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So I have been working on a mocha stout recipe and experimenting with some variables to teach myself a little as I go. During my mash I put the grains in earlier (110F) and brought the grains up to 153F, then I held this temp for 45min. As expected, I ended up with a much stronger brew then my previous version. I estimate somewhere between 7 and 7.5%ABV but my gravity reading was off because of suspended ground coca nibs. The recipe is a bit bitter for a stout without residual sugar. I know I could add lactose and make it a milk stout, but I thought maybe I should add a vanilla pod or two to just simulate sweet and to round out that edge. I like the beer where it is, but its a big one and I'm sure a vanilla pod would add a slight touch of creamy-ness without adding sugar. Last time I "dry hopped" onto some whole coca nibs and added a bit of cold brewed coffee, it worked great but it's FG was more then 5 points higher. This time I was thinking of changing one of those ingredients for a vanilla pod. Is this a good idea, will I be able to taste one, or should I add more? Any pointers would be very welcomed.

P.S. I'm sure this idea had nothing to do with Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel's Aphrodisiaque I had on the weekend.

Andy (akr71) and I made a vanilla porter earlier in the summer. For the half that I fermented, I added two split and quartered vanilla pods to secondary, and I think Andy did the same. I found that it gave a faint vanilla flavour on the back end in Andy's version, but really didn't add any residual sweetness. My version was a bourbon vanilla porter, with bourbon added at bottling time, so the vanilla just seemed to make the oakiness in the bourbon a bit more pronounced.

I made a chocolate milk stout last winter that I used lactose in, but I also used some vanilla extract (1oz.—made in the Dominican) at bottling time. The vanilla flavour was much more pronounced and definitely added to the sweetness (comparing the sample I took before bottling before the vanilla was added to after).

If you are up over 7%, but find it has more bitterness than expected, why not just call it a Chocolate Imperial Stout? Unless you mean the bitterness is coming from the cocoa nibs...

Thanks for the tips guys. I was really just wondering what the effect of a bean or two would have. Maybe I will just leave it as is and change things next time.

Thanks again