Adding Coffee to a Brew

Hi,

I've built a recipe for a coffee stout. However, I'm wondering if some of you can share your experiences, and discuss the success you've had with various methods for adding the coffee.

I was thinking about adding it ground, with about 2 minutes remaining in the boil. I tasted a coffee stout with this method that was very good.

I'm not too sure on the quantity either? What's too little/too much?

Thanks!

The simple method is to brew some coffee of your preference and add it to taste, to the finished beer. It can be added to the keg or bottling bucket.
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I prefer to cold brew the coffee, strain, and then add at bottling to taste...

I made a coffee porter that turned out great. This was my process:

Coarse ground 2 cups of whole bean Starbucks Italian Roast coffee
put in a french press and put in fridge for 24 hours
added coffee to secondary for 10 days

I used a cold steep method similar to beercigars and I have to say it turned out awesome.

I cold brewed coffee for a porter. Here's how:

I put 12oz coffee grounds in 1.5qts of water and let sit for 24 hours. I then strained the coffee, which yielded 1qt of super strong coffee. I then added this to the primary just before fermentation began. Don't forget to account for the extra liquid you're adding.

After a week fermentation had finished, and the coffee was very prominent. There were a lot of tiny coffee particles still suspended in the brew that you could taste when you took a sip. They kinda coated your mouth. The coffee aroma was very noticeable.

I then put in secondary for 2 weeks (along with 2 vanilla beans). Then I bottled. At the time of bottling, the coffee flavor had faded even more as more particles settled out. Still, it was there in flavor and aroma. Both the coffee and vanilla were subtle, and some people might not recognize the flavors unless you told them what kind of beer it was.

It's still carbonating, but my hope is that the effervescence of the CO2 will help deliver the coffee and vanilla flavors even more.

I fine ground mine and made strong drip coffee and put it into the bottling bucket. This was ended up with way too much harsh coffee flavor. Next time I will give the cold process a go. I believe this will mellow out the flavor of coffee bitterness.

That being said, I added a few drops of vanilla extract to the bottling bucket after 1/2 of it was bottled. The 1/2 with the vanilla extract was much more mellow rounded coffee flavor. Excellente!

i have heard nothing bad about the cold brew process and nothing good about anything else! cheers.

I add 4oz of course cracked beans to secondary for aroma and then cold press and add it at bottling. Has worked great. Coffee Stouts are my favorite winter time brew.

How much ground coffee should I use for about 1.5-2 gallons of brew? Going to add it to an oatmeal stout for an extra layer of flavor.

I used the 12oz of coffee for 6 gallons or wort. So about 4oz cold brewed in 2c water is a good place to start for 2gal. If it's not what you want, make the recipe again.

DavidSteel said:

How much ground coffee should I use for about 1.5-2 gallons of brew? Going to add it to an oatmeal stout for an extra layer of flavor.

Click to expand...

I would use 4 cups of cold brewed coffee in 2 gallons. I use I tbs ground coffe per cup and let it go overnight. I then add it at bottling or keg time. You will have to adjust for youself. I like my coffee stout, no pun intended.

Here is a good link to check out:

http://***********/stories/recipes/article/indices/38-ingredients/318-brewing-with-coffee

I added a "handful" of Sumatra whole beans right into the secondary. It was a Chocolate Espresso Stout. The coffee flavor is very sharp. It's been in the keg for about two months and is getting mellow and much smoother. Next time I'd add less than a handful, but it really gave the brew a rich coffee flavor.
Grinding, steeping, pressing, etc. etc. is not necessary. Good Luck...

I've used the cold steep method that has been mentioned here (its also in Palmer's How to Brew). The method works great.

As far as the flavor of the coffee in the finished beer, my brother summed it up perfectly after drinking my coffee stout: "The coffee flavor more resembles the smell of fresh ground coffee, rather than brewed coffee".

Cold steeping really adds a fresh-ground, not harsh/bitter flavor. I use Starbucks Guatemala Antigua - a coffee known for its chocolate tones.

I made a Coffee Porter. I added 3 ounces of coffee grounds to a hop bag and cold steeped in the keg for about an hour. The coffee flavor was very intense. If I were to do it again I'd go with about 1 or 2 ounces.

When I made my coffee stout this last summer I used a half pound of quality ground coffee in my 5 gallon batch. I basically treated it like making a pot of coffee (cowboy coffee) and poured the entire amount in at flame out. I then let the coffee steep in the hot unfermented wort while I cooled the wort to pitching temp (roughly 30 minutes). This seemed to work out well and it only made sense to me to basically make coffee with beer instead of mixing post fermentation.

Ya, did the same thing with a Stout. Steeped 12oz of ground Kona Hazlenut in grain bag right at flame out and during wort chilling. Came out really good. It really works well with an Oatmeal Stout.