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Brewing with Cocoa

S

steve78

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Hey all,

Firstly, I'm from Australia, so pardon the metric measurements.... 
Anyone got much experience on brewing with Cocoa? I am currently fermenting an AG Choc Stout at 20 degrees Celsuis, gone down to about 17 degrees with the cold weather now at day 6, all up there's 5.15kg grains, 500g Lactose, 200g cocoa.
Beersmith estimates 1014FG without inputting the Cocoa into the bill (cause it aint in the list and I don't know ther fermentability of it), its stuck on 1022 for two days now even after a small agitation.

Its a moderate 1056OG 23.5L batch with Safale S-04 rehydrated yeast (I rarely use this yeast so have not much experience with it). In tasting the wort, the choc flavour is just amazing, but it appears stuck on 1022.

Has anyone had experience with brewing with Cocoa? Is any percentage of the Cocoa fermentable? If not, then I can imagine the FG being somewhat higher, but not sure by how much.

Do I have a stuck ferment, if so, should I bottle with less carbonation? Or, should I wait a bit longer?

Would appreciate any advice anyone can provide here:)

Cheers,
Steve
 
steve78 said:
Hey all,

Firstly, I'm from Australia, so pardon the metric measurements.... 
Anyone got much experience on brewing with Cocoa? I am currently fermenting an AG Choc Stout at 20 degrees Celsuis, gone down to about 17 degrees with the cold weather now at day 6, all up there's 5.15kg grains, 500g Lactose, 200g cocoa.
Beersmith estimates 1014FG without inputting the Cocoa into the bill (cause it aint in the list and I don't know ther fermentability of it), its stuck on 1022 for two days now even after a small agitation.

Its a moderate 1056OG 23.5L batch with Safale S-04 rehydrated yeast (I rarely use this yeast so have not much experience with it). In tasting the wort, the choc flavour is just amazing, but it appears stuck on 1022.

Has anyone had experience with brewing with Cocoa? Is any percentage of the Cocoa fermentable? If not, then I can imagine the FG being somewhat higher, but not sure by how much.

Do I have a stuck ferment, if so, should I bottle with less carbonation? Or, should I wait a bit longer?

Would appreciate any advice anyone can provide here:)

Cheers,
Steve
Click to expand...

Hi Steve.  My first question is what form is the cacoa in?  Powder?  Nibs?  I personally tried brewing with cacoa powder once by adding it to the brew kettle, that was a disaster.  I know brewers have successfully done this but I couldn't figure out how to get the powder to dissolve to the point where it wouldn't settle back out and make a mess of things.  My brew partner has had the most success with cacao nibs.  He has two techniques.  One is to add the nibs to a hop bag and soak them in the beer after primary fermentation for 3-4 days.  His second method is to create a tincture by soaking cacao nibs in creme de cacao for a few days (you can also use plain vodka).  Then he adds this before kegging.  The tincture in my opinion is the most effective.  If you are bottling I would suggest adding the tincture 2-3 days before bottling to allow any residual sugars to ferment out.

good luck.
 
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