Chocolate: Flameout vs Secondary (Breakfast Stout)

I'd go with 4oz in secondary...but splitting it up with 1oz at flame out and putting 3oz in secondary will give a little more complex flavors. In my house coffee, chocolate RIS, I have been adding small amounts of cacao nibs at various stages of boil to test its bitterness and have found adding it around 15 minutes left to boil and then at flameout add slight bitterness and a darker chocolate flavor while adding to secondary adds richness and smooth chocolately flavor. Adding it early in the boil doesn't give as much bitterness, IMO, as adding it around 15 to go. I've been getting great nibs from Night Owl in upstate SC... http://www.nightowlchocolate.com/cocoa-nibs.html They have a very good flavor, have always been fresh and produce some great brews. Its like $18 for a pound delivered, which is much better than I can find elsewhere.

 

I do 5 gallon batches, to clarify also. I put my cacao nibs in hops bags with the hops additions and I put it in a hops bag with my coffee at flameout for 20-30 minutes. I add it straight to the secondary along with any dry hops I might be using for that recipe. I've toned down my coffee to 2 oz from 4 oz and upped my cacao nibs to around 1 1/2 oz during/after boil and 3 1/2 oz during secondary from 4 oz in secondary only...the beer has gotten a better rounded flavor and comes out with a rich creamy brown mule popsicle flavor (I also add oats and lactose to most batches). My only experience is with nibs and not the bakers chocolate, btw.

 

Don't boil nibs, it's like boiling coffee. Gross.

I do a chocolate porter that has dutched powder added to boil around 10 minutes.

I've in the past, added the nibs right as primary fermentation is ending, but still finishing up. I don't feel any need to secondary anyways. You want as much contact time on the cocoa that made it into the fermenter, as well as the nibs. If you want coffee, I'd add crush up some whole beans and add then when you are happy with the chocolate flavor/aroma, as the coffee won't take long to extract and will be fresh for packaging.

 

For a full chocolate flavor, I would go and add any cocoa powder or chocolate bars with 10 mins left in the boil to boil off any fats contained within. Nibs are better off in secondary for a well-rounded chocolate finish.

 

You won't be boiling off any fats, I assure you. Thats the reason you don't use chocolate that has a ton of fat left in it. It will affect head retention, as well as possibly going rancid.

 

Where does the fat go when you "boil it off"?

 

Nibs have about as much fat in them as baker's chocolate (i.e. a lot). Cocoa powder has very little fat comparatively.

 

I was referring to the soluble fats found in chocolate bars, and the intended purpose is to prevent any fats inhibiting head foam formation. But any adjuncts I'm slightly uncertain of, that I grab off grocery shelves, I typically add in with 10 mins left in the boil. ie. citrus peels/rinds, hazlenuts

 

Fat is not soluble in water, so if you add any fats to a beer, they won't be going anywhere unless you chill it down and scrape it from the top.

 

Cacao nibs can add a unique bitterness compared to hops. Very similar to hops, the earlier you add them to the boil, the more bitterness is extracted. Ive read a few articles on their bittering properties and experimented enough to know when I like to add nibs for the flavor I'm looking for. I see nothing wrong with adding them to the boil when using them to bitter a beer instead of going for the full on chocolate flavor.

 

To each his own. You know what YOU like to get from them when boiling them. There's someone new asking about using them. Chances are he doesn't know the level of acrid bitterness he will get when using them in the boil. Might ruin his recipe even if he's not planning for it. I've used nibs everywhere in the process, even in the mash.

For what it's worth, most people go for nibs to get a full on chocolate flavor, not to get any extra bitterness from them, and you never mention as a caveat that boiling them with your advice, will lead to extraction of bitter tannins from the nibs. Hence the reason I said to not boil them for someone asking about getting a chocolate flavor.

 

Sure man, thought my earlier response handled all that ok without interjected too much extra.

 

I agree with the previous comments about likening cocoa powder or nibs added during the boil vs. secondary to late hop additions vs. dry hopping additions. I also like to add cocoa powder late in the boil and nibs on the "cool side" myself.

P.S. If you want to get more aroma potential out of the "cool side" cocoa nib addition, try soaking them in a few oz of neutral spirit for about a week prior to adding them. Then pitch the neutral spirit into either the secondary or the keg itself. The higher abv of the neutral spirit should do a better job extracting aroma compounds than the beer itself would.

 

The point is that if you add fat to your wort or beer, you'll have fat. It doesn't boil away. If you don't want fat, add your chocolate in a form that doesn't have much fat.

 

Check this out for ideas .. The BYO write up for Founders Oatmeal breakfast stout

https://byo.com/stout/item/1857-founder’s-brewings-breakfast-stout-clone