Adding Chocolate to beer

[Quin]

My wife loves America's Brewpub Chocolate Blonde. I am using Jamil's basic blonde recipe and adding cocoa powder as Jamil suggest in his recipe for Chocolate Hazelnut. My questions is she thinks it is not sweet enough since using cocoa powder. How can I get a sweet chocolate taste? I have considered a chocolate extract, since that is what Mike at America's say he does. But how much for a 5 gallon batch?

If you taste the cocoa powder, it is bitter as hell. You could add lactose sugar as others have mentioned to "fix" this batch. On your next batch, you could back off the IBU's (maybe 10?). It will take several iterations to dial it in.

To speed the process along and not have to drink 20 gallons of chocolate beer, you could make 0.5 gallon trial batches with 5, 10, 15 IBUs, etc. and dose with the chocolate.

[ipaisay2.0]

Why add lactose to the beer if you do not need to? Try making a beer mashed at a higher temp for more long chain carbohydrates to smooth it out, or add rye to help. Put the coco powder or cacao nibs in secondary only as as to not boil out any bitterness into your beer.

[Quin]

Why add lactose to the beer if you do not need to? Try making a beer mashed at a higher temp for more long chain carbohydrates to smooth it out, or add rye to help. Put the coco powder or cacao nibs in secondary only as as to not boil out any bitterness into your beer.

The only way to fix this batch is to wait for the hops bitterness to drop out or add some sweetness from lactose or other non-fermentable sugar.

I don't think mashing at a higher temp will help. This will increase the mouthfeel, but not necessarily the sweetness. If you taste maltodextrin powder, it's not very sweet.

You will get a perceived bitterness from either powder or nibs even from secondary. It's not a sweet product. Anything flavor the beer picks up will be accompanied by bitterness. Since you are picking up bitterness from chocolate, you have to reduce the hop bitterness.

[Billy Klubb]

Why add lactose to the beer if you do not need to? Try making a beer mashed at a higher temp for more long chain carbohydrates to smooth it out, or add rye to help. Put the coco powder or cacao nibs in secondary only as as to not boil out any bitterness into your beer.

don't tell anyone, but some of us still use extracts. and the lactose is good. don't fear the lactose.

[ipaisay2.0]

Why add lactose to the beer if you do not need to? Try making a beer mashed at a higher temp for more long chain carbohydrates to smooth it out, or add rye to help. Put the coco powder or cacao nibs in secondary only as as to not boil out any bitterness into your beer.

don't tell anyone, but some of us still use extracts. and the lactose is good. don't fear the lactose.

My ass fears the lactose. Don't tell anyone!

[Billy Klubb]

Why add lactose to the beer if you do not need to? Try making a beer mashed at a higher temp for more long chain carbohydrates to smooth it out, or add rye to help. Put the coco powder or cacao nibs in secondary only as as to not boil out any bitterness into your beer.

don't tell anyone, but some of us still use extracts. and the lactose is good. don't fear the lactose.

My ass fears the lactose. Don't tell anyone!

don't fear the wicked nasty gas & grizzillin' shits.

[philbrasil]

is 10 oz. of lactose too little? I never used it so I used restraint on my first batch of chocolate milk stout...... Can I add some more lactose on the secondary??

[Crinkle]

I always have added a pound, but alot of people just do half that, it should be fine.