How much chocolate malt is too much?

Pale or dark? I prefer a combination, like 50/50. The largest amounts I've ever used was in a chocolate Stout. It called for 1 pound of pale chocolate and a half a pound of 500L chocolate malt and a 6 gallon batch.it was actually less chocolatey than I had hoped for. But not acrid in the least. I guess your water matter a little though also.

 

I recently used 0.5 lbs of pale chocolate in a 1.051 OG brown. It had some nice chocolate notes but wasn't in your face.

 

FWIW I personally use 1/4 lb. of non-pale chocolate malt when I brew my Brown Ales.

Cheers!

 

Does anyone know if nibs impart color?

 

I've only used nibs in beers that were already dark enough that I didn't notice a change. But they must contribute some color, because the spent nibs were paler coming out than going in.

 

Soaking 4oz of nibs in 6-8oz of vodka, then strained through a coffee filter, the liquid came out the color of am. Amber ale in a pint mason jar IIRC. Dosed into 6 gallons, it shouldn't impart much color. I've never dry nibbed into anything other than dark beers so can't say about that specifically.

 

I use 5 oz in 5 gallons for my blonde stout and don't see any detectable change. Granted, I am not pulling samples +/- nibs and measuring in a 10 cm cuvette

 

I find Fawcett pale chocolate malt to be a pretty useable malt. I've used it up to a pound and it's not been overwhelming. For a brown ale I'd definitely use less than that, but I think anything from 4-8 oz would be a good area to play with, depending on what other dark and/or toasted malts you're using.

 

I like mixing in pale AND the regular lovibond chocolate when I brew.

Brown ale though.. I usually have a pretty dark brown ale, so maybe I'm not the best to ask.. I think I use half a pound? Can't recall.