Cocoa nibs

[Colliedog]

Hi.

Today i am brewing a chocolate stout which will hopefully be ready for Christmas. I have got cocoa nibs but I am unsure whether to add them to the boil or as a dry addition during fermentation. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


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[sbond10]

I used um in boil (the malt miller ones) and when cleaning kettle I noticed black dots like you get when you don't mix coffee in your cup right if that makes sense ?
So if adding to boil bit at a time I guess and stir like a mad man ? That said I can't taste mine so nor sure what it added

[Colliedog]

Hmm as I don't fancy stirring like mad I may try to add them as a dry addition. I still might change my mind though.


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[Gambrinus]

I usually dry hop with nibs.
Also, if you can get your hands on them, add a pound of cocoa husks to your mash. This is a fantastic product and mostly used as mulch for plants. Try it making chocolate stouts and you never look back.
Get them in artisan chocolate shops. Or at least they know where to get them.

[Jocky]

I tried making a cocoa nibs tincture by soaking nibs in vodka. It didn't give enough chocolate flavour in the end. I was wondering whether to grind them up in the blender next time instead.

[Colliedog]

Have decided to dry hop with the nibs as it is the easiest option. I'll let you know how it turns out.


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[Rookie]

I don't know if this is available on your side of the pond, but if I ever do a brew with cocoa nibs this is what I'll use.
https://www.morebeer.com/products/casca ... -nibs.html

[Kev888]

FWIW I used 400g of cacao nibs in 45L of stout just recently, added for the last 15mins of the boil. The nibs themselves seemed quite full of flavour, but from the taste of the beer its hard to tell they were even in there, so I won't be adding to the boil in the future; seemed an utter waste of the nibs, which aren't cheap.

I had more success soaking them in vodka, but thats even more expensive and (as a spirited discussion on another forum showed) a little contentious for the flavour of the spirits affecting the flavour too. I'd be interested to hear how dry-nibbing (if thats a term!) works out for you.

[Jocky]

Further to my failure of putting nibs in vodka, I wonder if roasting the nibs might help?

[PhilB]

Hi Colliedog

I've never done this myself (yet) ... but I have tasted a beer that had been "dry-nibbed" (I think it's a term now Kev ), and got the recipe from the brewer ... the tip he'd added was to put the nibs in a (boiled) muslin bag, and to keep sampling the beer daily until you have the amount of flavour you want ... he'd both "dry-nibbed" with cacao and "dry-beaned" with espresso coffee beans, and found he only had the coffee in for two days, but the cacao needed five days to get the right balance between the two flavours ... might be worth a thought, if you haven't already put those nibs in

Cheers, PhilB

[Colliedog]

Grr just bottled beer after 10 days dry nibbing. Tastes good. Only problem is a rookie mistake. Only checked the ph of my starsan after I finished bottling and it's a bit higher than the instructions (around 4). Hopefully the weak starsan and the alcohol in the beer will prevent infection or I will be ditching a batch for the first time.


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