Adding a chocolate bar to a chocolate stout

[HeisenbergBlue]

Ok. So I'm brewing an Oatmeal Chocolate Vanilla Cream Stout (yum) and I have a question about adding the chocolate to it. I'm adding 6oz of cocoa powder 10-5 min to the boil (haven't decided yet) and I wanted to add about 4 oz of cocoa nibs to the secondary but I couldn't find them anywhere. The LHBS owner said that I could just buy a chocolate bar of at least 70% pure cacao, break it in small pieces, and add it to the secondary just as I would do with the nibs.

Should I go with it? Or should I just keep with the cocoa powder or maybe bump it up a little. I'm adding a pound of lactose to the boil and three vanilla beans to the secondary. I would really like the chocolate to stand out, but I also don't want my brew to be too bitter.

What do you guys recommend???

 

[Paradigm]

I don't think it'd be a big issue, I've never done it but I would suggest baker's chocolate to avoid excess refined sugars found in candy bars. That's just me, though.

 

[dcp27]

i wouldnt use the chocolate bar, nevermind the refined sugars, you don't want the fats & oils. if you can't find nibs, i'd just add a few more oz cocoa powder. also, 3 vanilla beans is way too much if you really want the chocolate to stand out, its just gunna taste like vanilla. i'd go 2 at the most. I made a milk stout with 6oz cocoa powder & 1 vanilla bean soaked in bourbon with very good results.

 

[krenshaw]

yeah, the less sugar the better in the chocolate, especially if you are bottle conditioning.. one of the first times i made a chocolate beer i put the choc in the secondary and a lot of the sugar was still in solution (unbeknownst to me) .. when i put in priming sugar i didn't account for that (probably wouldn't have known how anyways) and they all ended up overcarbed..