Chocolate Extract vs Cocoa

[Coastie]

I bought Northern Brewer's Porter kit and I am thinking about adding
some chocolate to make it more of my own. What is the difference
between adding cocoa powder during the boil and adding chocolate
extract in the secondary?

My choices are to add 1/2 Cup cocoa or 1 1/2 oz of extract. Below is
the recipe.


Specialty Grains
* 0.5 lbs. Simpson's Chocolate
* 0.5 lbs. Simpsons Dark Crystal


Fermentables
* 6 lbs. Gold Malt Syrup
* 1 lbs. Dark Dry Malt Extract


Boil Additions
* 1 oz. Chinook (60 min)
* 1 oz. Irish Moss (20 min) (My own addition, didn't come with the
kit.)
* 1 oz. Cascade (1 min)


Yeast
* Wyeast #1187 Ringwood Ale Yeast.

 

[debtman7]

Cocoa powder I think is generally preferred, it's what I've used in the past. I'm not sure how much chocolate flavor you'd really get from adding chocolate to the secondary... People have said to boil cocoa powder for the entire boil to break down some of the fats, last time I just boiled the last 15 minutes. It turned out ok, but I had some funk floating on top of the fermenter... Tasted good though.

Also keep in mind that cocoa adds bitterness, so it may throw off the rest of the recipe. For a porter though, I would think .5 C cocoa wouldn't be too much of an issue.

 

[david_42]

I've never run across a chocolate extract that I liked, so I'd use cocoa powder, dutch processed if you can get it. To me, flavor extracts are something you use only when the you can't get the actual product or you are trying to adjust a batch.

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

Or you can actually use the unprocessed cocoa nibs. Yup. They malt the cocoa bean, mechanically remove the husk, and leave you with a nice chocolatey, but not terribly sweet chocolate-tasting nib. Very interesting. I tried a few of them earlier today.

They are available from here:

www.thespicehouse.com

 

[david_42]

Michael worked at Scharffenberger's for a while & would bring home bags of husks for mulching. Imagine, if you might, a garden that smells like chocolate!

If you used nibs, I'd mash them. I suspect the cocoa butter would be a head killer.