Cocoa powder in the boil and using a plate chiller. Problems?

[Eddiebosox]

So I am doing Jamil's chocolate hazelnut porter recipe. It calls for a half a pound of unsweetened cocoa powder in the last ten minutes of the boil. In his description it says it will look like "chocolate sludge in the fermentor". This worries me as I use a plate chiller (with a blichmann HopBlocker) and am concerned about pushing that sludge through it into the fermentor. First, will it block it up, and if it doesn’t and the hop blocker stops it, will it result in less chocolate flavor?

I'm thinking of using my hopblocker with the hope that it will stop the sludge and compensating for that by letting it sit at flameout for about ten more minutes than usual to absorb the flavor.

has anyone else tried this recipe before?

 

[tally350z]

I have not tried that particular recipe, but I did just brew a chocolate stout with 8 oz of cocoa powder and even though I used a IC, I would not put that wort through a plate chiller. It takes a lot of stirring to dissolve completly, and yet there were still clumps in it.

I have heard of people adding half of the powder to the mash and the other half to the boil. Maybe that will reduce the sludge enough to use the plate chiller. If not than go with the hopblocker

 

[Eddiebosox]

thanks. i'm thinking of substituting cocoa nibs which i can strain out, but im not sure if that's best used in the fermentor or boil.

 

[HopJuicer]

I have used nibs in the boil and secondary. I prefer them in the secondary. The powder sure does make a sludge in the kettle as well as the carboy! I bet there wouldn't be a problem running through the plate chiller, but i wouldn't chance it. Could you boil up a small amount of water to mix the powder and add that to the carboy once its cooled down?

 

[Eddiebosox]

I have used nibs in the boil and secondary. I prefer them in the secondary. The powder sure does make a sludge in the kettle as well as the carboy! I bet there wouldn't be a problem running through the plate chiller, but i wouldn't chance it. Could you boil up a small amount of water to mix the powder and add that to the carboy once its cooled down?

How much and for how long in the secondary did you use the nibs? I'm leaning towards nibs now. i just dont want to deal with the mess of the powder. Did you soak in vodka beforehand?