Chocolate stout unexpected results

[Dadux]

So i brewed myself some chocolate stout nearly a month ago. It was left in the primary until today. I used chocolate malt and cocoa powder (125 grams for 14 liters). IT smells really good, i just bottled it. The weird thing was that when i opened the bucket there was this huge layer of "chocolate krausen" and basically looked like a cake, literally, it was hilariou. I removed as much as i could, but not all, which was around 300ml worth of chocolate. Some did make it into the bottles. I must add that the chocolate layer didnt stop the beer from bubbling in the airlock as normal. But is it common to get this massive chocolate top layer? any way to reduce it if i decide to give it another try? And lastly, im guessing there is no problem because some of it made it to the bottles?
Thanks for any info you can provide

 

[blubrewbbq]

I would first ask how does it taste? Good thing about home brewing is that we get to trial and error.

It it taste good then make tweaks until perfect. If not try again. Lol.

 

[day_trippr]

A picture would likely have been informative.

fwiw, I've been keeping an 11%+ chocolate stout on tap for many years. I use chocolate malt in the mash, unsweetened cocoa with 5 minutes left in the boil, and dark rum-marinaded cocoa nibs post-fermentation...and never have had anything interesting atop the beer before kegging.

Just beer, really, with the hint of a cocoa fat sheen...

Cheers!

 

[Leezer]

Hmm, I just bottled my second chocolate stout two weeks ago. Both times I used chocolate malt and cocoa powder, and then vodka soaked cocoa nibs in primary. Neither time resulted in the kind of chocolate layer/krausen you are describing. Also wondering how it tasted?

 

[Dadux]

A picture would likely have been informative.

fwiw, I've been keeping an 11%+ chocolate stout on tap for many years. I use chocolate malt in the mash, unsweetened cocoa with 5 minutes left in the boil, and dark rum-marinaded cocoa nibs post-fermentation...and never have had anything interesting atop the beer before kegging.

Just beer, really, with the hint of a cocoa fat sheen...

Cheers!

There you go.

 

[Elixer]

Looks like you brewed a gigantic brownie! Lol! Looks tasty though.

I brewed a chocolate stout 2 weeks ago with 70 grams of unsweetened bakers chocolate added to the boil. Two days ago I added two vanilla beans and 100 grams of cacao nibs to the fermentor.
Like day_trippr there was only a small amount of fat floating at the surface. Nothing like your picture shows.

Are you sure that you added just 125 grams of cacao powder?
Also, what yeast did you use. Some yeasts produce some long lasting krausens, which might explain the brownie floating on top.

 

[ESBrewer]

It definitely looks like a cake! When did you add the cocoa powder. It is hard to dissolve cocoa in cool milk and it tends to stay on top...probably the same thing with beer. I try to avoid mixing beer and chocolate but I understand that there are many beer styles nowadays.

 

[Dadux]

Added at boil. I boiled water first then added the powder there until dissolved in a glass and added to the boiling wort.

I used mangrove jacks m15. Never produced such a heavy krausen (or heavier than what im used to)

I havent tried it yet. It smelled really chocolaty as expected.

Im sure i used around 125 grams yes. Could it have been 130? Sure but not more. 125 or quite close. Weighed it.

 

[madscientist451]

fwiw, I've been keeping an 11%+ chocolate stout on tap for many years. I use chocolate malt in the mash, unsweetened cocoa with 5 minutes left in the boil, and dark rum-marinaded cocoa nibs post-fermentation..

Cheers!

My apologies in advance for hijacking the thread for my own purposes, but.....
I've just brewed Yoopers stout recipe and pretty good, but it came out more roasty than chocolate.
I'd like to try to have a chocolate stout on tap all winter.
Do you add the cocoa nibs/rum mixture at packaging?
Just the nibs, or just the rum? Toast the nibs first? How much nibs/gallon?
Any reason you use rum instead of vodka for the tincture?
Also, is there a difference of what kind of cocoa you use and how much?
Thanks

 

[day_trippr]

This stout is the one brew that I actually rack off the trub - to a clean carboy on top of the marinaded cocoa nibs and vanilla beans.
The nibs (bought already roasted) and a smushed vanilla bean or two soak in enough dark rum to cover for at least a week, then the whole works is dumped in the carboy where it sits for another week or two until I get around to kegging it.

I used to use plain vodka but found the dark rum flavor works really nicely with the big chocolate stout.
The cocoa powder used at the end of the boil is dark Hersey's which is fairly low in fat content.
For a ten gallon batch I use a pound of cocoa powder and a pound of nibs...

Cheers!

 

[Elixer]

I used raw nibs and roasted them for 20 minutes at 100 degrees Celsius and added those directly to the secondary. Roasting them should kill most of the harmful organisms.
At first I added the raw nibs without roasting them first, but it did not add the chocolaty flavors that I was looking for. Then I came across this article where they tested different roasting temperatures and times of cacao to bring out the best chocolate flavors and aroma's.

http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0101-20612017005008102

I soaked the vanilla beans in local cask strength Whiskey for a week before adding the whole thing to the secondary.

 

[madscientist451]

OK, thanks I'm going to try the rum & roasted nibs on the current batch and add the cocoa next time.

 

[day_trippr]

Wow. What do you suppose that actually is?

 

[stieg000]

Looks like the co2 from fermentation picked up the cocoa powder. I would have punched that cap and gave it another day to settle in the refrigerator. Never had that issue myself; I always use nibs or powder post fermentation.

 

[day_trippr]

I always use a pound of cocoa powder per 10 gallons at the end of the boil and I have never see anything even remotely like that big ol' brownie at the end of fermentation...

Cheers!

 

[Dadux]

no clue. It smelled chocolatey though.
I will see how the stout itselfs tastes in 3 weeks or so, hopefully its good

 

[Schlenkerla]

I mashed with a half pound of cocoa...It smelled good in the grist, mash and boil.

The 3rd picture here is the hot break.

Then I ruined it (LOL) with 10.5 lbs of banana in the boil. Last twenty minutes. Ironically 20 ripe bananas. Peels and all.

 

[andrewmaixner]

Here's where some applied highschool chemistry comes in handy! Particles are floating because they are nucleation sites, so the CO2 comes out of solution on them, attaches to them as bubbles, and makes them float.

What I do to get anything to sink (krausen, pellet hops, etc):
-raise temperature to 75-80F
-swirl fermenter somewhat aggressively a few times
-chill to 55F
-swirl a tiny bit more
-let settle, and then keg/bottle directly from the fermenter (carb drops if in bottles)

What this does is remove some carbonation, break up the material, and let it sink in the chilled lower-carbonation higher-gas-solubility lower-kinetic-energy liquid.