I’m trying to come up with a recipe for a chocolate porter (extract brew). Will steeping 1-1.5lbs of chocolate malt do the trick, or should I buy some cacao nibs and throw them in the secondary? I want a distinct chocolate flavor, but nothing too overwhelming.
Anybody ever used the cacao nibs before?
1 Like
That’s a lot of choc malt. I would dial it back by half. For the secondary, consider making a tincture. Cover your cocoa nibs in vodka for 2 weeks during your primary ferm, then pull a sample of your fermented beer, and dose at different levels, find which one you like, and scale up for the full batch.
Chocolate malt is named for the color, not the flavor. It is fairly potent stuff, and I think you’re using a bit too much. It tastes more coffee-like to me than chocolatey. Cacao nibs are the way to go if you’re looking for a rich chocolate flavor.
Bison brewing puts 6oz of cocoa powder in the mash for their chocolate stout. I suppose for extract you could roughly crush the nibs and steep them with your specialty malts. I agree with Pietro about the chocolate malt, and the tincture would also be a good route to try.
I recommend pale chocolate malt at about 5% of the total weight of the grist, plus a little crystal 40 for some sweetness to bring out the chocolate.
If you use chocolate malt, use sparingly (2%) and it’ll give you some dark chocolate notes. More than that and you get into the coffee and dark character.
In “Brewing Classic Styles” Jamil’s recipe for a chocolate hazelnut porter calls for 1/2 lb. low-fat, unsweetened cocoa powder added at flameout to sanitize it. He says it will look like chocolate sludge in the fermenter but that’s ok. That’s what I’m going to use for my upcoming chocolate cherry oatmeal robust porter, except I’ll add the cocoa to the cherries when pasteurizing them prior to adding into secondary.
I use 8oz of 100% cocoa powder added at the end of the boil in my Double Choc. Stout. Works very well.
Have you got a recipe? I was just thinking of brewing a DCS
I’m drinking this very recipe right now. I followed the advice of a HBS associate and substituted cocoa nibs in place of the cocoa powder, and am not entirely happy with the result (very light on the chocolate flavor). This was a “Christmas Beer” for family and friends and they all enjoyed it, but, while it may be messier, I think I’ll go with cocoa powder the next time I’m looking for a distinct chocolate flavor.
Never used powder but I have used nibs and pure chocolate.
The nibs worked pretty well, i thought they were better for aroma than flavor personally but still a good contribution. Brewed 10 gal of Stone Bitter Choc Oatmeal stout last summer for my birthday and just got it on tab a few weeks ago, the chocolate flavor is fantastic. for this one I went to a local chocolate shop and asked and sampled quite a few different chocolates before deciding on a half pound of their base chocolate. Only downside is that it really is brutal on the head retention.
[quote=“robotninja”]Never used powder but I have used nibs and pure chocolate.
The nibs worked pretty well, i thought they were better for aroma than flavor personally but still a good contribution. Brewed 10 gal of Stone Bitter Choc Oatmeal stout last summer for my birthday and just got it on tab a few weeks ago, the chocolate flavor is fantastic. for this one I went to a local chocolate shop and asked and sampled quite a few different chocolates before deciding on a half pound of their base chocolate. Only downside is that it really is brutal on the head retention.[/quote]
I had this same problem with a canadian breakfast stout I made (oatmeal, both toasted and raw, coffee, grade b maple syrup, and cacao nibs (added @ flameout)).
Everything about the beer is awesome, except the dark tan head fades into a motor oil-looking thing real shortly 
I suppose it could have been another ingredient, such as the maple, which I added post-primary ferm, but would like to know how to combat it. Maybe add .5lb-1lb of flaked barley or dextrin malt.
I’ve experimented with cocoa powder, nibs, and chocolate extract. The extract by far resulted in the best and most controllable chocolate flavor, hands down. It can even be added incrementally post-ferment with great results, allowing you to get just the right amount of chocolate flavor in there to suit your tastes.
There’s various ones available…I used the one offered to homebrew shops by L.D. Carlson.
[quote=“The Professor”]I’ve experimented with cocoa powder, nibs, and chocolate extract. The extract by far resulted in the best and most controllable chocolate flavor, hands down. It can even be added incrementally post-ferment with great results, allowing you to get just the right amount of chocolate flavor in there to suit your tastes.
There’s various ones available…I used the one offered to homebrew shops by L.D. Carlson.[/quote]
Good to know! I’d never considered this option.
1/2 cup chocolate chips at flameout to my coffee porter seems to have done the trick for me
a nice coffee chocolate battle in the flavor
8)
So it seems the majority of people prefer cocoa powder over the nibs. Also seems like adding it at flameout, rather than in the secondary if preferable. Thanks for the help.
Here is mine. I only recommend this beer to those who like DARK choc. If you are more into the mamby pamby sweet milk chocolate this is not the beer for you. 
5.5gal batch
11lbs 2 row
1lb 90L crystal
1lb choc malt
4oz roasted
2oz blk patent
1.5oz Nugget (11%) @ 60 min
1oz Fuggle (4.5%) @ 5 min
8oz 100% cocoa powder
8oz brown sugar
English Ale yeast
As you can see in the below pic I have no issues with head retention using the cocoa powder.
Edit: Added batch size and corrected typo
Here is mine. I only recommend this beer to those who like DARK choc. If you are more into the mamby pamby sweet milk chocolate this is not the beer for you.
5.5gal batch
11lbs 2 row
1lb 90L crystal
1lb choc malt
4oz roasted
2oz blk patent
1.5oz Nugget (11%) @ 60 min
1oz Fuggle (4.5%) @ 5 min
8oz 100% cocoa powder
8oz brown sugar
English Ale yeast
As you can see in the below pic I have no issues with head retention using the cocoa powder.
Edit: Added batch size and corrected typo[/quote]
Thank you very much!
