Using cocoa nibs/vanilla beans/etc... during boil

[Honda88]

I have used additions with a secondary racking before but I was wondering for experimental sake if anyone has tried brewing with these additions(in the actual boil). I was just thinking that if you could get similar results it would reduce the time needed to make a final product and you would reduce your risk of infection/oxidation by avoiding the aging stage.

 

[day_trippr]

You'd definitely lose a lot of the vanilla character with boiling, and there are better options for the cocoa than nibs (eg: low fat cocoa powder added in the last couple of minutes).

I reserve the vanilla beans and cocoa nibs for post-fermentation additions, after marinading them in dark rum for a week or so...

Cheers!

 

[billsea]

I add 2 oz or Hershey cocoa powder with 5 min left in the boil - 2.5 gal batch. Then 4 teaspoons of vanilla extract to the primary a few days before bottling. Comes out great.

 

[Honda88]

Ive never tried the cocoa powder in boil. I guess I'm really just looking for someone who has used whole vanilla beans or nibs in the actual boil and what results they had. It may make for an interesting beer. Maybe I will just have to try it once and see how it turns out. I'm not a huge fan of extracts. I like to have the raw product interacting with my beers.

 

[Carlscan26]

I've done nibs - just bag them up - they float and will clog your dip tube. I've always ended up adding more in secondary.

 

[billsea]

Ive never tried the cocoa powder in boil. I guess I'm really just looking for someone who has used whole vanilla beans or nibs in the actual boil and what results they had. It may make for an interesting beer. Maybe I will just have to try it once and see how it turns out. I'm not a huge fan of extracts. I like to have the raw product interacting with my beers.

I should add that I make the vanilla extract by soaking vanilla beans in vodka for a month or two. I always have some on hand. It helps ease my paranoia over contamination. Using the cocoa powder and extract is just sooo easy. YMMV

 

[Honda88]

So are you saying that boiling them didn't give you as much flavor as aging them? Billsea another reason I'm so interested in using them in the boil is to avoid having to sanitize them. I don't like adding vodka to my beer. When I did it in secondary I didn't sanitize them at all and the beer turned out fine but I could see where it could be possible to contaminate that way. I was thinking steam sanitizing would be the best route if I didn't want to use liquor.

 

[billsea]

I have never used cocoa nibs. I have always used cocoa powder added to the boil. Works great. Easy to adjust the amount from batch to batch if you want more flavor, and no risk of contamination.

I have never added vanilla beans to the boil so I don't know anything about that. But, adding extract give a nice vanilla flavor, it is easy, and there is no contamination risk. 4 teaspoons in a 2.5 gal batch is not a lot of vodka. 4t = .7oz, 2.5gal = 320 oz. .7/320 = .002

 

[Carlscan26]

Yes I've found I wanted more flavor than what I got from just the boil

 

[MindenMan]

I always roast my cocoa nibs before crushing them in a small amount of vodka. I then add that tincture to my bottling bucket. I have also used 6 oz of cocoa in the last 5 minutes of the boil. To me, raw cocoa nibs add a chocolate hard candy taste that doesn't really taste like chocolate. The cocoa nibs and and the cocoa powder complement each other nicely; from my experience I needed to cut down on the "standard" amount of hops as the cocoa powder adds a layer of bitterness to the wort.

 

[Honda88]

interesting, I haven't tried the cocoa powder in boil...maybe I will give that a try and use some vanilla and nibs at the end of fermentation.