Cocoa powder?

Want to add a choc hit to an extract kit. Was thinking of using un sweetened cocoa powder added to a secondary. Just not sure how much to add or how long to leave in secondary. Any tips?

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There are a bunch of recipes listed here to give you an idea.

 

I just brewed a chocolate porter about 4 weeks ago. The recipe called for 24 Tbsp. of plain cocoa power added during the last 10 minutes of the boil. It's still conditioning in the bottles, but it was pretty tasty when I bottled it. Not too much chocolate...but not too little.

 

Depends on the beer, for something like a Porter I've used 8oz of unsweetened powder at the end of the boil and had a nice subtle chocolate flavor. In your case I'd heat the powder up in a cup or so of water and boil it for a few minutes, then add to secondary and rack on top of it. Leave it in there for as long as you would any beer, then prime and bottle/keg as normal.

 

watch out for fatty additives, I often see fat free powder stipulated to aid head retention.

 

I made a milk stout extract kit and added 12oz unsweetened cocoa baking powder (believe that was the name) to my boil as well and the beer came out great. I also added 4oz of strawberry extract at bottling time.

 

Couldn't you use cacao nibs to get a slight chocolate taste?

 

Yes. You will get a better Chocolate flavor from nibs vs. coco powder. I made many chocolate stouts and I now use coco powder at flameout and then nibs in the secondary for about a month for all my Chocolate beers. I also like using the nibs since I can taste the beer while in secondary and determine if it needs more time.

 

Northern Brewer has 4oz for 5.99. Just get those they seem better and natural.