The cold steeping (I do mine in the fridge, though haven't added any to beer yet) keeps the oils thicker, so they don't leach out into the water as easily. They will still leach out, so don't leave it brewing for too long.
There's also no need to brew it as dilute as drinking coffee. No need to water down your beer.
Cold steeping cuts down on the astringency and the oils from the coffee. Like it has been stated above it is much smoother. I don't bother boiling and then cooling down the water. I'm a big fan of coffee beers. I'd highly recommend trying coffee malt next time too. You can add it to any beer that calls for chocolate malt, just substitute half for coffee malt.
There is probably no need to boil the cold steeped coffee, but I am going to boil water to disolve the priming solution anyway, so when I add coffee, I take the cold steeped coffee off the grounds and boil it, then disolve the sugar in that. Sanitizes the coffee and avoids another cup or two of water in my beer.
Just did an oatmeal stout and added coffee at bottling. Had read from 4 oz. to 1 lb additions, so went with a 1/4 lb of Kona coarse ground and thrown in a cup and a half of vodka. Let it set for the three weeks of fermentation with a couple vanilla beans, then added. WOW! Way big coffee flavor. It tastes great, but almost all coffee taste. And the caffeine made my brothers scalp tingle (he doesn't drink much coffee). Hopefully it mellows down some in the next couple weeks.
Hmm that sounds really interesting. Why Vodka, though? Why not Bourbon or something to complement the stout/coffee flavor?
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