Quick Question on Cacoa Nibs and Milk Stouts

[TattooCelt]

Tradition would say that I rack the brew after primary to a secondary before adding the nibs. What is the consensus of keeping the Milk Stout in the primary and then simply adding the cacao nibs 3-4 days before bottling? I'd really like to keep the possibility of infection and oxidization down to a minimum, and think I've heard of people adding simple additions (not like fruit or anything) to the primary instead of racking to secondary and doing it there. Any feedback would be great!

 

[rocketsan]

That's how I do it, just use a sanitized grain sock but 3-4 days might not be enough time...

 

[TattooCelt]

Is there a better time table to add the nibs? I'd like a nice, robust flavor of the chocolate without it becoming over extracted.

 

[m00ps]

I would not rack to a secondary to just add nibs. I sanitize my nibs by boiling in water and adding the entire solution into my primary. The pieces are not small enough to get sucked into the autosiphon IME. I do this anywhere 3-7 days before bottling. The boiling extracts a lot of the flavor veyr quickly

 

[frazier]

On brewday, put the nibs in a mason jar and cover with vodka (plus a splash of vanilla extract). On bottling day, strain out the nibs and add the vodka to the bottling bucket.

Cheers!

 

[TattooCelt]

Hmmm. Just checked the carboy. I'd originally had it in my spare bathroom wrapped in a towel and the temp was 74 degrees. Fermentation was clipping along and there was a great layer of krausen on the beer. The temp seemed a bit high, so I moved it to a cooler room, put a black t-shirt around the carboy instead of a towel, and the temp has dropped to 68. However, now the fermentation activity has dropped off dramatically and the krausen has completely fallen back into the brew. Thoughts?

Using : Safale S-04 for the yeast by the way.

 

[frazier]

Sounds normal to me. S04 is a hard worker.

 

[CJ-3]

It's completely normal for a krausen to fall back in. It's just part of the fermentation process.