Dry hopping with cocoa powder

[mikecshultz]

Have a stout (made from the deception cream stout recipe posted elsewhere on HBT). I want to add some more chocolate flavor so I was thinking about adding some cocoa powder to the fermenter as "dry hopping." I have seen some other posts that suggest using cocoa nibs. I don't have any nibs but I have some great cacao powder. Any ideas on how much I should add in or what kind of prep I need to do before hand (e.g. Soaking in whiskey or vodka, boiling, etc)? Also, is the cocoa going to trigger additional fermentation? I would love any help/guidance that you could give me. Thanks all.

 

[beerman0001]

Cocoa will not trigger any more fermentation. What if the fg of your beer? It would need some sweetness for the cocoa powder to taste right.

 

[mikecshultz]

Cocoa will not trigger any more fermentation. What if the fg of your beer? It would need some sweetness for the cocoa powder to taste right.

It is 1.026.

 

[beerman0001]

Not sure if this will work but pull out a sample and add a little cocoa powder mix it in and see if you like it.

 

[mikecshultz]

I mean, I know that I want to add more chocolate. I am jut not sure how much or what I need to do to prep the cocoa.

 

[beerman0001]

I just do not want you to mess up 5gal of good beer. Just throwing this out but you could add the cocoa and boil it with your priming solution when you bottle. I just do not know how much.

 

[mikecshultz]

I went ahead and picked up some cocoa nibs from whole foods. I am just gonna soak 8 oz in some vanilla rum I have and throw it in the fermenter for a week.

 

[Calder]

You can add cocoa powder. Just don't add it dry. It will clump up and very little will mix with the beer. You need to add it wet.

Last time I used cocoa powder, I pulled some beer, and mixed the poweder with the beer making a thick slurry. I added a couple of ounces of sugar to get some fermentation going to scrub any O2 I might introduce and create a CO2 blanket in the fermenter. I then added the slurry to the main batch, and it went crazy; within about 60 seconds it was frothing up and coming out of the fermenter ...... If you do this, add it very slowly. Beer tastes great, lots of chocolate flavor.

1.026 is plenty high for chocolate.

 

[mikecshultz]

You can add cocoa powder. Just don't add it dry. It will clump up and very little will mix with the beer. You need to add it wet.

Last time I used cocoa powder, I pulled some beer, and mixed the poweder with the beer making a thick slurry. I added a couple of ounces of sugar to get some fermentation going to scrub any O2 I might introduce and create a CO2 blanket in the fermenter. I then added the slurry to the main batch, and it went crazy; within about 60 seconds it was frothing up and coming out of the fermenter ...... If you do this, add it very slowly. Beer tastes great, lots of chocolate flavor.

1.026 is plenty high for chocolate.

Thanks a bunch. I actually went with the nibs. They are soaking in rum as we speak. Next time I will try that approach with the powder. Thanks for the help!

 

[FATC1TY]

Glad you didn't use the powder. It wouldn't do a damn thing and would leave a really bad taste to your beer. If you use the powder it needs to be tossed in the boil. Powder would be the worst thing you could add, in my opinion. You'll have that alkaline taste to the beer with the powder, and it wouldn't really do anything for you but leave a slightly dirty grainy flavor.. but it'll be chocolate-y.

Nibs are to be used in the secondary. Toss in the rum with them too, it has all the flavor from the nibs.

 

[Calder]

Glad you didn't use the powder. It wouldn't do a damn thing and would leave a really bad taste to your beer. If you use the powder it needs to be tossed in the boil. Powder would be the worst thing you could add, in my opinion. You'll have that alkaline taste to the beer with the powder, and it wouldn't really do anything for you but leave a slightly dirty grainy flavor.. but it'll be chocolate-y.

Not my experience. My beers have turned out pretty damned good with cocoa powder in secondary.

You have your opinion, but please don't tell people NOT TO DO IT when others have had good results with it.

 

[FATC1TY]

Not my experience. My beers have turned out pretty damned good with cocoa powder in secondary.

You have your opinion, but please don't tell people NOT TO DO IT when others have had good results with it.

No offense, but the reason I've told people not to do it, is because I was told not to do it, and I did, and it doesn't turn out as good if you do it that way.

So, while you have YOUR opinion, please don't tell me not to do something when from my experience, it's not a great idea. There are plenty of way to do it. You might have lucked out, and I might have not had the same experience. Just because it worked for you doesn't make it the gospel.

I'm not going to toss in sugar to my beer without it being boiled, so your advice isn't exactly "sound".

 

[Calder]

No offense, but the reason I've told people not to do it, is because I was told not to do it, and I did, and it doesn't turn out as good if you do it that way.

So, while you have YOUR opinion, please don't tell me not to do something when from my experience, it's not a great idea. There are plenty of way to do it. You might have lucked out, and I might have not had the same experience. Just because it worked for you doesn't make it the gospel.

I'm not going to toss in sugar to my beer without it being boiled, so your advice isn't exactly "sound".

I don't think I ever said not to do 'something'. If I did, I was wrong. Our craft grows from trying everything. I just have issues when people say "Do not do ....", especially when many other people have had success with it.

And I would never add any sugars to my beer without at least pasteurizing it, I don't think I said to do otherwise. However, I think the norm was, and many people still add sugar straight to bottles when bottling. I think they sell carb tabs that tell folks to do just that.

 

[FATC1TY]

I don't think I ever said not to do 'something'. If I did, I was wrong. Our craft grows from trying everything. I just have issues when people say "Do not do ....", especially when many other people have had success with it.

And I would never add any sugars to my beer without at least pasteurizing it, I don't think I said to do otherwise. However, I think the norm was, and many people still add sugar straight to bottles when bottling. I think they sell carb tabs that tell folks to do just that.

I put forward my opinion of the technique, and my experience, like asked. I never said to NOT do it, because we are all free to try new things and see what works. I was just stating that you don't need to tell me do something just because it goes against your way of doing it.

If you are adding sugar, I'd suggest adding "boil it in some water" to your note to the guy asking about adding powder. You simple tell someone to pull some beer, add some powder, dump it in the fermenter, and add some sugar and that it instantly starts working in 60 seconds.

To each his own though. We can all make the same beer, 10 different ways to get there, no need to draw a picture.

 

[mikecshultz]

Just wanted to update this. I ended up soaking the 8 oz of cocoa nibs in about a cup of vanilla rum overnight and then threw it in the fermenter for a week. It worked like a charm, and imparted an amazing chocolate vanilla flavor to the stout. Thanks for the help all.

 

[SpeedYellow]

Glad you didn't use the powder. It wouldn't do a damn thing and would leave a really bad taste to your beer. If you use the powder it needs to be tossed in the boil. Powder would be the worst thing you could add, in my opinion. You'll have that alkaline taste to the beer with the powder, and it wouldn't really do anything for you but leave a slightly dirty grainy flavor.. but it'll be chocolate-y.

Nibs are to be used in the secondary. Toss in the rum with them too, it has all the flavor from the nibs.

I completely disagree. Cocoa powder works perfectly fine added to the secondary. Recently made a Mokah-style imperial stout, with dutch processed cocoa added to both primary & secondary, using a slurry with hot water (see My Recipes). Tastes near identical to Mokah, and I wouldn't even consider wasting money on cocoa nibs. Nor do I see any reason why it "needs" to be boiled. In fact, I'd avoid that.