I added raw cacao nibs to my last brew (2 oz for 5 gallons) and don’t think I got much from it. Actually, the smell was initially offensive. Certainly there’s no chocolate flavor. I’ve read a ton about it, and advice is all over the place in terms of how much to add, when to add and whether to roast or not. I’ve got a stout in the fermenter and want to get it right this time. Final word, anyone?! Gracias.
Use Drew Beechum’s tincture method. Crush the nibs and soak in cheap vodka, add the tincture to your brew. My club did an Iron Brew competition and cacao nibs were one of the required ingredients. Came out great and the tincture allowed me to
- experiment with drops in a glass to dial in the flavor then scale up and
- Add the tincture to the keg w/ worrying about contamination
Were they roasted or raw? How much did you end up using per gallon?
I’m not 100% sure! They came in the box of ingredients already weighed out. I’m pretty sure they were toasted/ roasted. It was a few ounces that I gave a quick spin in a coffee grinder, tossed them in a small mason jar, and poured a few ounces of vodka on them. I let them sit for about a week shaking them every day or so. I filtered the solids with a coffee filter. I honestly don’t remember how much I used in 5 gallons but I know I didn’t use it all because I had some leftover that I tossed into another brew.
I’ve only used them once, but the results were great. I used 2 oz. in a 5 gallon batch of Imp. Chocolate Stout. I went with the toasting method. I put a piece of aluminum foil over a baking sheet and spread them out over that. I had them in the oven for 9 minutes at 300° F. Halfway through that time I pulled the sheet out and stirred them up a bit. I added them in a secondary vessel so the beer was off the sediment. 4 days later the beer got kegged.
I got great chocolate flavor from them. And I know it was from the cacao nibs because that stout was a double batch, and the other half of it didn’t get any. The un-nibbed batch was still a good stout, just not nearly as good. What surprised me was the chocolate flavor seemed to take a little while before it fully developed. The beer was probably 2 months old or so before it started getting really good. It was a very sad day when that keg kicked.
That stout is definitely a beer I’ll brew again some day.
The one time I made the mistake of getting raw cacao nibs I had the same experience. I had to strain to kinda make out some chocolate flavor but otherwise it was a bland nutty, sourish taste. Roasting intensifies the chocolate taste. For brewing purposes you should buy roasted and not raw. The good news is that you can roast raw cacao nibs in your oven in not much time so if you have more left you want to use give them a roast. Plenty of resources online for directions on time and temperature.
Just FYI, KEEP THEM AWAY FROM YOUR DOGS…EXTREMELY TOXIC. My dog got into some and we spent the night in vet ICU.
I know it works and its popular, but I’ve never been a fan of the tincture of vodka. I have always felt that the vodka comes through in the finished beer.
That said, I only used nibs once and can’t recall how I added them (probably in a vodka tincture) or what they added to the beer. It doesn’t stand out in my memory, so I have to think I didn’t find it worth repeating.
I do however make a stout with chocolate and I use the 100% cacao baking bars. It comes through in the finished beer quite well.
I’m with you, Joe. Not a fan of tinctures.
I bottled tonight and early indications are good. Per one of the suggestions on this thread, I baked 2 oz at 300 for 9 minutes and added in a hop cylinder. Good brownie flavor. Thanks for all the feedback.