Sweet Cocoa Anyone?

[AbRew]

I brewed up a batch of chocolate hazelnut porter yaesterday. The recipe called for 8 oz unsweet cocoa but I accidentally bought sweet cocoa. The recipe also only called for 8 oz unsweet cocoa and since I had the sweet I just threw the whole 16 oz in. I love this hobby because of the inherent experimental nature. I was just wondering if anyone has used sweet cocoa and if so how did it work out? I am hoping that I get a hot chocolate hazelnut porter but only time will tell.

 

[ChshreCat]

ahhh, you confused cocoa with cocoa powder. Not sure what all the other ingredients in it will do to your beer. The extra sugar should ferment out though. Main thing I'd worry about is the powdered milk that's in most cocoas and I'd check the ingredient list for preservatives that could affect your yeast.

 

[barleynhops]

That would be my concern as well. The sugars will be highly fermentable, so that shouldn't be a huge issue since there isn't a tremendous amount of it. My concern would just be in the additional ingredients used to make the cocoa power. At this point, there's little you can do but wait and taste. Let us know how it turns out!

 

[AbRew]

I checked out the ingredients on the back of the cocoa and it seems like I just bought bakers sweet cocoa because the bulk of the mix is just sugar and cocoa. I didn't see any processed milk from what I could tell, although it did contain some soy. I will post the results on here when the batch has run its course.

 

[ChshreCat]

This does make me wonder if the cocoa with powdered milk in it would be useful to make a milk stout.

 

[BarleyWater]

This does make me wonder if the cocoa with powdered milk in it would be useful to make a milk stout.

EEeewwwww Milk tends to curdle rather quickly in beer.

 

[ChshreCat]

Yeah, but powdered milk is different. I wonder if it would work. It'd have the lactose in it. Might have to do some more research on this...

 

[barleynhops]

I dunno...I'm thinking you'd probably accomplish better result by just adding the lactose and not risking the curdle situation. If you try it...tell us how it turns out...I'm curious!