What kind and When to add chocolate to your porter?

[glenn973]

Ok, I've made a couple of Chocolate Porters now and wanted to get your thoughts on what type of chocolate you like to use, and when you add it to the beer?

I've seen recipes using bakers chocolate, semi-sweet, milk(although this seemed frowned upon) and Hershey's syrup.

I've been told to add the chocolate during the final minute of the boil, as well as waiting until racking to secondary to add it to taste.

So i tried them all.(except for the milk chocolate)
The first batch was an absolute failure as a chocolate porter, but great as a coffee porter.(something to do with all the baker's chocolate I put in it i'm sure)

The second batch turned out good due to following Kevin's advice and adding the chocolate after transferring to the secondary. I pulled pulled off some beer and tried it with different chocolate types until I found the right one that worked. To my dismay, the best one was the Hershey's syrup.

So for now, until I hear some more of your experiences, I'm reluctantly going with Hershey's.

So this brings up a few more questions.
1. Considering the <ahem> not so great ingredients in Hershey's syrup, will this have an adverse effect on the beer over a long period of time?
2. Better to add during the boil or during secondary? and if during secondary, will it actually mix properly or just settle to the bottom of the keg later, giving the first few glasses an extremely chocolaty taste, with the rest being just porter.

Thanks for any thought on your experiences!

[Marotte Brewery]

I just made a Chocolate Porter a few weeks ago. I used 1/2 pound (5 gallon batch) of Hershey's unsweetened coco-powder, added at the last few minutes of the boil. It was about 2 min.. But not exactly as I continued to leave the heat on and stir until the powder was disolved.

Primary for 13 days and then right into the keg (I brewed a little too late for any aging, as this was for a friends rehersal dinner).

The chocolate came through great, although I noticed quite a bit of extra bitterness, that might just be because it was very young. I haven't tried it in a while, but there is still some in the keg...

The recipe was Jamil's Cocolate Hazelnut Porter, but since I bought the ingredients from Provisions, I didn't get any hazelnet extract. (I never made it to B3)

Let me know if you want the details.

[jward]

The stuff I read suggested Hershey's coco powder since it is lower in coco-fat.

As for chocolate syrup, I make my own. I follow Alton Brown's recipe from good eats. If memory serves it's sugar, water, coco (I use Penzeys), a little vanilla extract and a pinch of salt. I think I'd just drop in coco powder at the end of the boil like Marotte suggested.

[speck]

Could you tell me where to look for the recipe for the Hazelnut chocolate porter? That sounds very yummy

[Marotte Brewery]

It was a kit I got from MoreBeer.com, but I entered it into BeerSmith, so here is the info.

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Jamil's Choc. Hazelnut Porter
Style: Robust Porter
TYPE: Extract

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.066 SG
Estimated Color: 43.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 36.7 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: - %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
8.0 oz Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 3.77 %
8 lbs Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 60.38 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 7.55 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 7.55 %
1 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 7.55 %
12.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 5.66 %
8.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 3.77 %
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 3.77 %

1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops 19.0 IBU
1.00 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (30 min) Hops 10.7 IBU
2.00 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (1 min) Hops 7.0 IBU

1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
8.00 oz Unsweetened Coco Powder (Boil 5.0 min) Misc

1 Pkgs English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) Yeast-Ale

4.00 oz (25.00 ml) Hazelnut Extract (Bottling 0.0 min) Misc