Chocolate Sake

Sake
1

Back in January, I started a double batch of sake with my own koji from Vision spores, with some nice short grain Hitomebore. Just standard white rice really. 80% I’m estimating. I did it with the forethought that I wanted to experiment a little bit.

I pressed yesterday and got 4.5 gallons, about 3/4 of a gallon’s worth went on top of 3/4 lb freshly roasted cocoa nibs.

[attachment=0]Chocolate Sake.jpg[/attachment]

Given how few water extractables there are in fresh cocoa, I gave it a moderate grinding and added relatively speaking quite a bit. My hope if something with a delicate chocolate aroma and taste. Right now the color is dead on what I was hoping for. We’ll see how the flavor is in about a month. Basically whenever it is all settled.

2

Very cool! I’ve actually wondered why there isn’t a very popular chocolate nigori on the market, seeing as how it could very possible end up tasting like a yoo-hoo!

3

Well, three days later I just pulled a small taste.

As of yet, no particular chocolate aroma, but a nice soft buttery sake aroma.

But the flavor :shock: Chocolate Silk. It just slides around the mouth, coating everything in delicate chocolate flavors. So smooth.

Will taste again on the weekend.

4

That sir beats the pants off of popcorn sake… (most anything would do that honestly).

I really have to try that. How about nibs and just a touch of cherries?

3/4 lb of nibs? I’d say if you don’t take it off soon, it will begin to dominate. Only a few ounces are used in beer, so I would think 12 ounces would be quite a bit.

5

Thanks :slight_smile:

Honestly, I can’t believe it will dominate. I’ve played around quite a bit with chocolate, brewing and otherwise, and it’s really damn hard to get the flavor to come through. I personally think people use only a few ounces in beer because they are thinking ‘spice’ but there are so few water extractables in nibs. Which is why used so much (and I have them around since they are my business).

Now cherries on the other hand I can see dominating. But like plum wine, that’s probably what you want.

I’ll report in on this weekend’s tasting. But I do think it will probably come off soon…but tastes will tell.

6

Well, the batch is continuing to improve. There is a chocolate nose this time, and the flavor is strengthening, although by no means strong.

I’ve decided to bring it up from 45 F to about 55F for the next week.

All the cocoa nibs have settled nicely to the bottom. No more floaters. I’m shaking daily too.

And such a pretty color it is getting. I’m liking the progression so far.

7

So… how did this batch go? Anything left?

8

Believe it or not most of it is left. Just too many good elixirs in the laboratory. Since you asked, I’ll try and break a bottle out this weekend.

9

I tried it as promised.

It has a very nice cocoa aroma. Sort of like a cross between brownies and a cocoa liqueur. The taste was a nice blend of sake and cocoa. Not hot chocolate like, but more like I mixed a touch of that liqueur in but without the sweetness. And no off or odd flavors. Very drinkable and sake elegant.

That said, it looks like once again (for myself) I am going to be purest. I prefer the sake pure. The sum was not better than the parts for my tastes. I do the same thing with most things I make. Although I love peppers, cocoa and many spice I don’t seem to like any of them in my alcohol.

10

Sounds like it was successful. Very cool. Taste wise, it’s kind of hard to beat straight Sake I’m finding out.

11

Hi, I’m a Makgeolli brewer and I’d love to do a chocolate Makgeolli. What kind of chocolate did you use and did you incorporate it to the mix immediately or did you add it in for the last few fermenting days. Thanks

12

You are replying to a 5 year old post. Most of the people in the conversation have not posed in years. We welcome any of your input but I don’t think you will get a reply in this thread.

13

Thanks I hadn’t even noticed the year on the post. Read back through and the info I needed was in the posts. Thanks for your concern (0:

14

Hi. I didn’t use chocolate. I used roasted cocoa nibs after all the main fermentation was done. I would have to check my notes to tell you how much and how long.

15

Thanks…the amt I realized after reading your post again was actually listed. I have ordered the nibs…do you just throw them on a baking sheet and into the oven to roast…and how do you know when they are roasted and at what temp. Thanks so much. I just bottled my Sweet Potato Makgeolli today and my fermentor is ready for a chocolate brew (0:

16

Oh, good. I didn’t go look above. Where did you order nibs? These are what I use. There are roasted nibs available.

Sadly, just tossing them on a sheet is just going to toast them really, not roast them for full flavor development.

17

Wow, you have your own company…the selection is incredible. I ordered them from Amazon…raw…darn, I wish Ihad known.what else canI do with the raw nibs. Maybe I just order more that are roasted and use the raw for something else.

18

Yeah, amazon isn’t great for cocoa nibs. I get so many customers because they are disappointed by what they get there. And BTW, I didn’t mean to self promote, but yeah, I have a lot. The raw you could indeed toast and use in stuff like salads. The roasting/toasting is less critical for eating.

19

So it looks like you put the nibs in for the last few days of the ferment…do you happen to remember how many days the nibs were actually in the brew. Makgeolli is similar to Saki so I will do the same. Thanks again

20

Hey, instead of the dark variety I used the milk chocolate and it didn’t go as I wished, no aroma and pretty much an odd taste, basically undrinkable. Could you suggest any possible issue?