet in the fermentor. In my experience, that would have avoided any trouble with floaters. But I think the cold crash will do the job. Let us know how it went!

 

[SaisonMan]

Did you soak them overnight booze prior to adding to the fermentor? Did you add close to the end of the fermentation, when things are already pretty quiet in the fermentor. In my experience, that would have avoided any trouble with floaters. But I think the cold crash will do the job. Let us know how it went!

The recipe called for them to be added during the last 15 minutes of the boil.

 

[tracer bullet]

The recipe called for them to be added during the last 15 minutes of the boil.

And they are currently floating in the fermenter?!?! I have to say I have never seen that. For what it's worth you have a very unusual situation indeed.

Do you keg or bottle? A solution may depend on which method you use.

 

[SaisonMan]

And they are currently floating in the fermenter?!?! I have to say I have never seen that. For what it's worth you have a very unusual situation indeed.

Do you keg or bottle? A solution may depend on which method you use.

I think it might be more an issue of them getting clogged in the racking arm, to be honest. The recipe calls for adding cocoa powder after a week or so. I'll let it sit for a week, cold crash and then see what happens.

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, that recipe does the cocoa adds the hard way. I use cocoa powder at the end of the boil where it dissolves easily, and add rum-soaked nibs and scraped, smushed and chopped vanilla beans to the fermentor once fermentation is basically complete...

Cheers!

 

[SaisonMan]

I can see now that that is indeed the hard way. But that's how you learn. Allegedly.

 

[tracer bullet]

There are many ways to do it. I've taken my process down to adding nibs at the end of the boil. No question the taste comes through to the final beer. I don't even move them to the fermenter (they settle out with the trub). I found the powder to not dissolve, but it did work, similar thing, add at end of boil and let settle before moving to the fermenter.

 

[day_trippr]

Unsweetened cocoa powder is a pita to dissolve in cold wort/beer, much easier in the kettle.
As the nibs aren't going to dissolve anyway it doesn't matter that much when they get added...

Cheers!

 

[SaisonMan]

Unsweetened cocoa powder is a pita to dissolve in cold wort/beer, much easier in the kettle.
As the nibs aren't going to dissolve anyway it doesn't matter that much when they get added...

Cheers!

I wonder if dissolving the powder in some boiling water, letting it cool and then adding it to the fermenter would do the trick. Or would the extra water thin out the beer?

 

[day_trippr]

Well it's a bit of a dilemma. Any water added at this point will thin the beer proportionately, of course. And if you create cocoa syrup using a minimal amount of water I'm not sure that wouldn't just hit the bottom of the fermentor and pool there, so a thinner mix is likely better wrt homogenization. I wonder if pulling a pint of beer, warming it up enough to dissolve the powder, then gently pouring it back into the fermentor might be a way to go...

Cheers!

 

[tracer bullet]

I'd go easy, if the recipe says add powder at the end of fermentation, then add powder at the end of fermentation. I wouldn't be overly concerned about it. I would expect it to settle towards the bottom and be giving up some flavor on its way there and afterwards. Don't stir up the trub when you bottle or keg. And even if you do it'll hit the bottom of the bottles or the keg. Bottles you can be careful pouring, keg you can toss the first glass. Or just drink it.

This is one of those RDWHAHB times.