Cocoa powder + nibs?

[sam524]

I'm brewing a yeti clone later this week, and decided last minute to make it a chocolate stout. Here's the recipe:

- 16 lb. Rahr 2-row
- 1 lb. Crystal Malt (120 L)
- 12 oz. Chocolate Malt
- 12 oz. Black Patent Malt
- 10 oz. Roasted Barley
- 8 oz. Flaked Wheat
- 8 oz. Flaked Rye
- 1.25 oz. Chinook pellet hops (60 min.)
- ½ oz. Chinook pellet hops (30 min.)
- ½ oz. Centennial pellet hops (15 min.)
- ½ oz. Centennial pellet hops (5 min.)
- Wyeast 1056 American Ale Yeast

(found here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=146843). I've seen a lot of posts with people discussing the pros/cons of powder and nibs, but nothing about combining them. Someone at the homebrew store mentioned adding 6oz of dutch chocolate with 5 min left of the boil, then 4oz of chocolate nibs in the secondary. Has anyone tried this? Also, would adding lactose and/or vanilla help balance out the bitterness?

 

[Revvy]

My Chocolate Framboise (Belgian-esque) Porter uses both.

5.00 oz Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (Boil 10.0 mins)
4.00 oz Cocao Nibs (Last 2 weeks of a one month primary.)
4.00 oz Raspberry Extract (Kegging)

It was an awesome beer, one of the best I made.

It was intentionally a very bitter beer, like a dark chocolate covered raspberry. But yes, adding lactose would sweeten it out. Not sure what the vanilla would do.

 

[Presto]

I just brewed a chocolate RIS. It was suggested that I use a combination of nibs and powder in the secondary for a week. I don't care for that much chocolate in my stouts, so I just soaked 4 oz. of nibs in vodka for a few days and added to the secondary after the beer had cleared well. I left them in for just over two weeks, and there is barely a hint of chocolate. I think the powder would have brought out the flavor with more bite.

 

[castillo556]

Yes, you can, and should use both to get the best of both worlds.

For the cocoa powder:
-I will heat up a small amount of water in a sauce pan and then slowly add the powder while whisking until I have added it all and have a chocolate syrup. I then add that to the boil right before flame out.

For the nibs:
- soak in vodka with a chopped up vanilla bean for a few days then dump it all in the bucket/carboy for 2 weeks

 

[NZLunchie]

I made a chilli chocolate stout that had 500g of dark cocoa powder in the mash and a total of 525g of home roasted nibs added throughout the boil like hop bursting. Turned out pretty good!