I have plans to brew a chocolate robust porter, but I am uncertain about using cocoa powder due to its fat content. All the cocoa powders I've seen have around 10-20% fat and I'm worried that this will result in a beer with zero head retention. Is bad head retention simply a fact that I will have to accept when brewing a chocolate beer, or is there a way around this?
What a perfectly timed question. I made a chocolate stout from a pre-mixed all grain kit and it said to add a bit of cocoa before putting it into the fermentor. I tried the first on tonight, and it was exactly how you described, zero head retention. The foam disappeared almost immediatly after I finished pouring. If it is because of the fat content it is nice to have a bit better explination, because I was wondering where I messed up.
I've used Hersheys baking cocoa powder at the end of the boil several times without negatively affecting head retention. I'm not sure what the fat content is, but I think most cocoa powder for baking would be low to none. I think I used about 8 oz in the last 5 mintes of the boil each time.
With cocoa powder you may want to boil for 15 or more and use plenty of character malts. I generally use a little more Carmel malts when I use cocoa powder, and it offsets head retention issues nicely. Also unless you strain or filter be prepared for a ton of trunk loss. Consider forgoing powder and just use roasted cocoa nibs.
Thanks for the advice, people. I've heard that Hershey's is a good brand to use as it is lower in fat than most. A 100% pure, unsweetened cocoa powder - that is cocoa powder for baking - typically has around 10-20% fat content. I've gone with the lowest fat cocoa powder I could find, which is Nestle at 10% fat. I'm interested why the 15 minute comment, the recipe my beer is based around from Brewing Classic Styles suggests adding the cocoa in the last minute of the boil. My recipe is: Target OG: 1.061 Target FG: 1.018 IBU: 33 Base Malt: 52% Light DME Mini-Mash: 15% Munich 10% Crystal 80L 10% Crystal 40L 8% Pale Chocolate Malt 5% Roasted Barley Hops: EKG to 33IBU all at 60 mins Other: 200g Nestle Baking Cocoa at 1 min 50mL Vanilla Extract at bottling Yeast: Wyeast 1056 (pitching onto the yeast cake from a Scottish 70/-)
The DP for Munich varies, depending on the maltster, and on the various colors within the same maltster. In some cases, it's not published. Any time I use any type of Munich, I take that into consideration.
