Cocoa Nibs and Coffee Beans in the Secondary

[EThome]

Wondering about everyone's experiences and recommendations.

I have an oatmeal stout in the primary for the last couple of weeks and have planned from the start to add chocolate and coffee flavor to it as referenced. I purchased the ingredients from Northern Brewer (their 'Mocha' Brew Outside The Lines pack) and the instructions they give simply say to gently crush the coffee beans and put them and the cocoa nibs into mesh bags and add to the secondary.

When I have dry hopped previously (quite a few times) I have simply added the hops (pellet or whole) to the secondary and racked onto them.

I have read here and elsewhere about sanitizing the ingredients like the coffee beans and cocoa nibs (seems vodka is the sanitizer of choice) - but NB doesn't mention that at all.

So aside from your general recommendations, I have a couple of specific questions:

- Has anyone ever simply added the beans and nibs into the secondary? No bags - just dump 'em in like hops.

- I would normally use a carboy for secondary. If the general consensus is to bag the beans and nibs, would there be any issues using another bucket (don't keg yet) fermenter as the secondary? Mainly just to make adding and extracting the bagged ingredients easier.

Thanks for any insight.

[corkybstewart]

I use coffee pretty often but never cocoa. For coffee I just make a very strong batch of steeped coffee and add it to my kegs(or bottling bucket).
For my vanilla porter I soak vanilla beans in bourbon for at least a month and then add the bourbon directly to the kegs. You may be able to use the same process for cacao nibs but I don't really know.

[maltyapples]

I'm sure you could add the cocoa nibs to the coffee grounds when you make the coffee and then just add the liquid. If you really want to add the nibs to the bucket and you're worried about sanitation, I'd recommend baking them. From what I've read that seems to be a popular option (and they smell good too!) Best of luck!

[Mikegobrew]

I've always added coffee in secondary or at kegging. The one time is used cacao nibs, I added them at the end of the boil. It was cacao nibs, not cocoa nibs that I used.

[EThome]

As a follow up;

I did soak the beans and nibs (+1 to you Mikegobrew, it was cacao) for a little while in vodka prior to adding to the secondary;

I did not lightly crush the beans as suggested by NB;

and I simply dumped the whole beans and nibs into the secondary and racked the beer onto them.

Smelled great at the time and I let the secondary sit for two weeks, bottled and let another two weeks go by, and now . . .

the stout has a great coffee aroma and initial flavor and finishes with some nice chocolate.

All in all very successful.

[corkybstewart]

Thanks for the update. I've considered a chocolate stout for the spring, your method sounds easy enough.

[maltyapples]

Congrats on your brew! What was your IBU from hops? (I'm not sure to calculate what coffee adds).

[EThome]

Not sure Malty. I don't actually calculate out all the info. The base brew was Northern Brewers Oatmeal Stout partial mash kit;

-- 2.5 lbs Maris Otter
-- 0.5 lbs Black Malt
-- 0.5 lbs English Dark Crystal
-- 0.5 lbs flaked oats

-- 3.15 lbs Dark malt syrup
-- 1 lb Briess Dark dry malt extract

-- 2 oz US Fuggle (60 min)

NB lists the AA of the Fuggles at 3-5%.