Cocoa Nibs & Vanilla: Mash? Boil? Both?

Secondary, both of them. First off, don't go spend $8 on a single vanilla bean at Whole Foods (yes, I did that). You can soak the bean in vodka or StarSan but that's not always necessary. Slice the bean in half, scrape the inside powder into your beer, drop bean in beer. Same goes for the nibs, except no splitting/scraping necessary.

 

+1…secondary is the place. I've been tempted to try adding them at the end of the boil, but I generally stick with post-fermentation additions for them.

 

Or skip secondary and add them to the keg in a Muslim bag.

 

+2 to secondary, but lightly crush the nibs, I get more flavor.

 

Muslin*
Fucking auto correct.

 

+1 on secondary. I just split the beans and add them with the Nibs before racking to the carboy.

 

I currently have 4 vanilla beans soaking in some bourbon and I intend on tossing them in a milk stout at kegging.

 

How many vanilla beans are people using for a 5 gallon batch of say an 8% oatmeal stout?

 

From all my research, people normally add 2 beans. I honk that by me adding 4, it will be a bit much. But then again, I am trying to make a Starbucks like beer. Aka white girl wasted.

 

***think not honk, lol

 

I added one to my Wheat Wine 7.5 gallons.... But, it sat on that and Coco Nibs for three months.... Then when into the Whiskey barrel...

 

For nibs I've switched to adding them at flameout and transferring the bag to the fermenter for the duration of fermentation. Nibs can have a lot of bacteria on them, and were the source of one of my two infections to date (the other was a bad batch of yeast from).

The tincture works too for nibs, but I prefer the flavor I get from leaving them in the beer and pulling or racking off.

Like everyone else, I ad the vanilla beans in a tincture or just cut up, into the fermenter.

 

I like vanilla beans in a tincture thrown into secondary as well. I have had good luck putting nibs in at flameout. Like @Scumbag81 I also had an issue with nibs in secondary.

 

That's an interesting idea…I've seen somebody do this for pumpkin but not for nibs.

So I always buy unroasted beans, so roast them myself and then crush them and soak them in vodka for a while before adding to the beer…so no real issues with bacteria. Still, I like the idea of a hot soak of the nibs too as you guys advocate.

 

I just brewed a Porter last weekend that called for and addition of Cocoa Nibs at 1 minute left in the boil. I dumped them right into the batch but had lots of issues transferring from the boil kettle to the primary fermenter. Once I had about 3/4 of the batch transferred the nibs started to clog the siphon and I had a hell of a time getting the last 1/4 moved over. The instructions did not call for a muslin bag and for some reason (this being my first experience with them) I thought they were actual chocolate and would melt, I did not know they were actual beans.

What is the best way to use these in the future? Should I have steeped the bag while the batch cooled until transfer and then discarded? Should I have left the bag in during primary fermentation?

 

You can put the nibs in a sanitized jar, then add some boiling water to cover the nibs. Let them steep for an hour or until they get below 140F. Pitch nibs and water in secondary for a week or two. Works every time!

 

Okay, thanks for the tip, I'll try that next time.

 

I might use this for a beer I just brewed.