Thu Apr 29, 2010 1:10 pm
I've done 2 beers in the last 2 1/2 years using cocoa powder. The first was a porter with a vanilla bean added in the secondary, the second was a cream stout (1 pound of lactose powder.) Both were very tasty, but both started out very bitter. I think time is the best thing to truely bring out the chocolate flavor. Both beers are/were much less bitter after 6 months to a year of aging. I do think that both the addition of vanilla or lactose powder does help increase the chocolate flavor, but time is your friend on this one.
My wife used to call me an alcoholic, so I started brewing beer. Now I have a hobby, and I'm a beer enthusiast, not an alcoholic.