Cacao Nibs: How to prepare for secondary?

[Revvy]

Oh crap...I fell for the old necro thread thing.

I think it's really great that people search and find and post in old threads, but there are NEWER old threads out there. There was a cocoa nib discussion that was active until just before the holidays......How come the newer threads don't show up on top of the old ones...or why do folks a renaminate older threads if there are newer ones there? Doesn't search default to newer threads first?

 

[tabing75]

i have used nibs for a chocolate coffee porter. they were in raw form when i purchased them. i roasted them whole(no crushing, no vodka) in the oven at 250 for 15 min. then i turned the oven off and let them sit for another 10 min. took them out and let them cool. whoa, they smell amazing!! then i put them into a paint strainer bag with some marbles. put into secondary for 2 weeks and i got a subtle chocolate component. exactly what i was going for. i used 8 oz.

 

[schmeldorf]

When using vodka, do you dump the vodka into the brew as well? How much vodka do you use?

I had some great success with a bag of Cocoa Nibs purchased from a Sprouts grocery store. I just dropped them into secondary without any sanitizing. My rationale (completely flawed or not) was that it is a food product and in theory has to meet some kind of sanitation guide line. Also, the combination of the alcohol and ph of the beer should ward of any issues. I would not have simply dropped them into primary without sanitizing.

Again, this was all my own theory, but the the one-time result quite nice. It was a mocha stout.

Another thought on how one may kill of any baddies would be to pasteurize the nibs. I have used a double boiler (just a metal bowl sitting in a pot of boiling water) for pasteurizing fruit puree prior to putting into secondary. You could sanitize the bowl.. throw the nibs in there with just enough water to keep everything in contact and bring it up to just over 160 degrees F for 15 minutes. Cover, cool, and pitch the whole mess into your secondary.

I am curios to hear more on how people hand this.

 

[Golddiggie]

I never soaked my cacao nibs in anything before dumping them into the batch. Zero issues with this method. Of course, I tend to add them to high ABV mead batches, not beers. Talking about 18%+ mead. :rockin: