Cacao nib alcohol soak. How long and how strong?

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tyrub42

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Hi everyone, I'm doing my first cacao nib beer at scale and I'm here to ask about sanitizing method preference.

1. I have access to food grade 95 percent alcohol, but I'm considering diluting with 50 percent water. Would this still sanitize effectively given a 1-3 week soak? Is there any reason why the 95 percent would be superior or inferior to the 47.5 percent?

2. I plan to recirculate the beer on the nibsfor several hours, but I still like getting a gold extraction from the nibs in alcohol. I usually do 1 week but I have the option of doing 3. Does anyone think one of these options will yield better results (positive: flavor extraction, potential negative: too long possibly extracting undesired flavors or compounds)?

Thanks a ton!
Tyler 🍻🍻🍻
 
There was a study done to determine the optimal alcohol concentration for extracting desirable compounds from cocoa nibs from 50%, 70%, or 99% ethanol, with the conclusion that 70% was the best of those three options.

Beyond that, time is definitely your friend. I often let nibs marinate in dark rum (40% alcohol) for 2 to 3 weeks before adding it to my chocolate stout.

Cheers!
 
To expand the scope of the thread a little - what about raw vs. roasted/toasted nibs? And of baked is better, what kind of temps and times are we talking about? I've seen some limited info that says you don't get much flavor from raw nibs.

I've previously just used the 4 oz packages of nibs from my LHBS, but they were out of stock, so now I'm sitting on a bulk pack of raw nibs with a brew in the fermenter.

Brew on :mug:
 
I've always bought roasted nibs - at the start, by accident, because I didn't realize they sold both roasted and raw - and after, on purpose, because nearly everyone on HBT recommended roasted :)

Cheers!
 
There was a study done to determine the optimal alcohol concentration for extracting desirable compounds from cocoa nibs from 50%, 70%, or 99% ethanol, with the conclusion that 70% was the best of those three options.

Beyond that, time is definitely your friend. I often let nibs marinate in dark rum (40% alcohol) for 2 to 3 weeks before adding it to my chocolate stout.

Cheers!
Awesome thanks a lot, 70 percent for 3-4 weeks it is! I'll soaked em together with the vanilla beans, then
 
I use a barrel for conditioning. So I put the nibs and beans in Turkey 101 on brew day. Fermentation takes 4 weeks on a 1.100-1.120 RIS. Put the solids in the barrel and rack on top. I save the liquid for packaging if needed.
 
Since this is your first time doing this beer, you may want to consider soaking separately so you can control the flavor of each independently when you get ready to package it. Good luck!🍻

First time doing this specific beer at scale, but I have pretty extensive experience with these two adjuncts, so ratios are pretty locked in. That said, I do have some extra vanilla soaking separately just in case I feel the beer could use an extra boost. Given the cost of the extra beans, and the fact that I can use them in another beer down the road or a shot/cocktail at the taproom if I don't use them in this beer (I am very doubtful that they'll actually be needed), it was a pretty easy contingency plan.

Main logic for soaking all together is basically making it easier to recirc. Everything will be dumped into a hop rocket or something similar and then be recirculated until the flavor is right, so I can't really add vanilla gradually to taste like I could in a homebrew. If we end up needing the extra vanilla, it'll either have to be added in line on the way to the bright tank or we'll have to get the ladder out and use the top port 😅

Thanks a lot! Everything is soaking in 70 percent alcohol at 19c for the next 3-4 weeks so we'll see what happens 🍻🍻🍻
 
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