Chocolate additions in stout

I’m prepairing to make a chocolate coffee stout and wanted some advise on chocolate additions. Nibs vs. Cocoa powder vs. bakers chocolate into boil vs. flameout vs. primary vs. secondary… you get the picture. :thinking:

I’ve used both bakers chocolate and Hershey special dark powder. Both added for the entire boil. Neither beer holds a head I assume because of oils in the chocolate or coffee. I used 12 oz bakers chocolate for one and 8 oz? (One container) powder. Both came out wonderful. Never tried the nibs but I hear soaking them in vodka and placing them in secondary (or primary if you font do the whole secondary thing) works for that.

A stout without a nice head wouldn’t do it for me. Is there anything that can be done?

I just recently brewed the NB Chocolate Milk Stout and it called for the nibs in secondary. I soaked them in bourbon and left them for 7 days and added a vanilla bean. The beer is awesome, not overwhelming on the chocolate flavor, good head and aroma.

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I recently used coco powder and peanut butter powder in a stout and it’s good, but not very good head.

Maybe drinking at a bit higher temp than I actually do would give me a ltitle bether head. Lack of temperature control generally has me drinking beers colder or warmer than I would like to.

I’ve learned that it’s the fat in bakers chocolate and cocoa powder that causes the head to vanish. I’m assuming that’s why a lot of folks use cocoa nibs in secondary… not so much the temp

That’s what I thought too. I think I read in Papazians book that it was more the oil you get from the bakers chocolate and that you can avoid that by using the powder. Gotta figure the last few I’ve poured have been floating around 32 degrees so I haven’t had much head on any of my beers

From brewday until your drinking one of your stouts, how many weeks on average passes. I know some recipes are different, but I’ve heard and seen some that are in primary for 2 weeks, secondary for 8, and then kegged for another 30 days until it’s being drank.

I usually go about 4-6 weeks until drinking. 1-2 weeks in primary, 2 weeks in secondary, one to two weeks in the bottle before breaking into them. If I use too much roasted, they tend to sit in the bottle just a tad longer

Right on thanks

UPDATE: So i went with 4 oz of cocoa nibs into secondary and a 1/5th of Jameson Caskmates. Left this in secondary for 2 weeks. Cold pressed 1pound of pete’s coffee Guatemalan roast to 4 cups of coffee which I dumped in 3 days before kegging.

Man O man this beer is good. I didn’t throw the cocoa nibs into any vodka or sanitizer… just put them in. I wonder how much more chocolate flavor I would get if I was to do soak in vodka next time?