Adding Chocolate

Howard

Hello,

Any ideas on adding chocolate to beer and what is the best way ........

:-$

HBO_Staff

As chocolate may not dissolve too easily it is hard to say, so depends on how you will be adding the flavour. Beers often use things such as crushed chocolate malt to give that flavour, but you might experiment by adding in a powder form such as drinking chocolate, etc. 

If wanting to add extra flavours such as chocolate and vanilla, at the early stage when adding hot water and any sugars can be a good time, the hot water will help extra additives dissolve into the brew. It's hard to know exactly how much to add to get the right amount of infusion and taste you are aiming for, it is often a case of trial and error, and just experimenting - you just need to remember or make a note of how much/what you did so you know how much to adjust it the next time.

You can also try along the lines of a hop tea in the way you would with hops, boil water up with the ingredients you want to add, and then add it and mix it in with the wort before leaving to ferment

Howard

Thanks for this I am going to have a go this evening on a choccy brew will keep you updated......

Who Brews Wins........

:-&

Howard

This is now in the bottle, I used a,can of Brown Ale extract and a can of Briess Sparkling Amber Malt extract, and 500 grams of dry malt extract along with a vanilla pod some pure 100 percent chocolate, I melted the chocolate with the dry malt extract in a pot of 3 litres of spring water boiled up with the vanilla and then added this to the cans of Malt and then basically followed instructions like main kits I have done in the past, I did add Munton's gold ale Yeast and went ahead and fermented it for two weeks.... My Abv is 5.9 will now leave for two weeks before trialling a bottle and see how it tastes....

HBO_Staff

Sounds like a great concoction, it will be very interesting to hear how much vanilla and chocolate comes through in the taste, boiling it should help infuse it nicely, please let us know how the taste devlops when you try it

Howard

I have had a couple of these beers over the last few days and I have to say there is a whole heap of complexity about it, its chocolaty with strong hits of the coffee liqueur coming through it I am hoping over the next few weeks this keeps improving, as it warms it gets a better mouth feel as well....

I am hopeful......

HBO_Staff

That sounds like a great success and it is still quite early for it so it should continue to develop some good flavours, experimenting like this can produce some great results