SixFoFalcon
Well-Known Member
I brewed a Chocolate Robust Porter last week with 8 oz of dark cocoa powder added at the end of the boil. Fermentation seemed as vigorous as it usually is and trickled down after a couple days as usual. Today I racked to secondary and took a gravity reading and it had only dropped to 1.030 (from 1.069 OG). The sample tasted bone dry--certainly not what you'd expect for a 1.030 gravity, but there was quite a bit of cocoa powder in it.
Is it common for suspended cocoa powder to skew the gravity readings? Or, conversely, is the ale just tasting dry because of the bitterness of the cocoa powder?
At any rate I'll let it settle out in secondary for a couple weeks and see if the gravities come down. Here's the recipe:
Amount Item Type % or IBU
9.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 75.00 %
2.00 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 16.67 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 8.33 %
1.00 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (60 min) Hops 18.6 IBU
0.25 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (60 min) Hops 11.0 IBU
0.35 oz Target [11.00 %] (30 min) Hops 10.0 IBU
8.00 oz Dark Cocoa Powder (Boil 0.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs SafBrew Ale (DCL Yeast #S-33) Yeast-Ale
Is it common for suspended cocoa powder to skew the gravity readings? Or, conversely, is the ale just tasting dry because of the bitterness of the cocoa powder?
At any rate I'll let it settle out in secondary for a couple weeks and see if the gravities come down. Here's the recipe:
Amount Item Type % or IBU
9.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 75.00 %
2.00 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 16.67 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 8.33 %
1.00 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (60 min) Hops 18.6 IBU
0.25 oz Chinook [13.00 %] (60 min) Hops 11.0 IBU
0.35 oz Target [11.00 %] (30 min) Hops 10.0 IBU
8.00 oz Dark Cocoa Powder (Boil 0.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs SafBrew Ale (DCL Yeast #S-33) Yeast-Ale