First time question

[polkemon]

Thanks for the input, I have 1 fermenting now 2 weeks finally seeing the bubbles coming up, on the Brooklyn beer and 1 week on the BD kit. My next brew I am doing is an Oatmeal Stout with coco powder. For a chocolate Oatmeal kick. Question is how much coco powder do I add to the wort and when?

[alb]

I did a quick internet search and found this article in Brew Your Own magazine. Their recipes are 5 gal but you can scale it down to proportion.

http://byo.com/stories/item/313-brewing-with-chocolate

[mashani]

that recipe has

> "2 oz. unsweetened baker's chocolate, broken"

*I* personally would not do this. Fat and Beer do not mix. Bad Things can happen. Best case it messes with head retention. Worst case it goes rancid.

I've used 1/4C of dutch processed cocoa powder (which is nearly fat free) in 2.5 gallon batches with good results. 28 grams of fat vs. a few grams of fat is a very significant difference. Nibs would be better then bakers chocolate if you want to use them. I'd still toast them in a pan to de fat them a bit though if I was using them.

Same if you want to make a peanut butter porter. Don't use fresh peanuts or peanut butter. Use the defatted dried peanut butter powder stuff that you can reconstitute with water and oil. But don't reconstitute it. Just use it as is.

[alb]

I saw that and wondered about it, mashani. I've never used bakers chocolate or cocoa powder, only cacao nibs. (and BTW, why are cacao nibs and cocoa powder spelled differently?) I have used the powdered peanut butter, with really good results.

[mashani]

cacao

All I know is that cacao is the original (indigenous people) word, where cocoa is a more modern (European people) word. Probably because the European people could not spell it right and/or say it right. We are lazy like that.

[polkemon]

I purchased the Hershey's coca 100% cacao Natural Unsweetened. Along with whole vanilla bean for my next batch. I will go check out the info the forum noted earlier.

[pkohler20]

I have drank one a week or so just to see if it gets better and it does!

Not sure if its just a low alcohol brew in the first place, or if it somehow didn't form as much alcohol as it should...it seems really weak

Its an oatmeal stout from brew demon so its only like 4% anyway so I guess it could be that


question...can you bottle in a growler after fermenting?

[alb]

If you've ever purchased beer in a growler, you'll have noticed that it goes flat in a day or 2. Growlers aren't sealed tightly enough for long-term storage, they're made for more or less immediate consumption. So no, you need bottles or kegs.

[pkohler20]

ok, thanks!

can you reuse the bottles that come with the brew demon once the little seals (similar to a soda bottle) have been used?

[alb]

Yeah, those are re-useable. Eventually you'll need to replace the caps but when I was using a system with similar bottles and caps, they lasted at least a few batches. Once I decided brewing was for me, I moved up to glass bottles pretty quickly and gave most of my plastic ones away. I still keep a few around in case I want to take bottles somewhere glass isn't allowed. I only bottle what I'm giving away, otherwise I keg for my own use. And I can always fill a longneck from the keg. Because sometimes it's just better in a longneck bottle.

Looooooongneck bottle, let go of my hand
Hey jukebox, don't start playin' that song again
--Garth Brooks

[mashani]

Yes, you can re-use the bottles for many years. They only need to be replaced if you start to see a visible seam develop and get more apparent across batches, or if the base deforms (if you over carbonate hideously).

The caps, you can re-use as well. I would suggest replacing the caps after about 5 or 6 uses, as eventually they will become more difficult to seal.

When you replace the caps, you need to snip off the white ring on the bottles, so the new caps ring has a place to go. Or bust the ring off of the caps before you put them on the bottle. It is easier to snip off the ring on the bottles.

[pkohler20]

thaNKS!