This past weekend I was brewing with cacao nibs and like I've done with other recipes, I included 2 ounces in the boil for 15 minutes. I got to thinking about how hard it is to discern the flavor contribution given everything going on in the end product, so I whipped up a quick test.
I boiled 4 cups of water and added 0.1 of an ounce of cacao nibs. My rough calculations were 4 cups of water / 5 gallons batch size (80 cups) = 0.05 * 2 ounces = 0.1 ounce. Rough estimate, I know the boil amount is larger than the target batch.
Boiled the mixture for 15 minutes, then cooled it. The water turned an orange-ish / light brown color. The taste? Nothing like cacao nibs smell when roasted, or when you eat them. Tasted like water with a very very slight earthy taste. Eyes closed, might have been hard pressed to pick it out from a control. No hint of a chocolate type note.
I know there are other methods, tinctures, dry nibbing, etc, that I've done before. But for the recipes I've tried that involved boiling, is it adding anything?
I'm going to redo my boil flavor test with a full ounce of nibs and see if there is any noticeable flavor change.
I boiled 4 cups of water and added 0.1 of an ounce of cacao nibs. My rough calculations were 4 cups of water / 5 gallons batch size (80 cups) = 0.05 * 2 ounces = 0.1 ounce. Rough estimate, I know the boil amount is larger than the target batch.
Boiled the mixture for 15 minutes, then cooled it. The water turned an orange-ish / light brown color. The taste? Nothing like cacao nibs smell when roasted, or when you eat them. Tasted like water with a very very slight earthy taste. Eyes closed, might have been hard pressed to pick it out from a control. No hint of a chocolate type note.
I know there are other methods, tinctures, dry nibbing, etc, that I've done before. But for the recipes I've tried that involved boiling, is it adding anything?
I'm going to redo my boil flavor test with a full ounce of nibs and see if there is any noticeable flavor change.
