Want to brew a mocha stout. Not planning on adding any lactose, so maybe I can’t really call it a mocha stout. I plan on adding cocoa powder to the end of the boil and cacao nibs after primary is finished. I bought two types of cocoa powder: Nestle Nesquik and Hershey’s Natural Unsweetened Cocoa. This is a 10-gal batch that I could try each if I wasn’t adding it to the boil. I’m using about 3.5% each of roasted barley and chocolate malt. I’m also using 2 lbs of oats. Yeast of choice is a 2 L starter with WLP004. Any ideas as to how I could get a sweet chocolate taste balance with a roasted coffee-like flavor, but keeping the chocolate as the dominant flavor? Is there anything wrong with using Nesquik? Maybe some preservatives that will inhibit fermentation?
Nesquik is mostly sugar. According to the nutrition info, 13g of each 16g serving is sugar (that’s 81%). Most of the other ingredients you don’t need in beer either, but nothing that will hurt fermentation. The sugar means you’ll have to add at least 5 times more nesquik by weight to get the same chocolate flavor. Also, the chocolate flavor is from - cocoa powder. So I’d stick with the unsweetened cocoa powder, which is entirely cocoa.
You can add cocoa powder at the end of the boil. It will turn into sludge in the bottom of your kettle. Bad news if you use a counterflow chiller or have any sort of screen in the kettle.
Are you adding any coffee? I’d add 1 or 2 ounces of whole coffee beans after primary fermentation for subtle coffee flavor.
I don’t know about beer, but a little coffee can bring out the chocolate flavor in baked goods. I use espresso powder in chocolate Christmas cookies. Not enough for anyone to identify is as coffee.
That explains why the last time a buddy and I used 4 oz cocoa powder at the end of the boil I had a clog. I use a hop stopper and a plate chiller.
Would it then be better to add after primary has finished when I add the cacao nibs?
What you describe as wanting in your beer makes a good case to use some lactose - sort of a chocolate cream stout. +1 to the idea of a little coffee to compliment the chocolate as well.
Hehe, yeah. My kettle has a screen. I’ve only done this once and I wound up pouring everything into the fermenter. Better to add after primary? Never tried it. Actually, I’m wondering if the powder and nibs contribute the same flavor. May not be any reason to use both.
Why not use Bakers chocolate or Ghirardelli chocolate and add to the end of the boil. Actually, if you want powder, Ghirardelli has cocoa powder of sorts. Check at Walmart in the baking isle… You’ll find much better quality chocolate products there than chocolate milk mix.
An easy way to avoid the clumping is to pull a half gallon of wort, mix in the cocoa, add back to the kettle.
Interesting thread. I’m going to do a stout after I get an Irish Red, and a Marsen going. Debating between Milk and Sweet. I want to lager it till fall then keep a bottle of Torani Chocolate by the tap. Add to taste. Anyone ever try that?
Funny enough, I’ve added raspberry Torani to a berliner before. Couldn’t get the real stuff and World Market was in walking distance.
Redneck Himbeer?
Exactly
Clumping wasn’t a problem for me. It absorbed liquid and formed a nice sludge layer over everything mesh in my kettle.
The Hershey’s powder is defatted. I use it in the secondary and I mash with .5lb of Simpsons coffee malt. (150L). I pull about 1 cup of beer off, heat it, and dissolve the powder in that before I add it to the fermenter.
Bakers chocolate is what I use in my stout. Usually Ghirardelli, but sometimes the regular baking bar in a red package (Nestle?). I go for a minimum if 80% cacao in the bar. I add four ounces to the boil, never had an issue with sludge nor with head retention.
I may have used Ghirardelli powder once or twice, but that would have been years ago.
Regardless, the chocolate flavor comes through. It is a background flavor, but it is there.
Looking at the sugars in the Nesquik, it says they are maltodextrin and sucralose, meaning unfermentable (mostly) sugars. So I should retain sweetness from the Nesquik, right? Next time I may try something different, as mentioned, like baker’s chocolate or Ghiridelli(sp) but can’t get to the store right now. Thanks for the help. I will let you all know what I ended up doing and how it turns out.
Ooohhhhh. You must have the no sugar added Nesquik. The one I was looking at, sugar was the first ingredient. Maltodextrin increases body more than sweetness in my experience. Sucralose is Splenda. It will provide sweetness, but it’s different from malt sweetness. At least more of that Nesquik is actually cocoa powder, it’s the first ingredient.
How would I determine the gravity contribution from cocoa powder? I added 4 oz.
it has none. or at least none to speak of. whatever sugars are present will have an effect but 4 oz in 5 gallons is tiny even if it’s pure sugar. 4 oz is about what I use to carb a 5 gallon batch. in 5 gallons of water it would result in a gravity ~ 1.002. given that your cocoa mix is mostly, or at least partially cocoa powder it will be less than that and you would not be able to measure it.
Since I did a 10-gal batch it’d be even more minuscule then I guess. I did end up using the Nesquik and it was noticeable in the wort. Quite tasty!