Ghirardelli has a 100% Cacao Unsweetened Baking Bar. While this is the highest cacao content possible, it is for baking, not eating since it is very bitter and has absolutely no sugar added.
Ghirardelli® 100% Cacao Unsweetened Baking Bar starts with the finest cocoa beans from around the world. The beans are carefully roasted and milled to create the pure, rich Ghirardelli chocolate taste.
By the way, I think the simple fact that it's in bar form means you probably don't want to use it. There must be something binding all the cocoa together, right?
I'm sure somebody will chime in that they've used bar products that worked fine, but you gotta think there's better choices like powder or nibs.
Hello, How are you adding the cocoa powder and having it come out with a chocolate flavor.
I added cocoa powder to the secondary for 2 weeks before bottling on a stout and 6 months later the brew still taste just like eating cocoa powder straight from the can, nasty is all I can say.
Cheers
Looks like it's usable. How much was it? I found Cacao Nibs at my local health food store and paid about 10 bucks for a bag of it. And passed that bar by on the same day at my grocery store. I thought "nibs" were like husks or something, not actual chocolate bits.
Looks to me that it is just nibs pressed into bar form.
What's the rear label list as ingredients?
You can add the powder at flameout. But I mixed the powder with some hot water then added directly to the fermenter, both primary and secondary. I don't think you'd want to skip the hot water, because the powder would probably just sit on top.Hello, How are you adding the cocoa powder and having it come out with a chocolate flavor...
Cacao beans can be up to 50% fat (cocoa butter), some (but not all) of which is removed when they are processed into cocoa powder. You would probably want to determine whether the bar contains a higher quantity than the nibs or powder (my understanding is that you want to exclude as much fat as possible from your beer).But it says 100% and the labels online don't list anything else.....
There IS something that can bind something with a melting point together....it's called "Heat, and Pressure."
But it says 100% and the labels online don't list anything else.....
There IS something that can bind something with a melting point together....it's called "Heat, and Pressure."
So I am striking out finding Cocoa Nibs in my hometown. My LBHS doesn't carry them, neither does my local grocery store. But I did find cocoa powder at the grocery store, several varieties in fact.
So the question I have and need a bit of confirmation is...
Do I use Cocoa Powder in the Boil (say with 10 minutes left of a 60 min boil) or do I add the Cocoa Powder straight to the secondary fermenter?
Which is better. I am planning on adding the cocoa powder to a milk (sweet) stout recipe and would like to add more chocolate notes to the finished product.
Thanks
Redbeard5289
So I am striking out finding Cocoa Nibs in my hometown. My LBHS doesn't carry them, neither does my local grocery store. But I did find cocoa powder at the grocery store, several varieties in fact.
So the question I have and need a bit of confirmation is...
Do I use Cocoa Powder in the Boil (say with 10 minutes left of a 60 min boil) or do I add the Cocoa Powder straight to the secondary fermenter?
Which is better. I am planning on adding the cocoa powder to a milk (sweet) stout recipe and would like to add more chocolate notes to the finished product.
Thanks
Redbeard5289
Hello, IMO do not add cocoa powder to the secondary, I found this out the hard way, I have 5 gal of an undrinkable stout (6+ months old) that I added cocoa power to the secondary, when I taste one every month you can tell the beer would be great without the cocoa powder, it taste just like cocoa powder out of the can, its very nasty.
Cheers
In fact I don't even add it to the kettle, I put it in my mash tun, and let the grain absorb any oils that might be in there, and let the grainbed act as a filter.
Well I finally was back at the store to snap a picture of the back of the label. The only ingredient listed is unsweetened chocolate as the label says 100% cacao. I think I feel pretty safe using this in my choc stout.
I'm seeing it has a bunch of fat. My impression is fat and beer don't mix.
Actually I'm holding my package of organic raw Cacao Nibs, and they have 12 grams of total fat and 7 of it is saturated fat.
I still think that if were merely "dry chcolating" with it at the end of fermentation the oils shouldn't be causing trouble. They shouldn't be able to break down and leach any fat into the beer, since there's no heat involved to break it down.
Aren't we just adding it in secondary or late primary to add aroma to the finished product? Just like dry hops? This is added to beers usually alongside some other kettle or mash tun chocolate addition- usually coco powder?
I can understand it being a problem in the boil, or tun where heat is going to melt the butterfat into the beer, but how is it going to get into room temp beer in a fermenter?
Even untempered chocolate has a higher melting point than tempered (basically skin temp for untempered) but that is still higher than the room temp we usually store our beer at.
I can't see how the fat at this point would really be an issue....unless you were heating the chocolate and melting it first.
If the chocolate is suspended in fat and the fat is never melted, how does the chocolate flavor get into the beer? If I threw a Hershey's bar into my primary I wouldn't expect any chocolate flavor in my beer.
This brings us to cocoa nibs, the most raw, and hence, most intense of cocoa products. Nibs are essentially crushed cocoa beans that are either raw or slightly roasted. Raw nibs are lighter in color and don’t have the burnt edge that roasted nibs do, so pick your appropriate confection. Taste them before using and trust your instincts, which is often the homebrewers’ best directive. Raw nibs would fold nicely into a brown ale or porter, with the roasted nibs more at home in a stout. Each unaltered nugget is roughly the size of a barleycorn. They can be used directly in the mash, the boil, or suspended in conditioning beer like hops or spices.
As they are the precursor to cocoa powder, nib character is just as concentrated and powerful, and should be used with restraint. Three ounces in a five-gallon batch is a good starting point. To get maximum effect in the mash or kettle, mill them as you would your grain. I have found that the flavor is fully extracted in the mash, adding another roasted dimension to the brew. If used in conditioning beer, simply fill a small mesh sachet with the desired amount and suspend in the beer with a string. Since the extraction will be lower and mellower than if it is mashed or boiled, you will find that this approach will give a softer edge to the finished beer. Nibs are this brewer’s preferred choice for most brewing additions, as they are relatively unaltered, and can be sampled in their natural state prior to use.
Considering that a lot of folks use nibs across the gamut of ways possible, and because nibs are 50% fats, perhaps the conventional wisdom that fats and beer don't miix is simply flawed. Otherwise nibs should be a huge fail.
Well I gave it a shot this weekend. I'm going to let it in the secondary for 2 weeks then bottle. I'll report back with results in 5 or so weeks.
Yeah, what he said!
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