Nibs or cocoa or vanilla bean or??

[kevinb]

I am brewing a DME chocolate stout tomorrow. I plan to do a 5G batch. I don't have a recipe on me. However, the kit has a small package of chocolate nibs. The instuctions say to put the nibs in a secondary and rack on top of them. Is that enough chocolate flavor? I have seen some other people add cocoa to the boil and/or vanilla beans to the secondary. Will the nibs be enough for a subtle chocoal flavor?

 

[SD-SLIM]

I am brewing a DME chocolate stout tomorrow. I plan to do a 5G batch. I don't have a recipe on me. However, the kit has a small package of chocolate nibs. The instuctions say to put the nibs in a secondary and rack on top of them. Is that enough chocolate flavor? I have seen some other people add cocoa to the boil and/or vanilla beans to the secondary. Will the nibs be enough for a subtle chocoal flavor?

Yes...you should be fine, however if you want a stronger chocolate flavor...then you would add to the boil, add extract, place in the secondary (as you are) and finally you could add extract in the bottling process....however since this isnt your recipe, I would go with what the recipe recommend and then change it (if needed) as you have more experience.

 

[brewingbryan]

I made a chocolate stout with nibs - racked on top of them for about two weeks in secondary. Worked really well and gave it a good amount of cocoa flavor without it being too much. I think it was just a few ounces, whatever came in a single pack from Austin Homebrew.

As I'm sure you e found elsewhere or already know yourself, let the nibs soak in vodka for a day or two prior to racking and they'll be good to go.

 

[kevinb]

I made a chocolate stout with nibs - racked on top of them for about two weeks in secondary. Worked really well and gave it a good amount of cocoa flavor without it being too much. I think it was just a few ounces, whatever came in a single pack from Austin Homebrew.

As I'm sure you e found elsewhere or already know yourself, let the nibs soak in vodka for a day or two prior to racking and they'll be good to go.

Why the vodka?

 

[voltin]

Why the vodka?

If I had to guess it would be to sanitize them. When I did my Vanilla Burbon Porter, I soaked the Vanilla beans in Bourbon to kill all the baddies. This may not be necessary given the alcohol in beer, but I did it for piece of mind. That being said I would have no problem just throwing the nibs in.

 

[SD-SLIM]

If I had to guess it would be to sanitize them. When I did my Vanilla Burbon Porter, I soaked the Vanilla beans in Bourbon to kill all the baddies. This may not be necessary given the alcohol in beer, but I did it for piece of mine. That being said I would have no problem just throwing the nibs in.

Vodka isn't nessecary for most commercially packaged cocoa nibs, due to the lack of moisture....however if you get them imported fresh from a farm, they may be covered in pesticides or foreign bacteria...the best way to sanitize them is to soak them in vodka to kill the bacteria. In vanilla beans, vodka is a must because vanilla beans are packed full of moisture and if a slight perforation to the bean happens, the bean can be infected with foreign enemies to beer!