Choc Porter Question

[murrayr]

i made a chocolate porter recently and despite being quite tasty it has absolutely no head retention. i was wondering if this could be due to the addition of cocoa? has anyone else found this?
the recipe i used is as follows:
Mash (60 mins @ 66):

Marris Otter: 4kg

Dark Munich malt: 1kg

Chocolate malt: 200g

Crystal malt: 296g

Caramalt: 200g

Roasted malt: 75g

Calcium chloride: 4g

Boil (90 minutes):

Brown sugar: 340g (90 mins)

Pure cocoa: 160g (90 mins)

Honey: 192g (90 mins)

East Kent Goldings (AA4.8): 25g (60 mins)

Tettnang (AA6.5): 25g (20 mins)

Willamette (AA5): 25g (10 mins)

Irish moss: 1 tablet (10 mins)

Tettnang (AA8.6): 20g (3 mins)

Yeast: WLP005 British Ale

Cheers, Murray

 

[Phoney]

Cant comment on the head retention (other than to say dont wash your glasses with detergent). But I would have added the sugar, the cocoa & the honey in at the last 10 mins of the boil to retain as much of their flavours as possible.

Cheers

 

[murrayr]

you're probably right there. i considered that later and was a little shitty at myself for not taking it into account earlier.

 

[thanme]

I doubt it's the cocoa. I made a 23L chocolate porter with 100g of cocoa and the head is fine.

 

[theover]

add some wheat malt

see the cybi recipe for

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/can-you-br...-porter-176186/

 

[Fourstar]

cocoa has marginal fat as its all coca mass, not butter. the butter is the issue. ive used cacao nibs whcih have butter in them, at a rate of 50grams and i hadno retention issues.

Edit: sorry, cocoa solids. Mass IIRC is the name for nibs grouned up, in other words still containing butter and solids.

 

[eddy401]

was 100g cocoa enough for the chocolatey flavour? and did you add that toa boil or just chuck it in the fermenter?

I doubt it's the cocoa. I made a 23L chocolate porter with 100g of cocoa and the head is fine.

 

[melinda]

One reason your beer has no head is the oil around the rim of the glass that comes from your lips. You should always wash your glasses in detergent as this is the only thing that will properly remove the oil. After washing you then rinse with clean water.
Cadbury

 

[thanme]

Sorry, I missed this one
I boiled up some dextrose, cocoa and water and added that at the end of the boil. It probably did more for the aroma than it did the flavour, but its definitely in there.

was 100g cocoa enough for the chocolatey flavour? and did you add that toa boil or just chuck it in the fermenter?

 

[murrayr]

it added spome chocolate but was definatelt tooearly in the boil.
not the glass cleanliness as i always properly clean my glasses and my other beers have great retention.