I don't brew a whole lot with coffee, but I did a breakfast stout recently that I added coffee to. I added 1.75oz of fresh ground beans to the boil and it worked out great. Yes, you will get some bitterness from the coffee if you boil it, but this is why I usually add it at flameout. At this point, the wort is still hot enough to sterilize it, but probably a bit below 212. Maybe that's why I didn't notice the bitterness you speak of.
Adding at flame out sounds like a good way to do it.
I was going to try brewing some espresso or at least really strong coffee and do a secondary for a few weeks.
Adding at flame out sounds like a good way to do it.
I was going to try brewing some espresso or at least really strong coffee and do a secondary for a few weeks.
I'd be using espresso if I had an espresso machine. I don't drink coffee though, so I can't see it being a good investment at $600 for a low priced quality one.
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Why not just pour the bourbon over the chips and coffee together, let them marinate and hold hands, then just dump the whole business into secondary and be done with it? Simplify, people!
I brewed a 3 gallon batch of this in May with a few alterations:
I upped the OG to 1.101, keeping the proportions of grain the same.
I changed the hops to cascade, and hopped 1oz @ -20min, 2oz @-10min and 2oz at flameout. I only used Cascade because that's what I had on hand.
I used Safbrew t-58 for the yeast, because that's what I had on hand.
I used 3oz of oak cubes soaked in about 1oz of Woodford Reserve for a week. I didn't drain the cubes and dumped the whole thing in secondary. I left it in secondary for 2 months then bottled.
It's been about 4 months from start to finish, and it tastes amazing. It's 10%ABV but incredibly smooth.
The base recipe is awesome. I'll definitely try it again, maybe with just coffee next time.
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I brewed a 3 gallon batch of this in May with a few alterations:
I upped the OG to 1.101, keeping the proportions of grain the same.
I changed the hops to cascade, and hopped 1oz @ -20min, 2oz @-10min and 2oz at flameout. I only used Cascade because that's what I had on hand.
I used Safbrew t-58 for the yeast, because that's what I had on hand.
I used 3oz of oak cubes soaked in about 1oz of Woodford Reserve for a week. I didn't drain the cubes and dumped the whole thing in secondary. I left it in secondary for 2 months then bottled.
It's been about 4 months from start to finish, and it tastes amazing. It's 10%ABV but incredibly smooth.
The base recipe is awesome. I'll definitely try it again, maybe with just coffee next time.
Try letting it sit around for a year or more and then taste it. I have a few bottles left from an old batch and it's gotten much better with time.
__________________ He who drinks beer sleeps well. He who sleeps well cannot sin. He who does not sin goes to heaven.
I'm brewing this up tomorrow. When I've brewed other beers with coffee before I steeped a muslin bag of grounds at flame out. I think this time I'll try cold brewing (with french press) up 4 oz of grounds in about a quart of water a night before and dump the cold brewed coffee in at flame out. I'm not really concerned about non-sanitized coffee, but I am interested in how the cold brew will effect the taste over steeping at flame out.
I'm interested in making a coffee recipe. When adding any addition to the secondary, there isn't as much of a need for sanitation due to the fact that the alcohol production has already occurred. Thus, since there is less activity in the secondary it allows for unsanitized additions: chocolate, vanilla beans, fruits, etc.
That has also been my thoughts on secondary additions. Anyways, If you brew this one I wouldn't dump the bourbon that the chips/cubes have been soaking in into the secondary (unless you use very little like Nateo). I soaked the chips in 10-12 oz of bourbon and dumped most of that into the secondary. The result was a way over-oaked flavor. The beer kind of tastes like tree bark right now. I've still got some aging... hoping that the oak flavor will eventually smooth out.
If you use some flavors like peach or vanilla, the flavor you have added does not stay very long in the beer... as the beer ages, the flavor starts to mellow to the point of almost disappearing. How does the oak or coffee flavor hold up?
That has also been my thoughts on secondary additions. Anyways, If you brew this one I wouldn't dump the bourbon that the chips/cubes have been soaking in into the secondary (unless you use very little like Nateo). I soaked the chips in 10-12 oz of bourbon and dumped most of that into the secondary. The result was a way over-oaked flavor. The beer kind of tastes like tree bark right now. I've still got some aging... hoping that the oak flavor will eventually smooth out.
That's why I always suggest drying the chips, or at least dumping the bourbon back into the bottle and reusing it later. Commercial brewers wouldn't put beer in a barrel that's still half full of whiskey...so why should we do it? As for the aging...the bourbon won't fade much.
Quote:
Originally Posted by alanwelam
If you use some flavors like peach or vanilla, the flavor you have added does not stay very long in the beer... as the beer ages, the flavor starts to mellow to the point of almost disappearing. How does the oak or coffee flavor hold up?
Oak tends to mellow a little bit, but it depends on how long you leave the chips in the beer. With this recipe, I didn't leave them long, but I've since experimented a lot with oak. The longer you let it sit, the stronger it will get...but it does hit a peak and start to fade again. I found that with 4oz of chips, if I leave them in the beer for 3 months and then bottle, the beer tastes incredible after about 4 months in the bottle and doesn't fade much.
Coffee will fade a little bit too, but not enough to where you'd miss it.
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