Cacao nibs

[wrestleb]

I am making a chocolate milk stout, recipe calls for cacao nibs in the secondary. I have read a bunch of threads about soaking in vodka first, is this necessary? Will the vodka flavor show up in the beer?

Also, Will the nibs dissolve in the beer or should I put them in a muslin bag?

 

[day_trippr]

Nibs won't totally dissolve in fermented beer, indeed they'll largely remain intact.
Soaking the nibs in spirits greatly enhances the flavor extraction - there's a reason why most commercial extracts are largely alchohol-based - and provides some level of sanitation.
For good extract efficiency, do the soaking thing for a week, dump the works into a fresh vessel and rack the beer on top...

Cheers!

 

[stieg000]

I have done cocoa nibs quite a few ways. I usually dump them straight in the fermenter 8oz at a time after cold crashing. I keep it in the fridge on the nibs for 4-5 days.

 

[DonGavlar]

On my last chocolate stout I put 8oz of cocoa nibs into a empty clean jam jar and then filled with vodka untill the nibs were just covered. I left them to sit for 4 days and shook the jam jar a couple times a day. I then dumped the whole lot (nibs and vodka, no muslin bag) into the primary a week into fermentation and left it in the primary another 2 weeks then bottled. The stout finished with a nice chocolate smell and a small chocolate note in the after taste. Next time i would probably add more nibs and also some cocoa powder in at flameout to get a bigger chocolate hit.

The vodka helps sterilize the nibs however its main purpose is that it extracts the chocolate flavour out of the nibs, so you definitley want to add the vodka into the fermenter too as most of that chocolate flavour will now be in the vodka. Using the method I stated, I had zero vodka taste in the final product.

You could just dump the nibs in without soaking in vodka first, however, you run the risk of an infection (unlikely) plus you will not get as much choc flavour out of them as you would do by making a vodka tincture.

Also, if you want you can soak them in dark rum. I have heard the rum compliments the chocolate flavour well. however, unlike vodka, you will probably be able to detect the rum taste slightly in the final product.

Hope this helps.

 

[wrestleb]

Thanks for the help... have the nibs soaking in vodka now.

I am looking for a stronger chocolate flavor and this recipe only called for 4oz of nibs. It was recommended to add some cocoa powder to the secondary with the nibs, but after reading some posts I probably should have done that at flame out.

Any thoughts on adding directly to the secondary? Should I add it to the vodka/nib mixture first?

 

[Redpappy]

I am making a chocolate milk stout, recipe calls for cacao nibs in the secondary. I have read a bunch of threads about soaking in vodka first, is this necessary? Will the vodka flavor show up in the beer?

Also, Will the nibs dissolve in the beer or should I put them in a muslin bag?

. I have to thank you for asking, I am hoping to brew a chocolate milk stout Friday as well, and I was not sure what to do with the nibs, wether to soak them or to just drop them in.

 

[Redpappy]

On my last chocolate stout I put 8oz of cocoa nibs into a empty clean jam jar and then filled with vodka untill the nibs were just covered. I left them to sit for 4 days and shook the jam jar a couple times a day. I then dumped the whole lot (nibs and vodka, no muslin bag) into the primary a week into fermentation and left it in the primary another 2 weeks then bottled. The stout finished with a nice chocolate smell and a small chocolate note in the after taste. Next time i would probably add more nibs and also some cocoa powder in at flameout to get a bigger chocolate hit.

The vodka helps sterilize the nibs however its main purpose is that it extracts the chocolate flavour out of the nibs, so you definitley want to add the vodka into the fermenter too as most of that chocolate flavour will now be in the vodka. Using the method I stated, I had zero vodka taste in the final product.

You could just dump the nibs in without soaking in vodka first, however, you run the risk of an infection (unlikely) plus you will not get as much choc flavour out of them as you would do by making a vodka tincture.

Also, if you want you can soak them in dark rum. I have heard the rum compliments the chocolate flavour well. however, unlike vodka, you will probably be able to detect the rum taste slightly in the final product.

Hope this helps.

Don, do you prefer to just use a primiary, or is it that you just feel that this type does just fine without putting it into a secondary? I was thinking of racking to a secondary, but if I don’t need to, that would make it nice and a little easier. What proof of vodka do you suggest using?

 

[DonGavlar]

Any thoughts on adding directly to the secondary? Should I add it to the vodka/nib mixture first?

Hmm, I’ve never personally added powder straight to the fermenter, nor have I seen it in a recipe. Thats not to say its never been done. I wouldnt add it to the vodka tincture as this would probably make the mixture too thick and gloopy. If you were going to do it, I would probably add the powder to some water to make watery chocolate mixture and then boil the mixture for 5/10 minutes and then add it to the fermenter. Beware though, you want to use a pure cocoa powder and not one of them chocolate milk mixtures full of sugar, you dont really want to it kicking off a second round of fermentation. I think doing it that way could work however, next time I would just add the powder at flameout and give it a stir.

Don, do you prefer to just use a primiary, or is it that you just feel that this type does just fine without putting it into a secondary? I was thinking of racking to a secondary, but if I don’t need to, that would make it nice and a little easier. What proof of vodka do you suggest using?

I never use a secondary in any of my beers, I would only use a secondary when aging a beer for a significant amount of time. I just primary for 3 weeks and then bottle. The reason I dump the chocolate tincture straight into the primary is because I personally saw no need to rack to a secondary. When making a fruit beer I see why you would rack into a clean fermementer as the fruit is full of sugar and you dont really want all that sugar sat directly ontop of a yeast cake as its going to kick of a vigirous fermentation again. Also you would probably get a slightly cleaner fruit taste. However, with the tincture there is pretty much no sugar in the solution so the only reason people would rack to the secondary (I assume from what I’ve read) is so that the solution mixes with the beer better and that the cocoa nibs dont sink into the trub. But for me it didnt matter if it mixes as over the 2 weeks the solution would have mixed itself and second the nibs sat ontop of the trub for me but even if they didnt, most of that chocolate flavour is now in the vodka anyway. So for me it was just easier and made more sense to dump straight to the primary and it worked out great

 

[DonGavlar]

sorry red, forgot to answer your question about the vodka. I just used whatever I had laying about in the house which was some smirnoff which is 37.5%. Im sure any vodka would do though.

 

[eadavis80]

Whenever I make a chocolate stout (or use cocoa nibs) I put the nibs in vanilla flavored vodka. The SLIGHT hint of vanilla compliments the nibs nicely. Something to consider for those who have not already used their nibs.