do you think this beer would taste good if you added lactose, bakers chocolate, maybe cocoa nibs and a hair of some vanilla beans?
What would be the best combinations?
or should i just make it as is?
Thanks for the opinions
Northern Brewer kits are designed to be really good as is. What are you hoping to achieve with the lactose? I’ve added lactose to beers before, where I’ve wanted to give them creamier mouthfeel, and i’ve always been disappointed. Lactose has its place, but I’d be warry of that one.
Chocolate, cocoa nibs, and vanilla would be great, though. Keep in mind that it’s easy to overdo flavoring additions. Baking chocolate works well when you melt it into the boil (I’d suggest doing the last 10 minutes and not letting it scorch by stirring a lot). Cocoa nibs work well when added to secondary and aging on them for a week or so. I’d go with a combination of the two that adds up to 8oz. Vanilla beans can work well at various stages of the brewing process, but it’s easy to lose the aroma and flavor through fermentation, so I’d split the bean, soak between 1/2 a bean and 2 beans in some vodka for a few days, and pour that tincture into the beer at bottling.
I made the extract version of St. Paul, and I added an 8 oz can of unsweetened cocoa powder at the last 10 minutes of the boil.
It’s been a few months in bottle, and the chocolate flavor is evident without being overly dominant. Damn tasty…
think i am just gonna go with the eight ounces bakers choclate thanks all for the info
1 split bean after fermentation is done adds a nice amount of flavor. No soaking in vodka needed.
yeah them beans is spensive though, i will go all out and give it a try some time, I made a beer for some buddies, the urca vanilla porter from the host, its been couple months stuff is still to vanilly, might splurge toss one in though, thanks for the info though
