Sparging with Coffee

Hi there. Been a while since I brewed and scratched my head at the same time, but here I am trying something a lil new.
I'm making a Community Coffee Chicory Stout. Now, I've done this before, and it turned out great. My first go'round, I used about 12 oz. of grains in the steeping stage. This go'round, I wasn't prepared for that, so I decided to make a 12 cup pot of coffee (after cleaning the pot and machine real well), and sparged with it then of course more hot water.
It's brewin' right now, and smells mighty nice - just like I would think a chicory stout would smell.

My reason for posting is because I didn't find anything online about this sort of technique, and wondering if it's a 'eureka!' moment or an 'awwww, too bad' one.

Anyone ever done this or not done this cuz it's not the right way to do it?

Thanks!

I've mashed my chocolate mole porter in instant mexican hot chocolate before. Came out great.

Be interesting to see if you could mash and sparge with coffee.

It seems like it might screw with your mash/sparge ph. Palmer says that a dramatic change between mash and sparge ph can extract tannins.

Since coffee already has a lot of tannins I wouldn't think extracting more tannins would be a tremendous issue.

ReverseApacheMaster said:

Since coffee already has a lot of tannins I wouldn't think extracting more tannins would be a tremendous issue.

Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking.

Thanks for chiming in. Gimme a few weeks, and I'll let you know how it went!

2 years later... how'd it go?

DROOO said:

2 years later... how'd it go?

Click to expand...

Ya might have to PM the op to wake up this thread. LOL

DROOO said:

2 years later... how'd it go?

Click to expand...

I'm awake

Ummm, heh, to be honest I don't remember exactly how it turned out and unfortunately lost my notebook. However, I've yet to not enjoy a stout we've made or have friends turn their nose up at it.

Sorry I can't be more help. I'd probably suggest creating a new thread and getting some more science-minded guys to help you with the answers regarding the pH levels. I would think considering we only did a 12 cup pot for a 5 gallon batch the pH wouldn't be thrown off that much, but I'm still learning the science side of things.

I recently made a stout that used cold steeped coffee in the secondary, this worked great. Coffee, much like malt needs to be roasted a certain way and brewed a certain way or off flavors will come out. Too high of a temperature will case coffee to be very bitter and acidic, cold steeping ground coffee beans produces a much smother and less acidic beverage. If you are looking for coffee flavors in beer might i suggest adding cold steeped coffee, if you are unfamiliar with the process a quick google search will get you in the right direction.

What about throwing, say a cup of coffee (like what one would put in a coffee maker) on top of the grain just before you start to fly sparge, and proceed as usual.

Since you are really only wanting flavor and aroma (no other benefit to the wort, yeast, etc), seems like a cold/warm extract added to the secondary, keg or bottles would make the most sense.

Yes?

Cheers!

I second the addition of cold brewed coffee. I do it at bottling time and not in a secondary. First time around you need to add a little at at time until you get the flavor you want. I use 1 measuring cup for 2 gallons.

i've employed similar techniques in the past including the addition of cold pressed coffee in secondary just before bottling as well as adding coarsely ground beans in secondary for a couple days much like our dry hopping.

my buddy and i recently discussed the idea of adding coffee at several stages of the brew, starting with adding beans to the top of the grain bed just as we begin sparging, similar to what Dr_Jeff mentioned.

I'm slightly concerned, however.

Ever drink coffee that was boiled? Not so good. I'd cold brew and add in secondary.

Soo. I'm still confused on how cold brewing and adding to your secondary is not going to introduce bacteria into your beer. Do you boil water and cool prior to add coffee. Or do you just add coffee to cold water and let sit for 24 hours?! Also how much water and coffee are you using for say a 5 gallon batch of beer. Curious to wheat you all are doing. Trying my first coffee/oatmeal stout next weekend

Vodka?

Ibrew2little said:

Soo. I'm still confused on how cold brewing and adding to your secondary is not going to introduce bacteria into your beer. Do you boil water and cool prior to add coffee. Or do you just add coffee to cold water and let sit for 24 hours?! Also how much water and coffee are you using for say a 5 gallon batch of beer. Curious to wheat you all are doing. Trying my first coffee/oatmeal stout next weekend

Click to expand...

Sterilize your french press, a french press is what I used to press the coffee, use filtered water to pour over the ground coffee.

I use Vodka to sterilize things such as cocoa nibs and vanilla beans and bourbon to sterilize oak chips.

Or hot brew the coffee. The point is to make good coffee and add it to fermented beer. I wouldn't put coffee into the boil.

mjohnson said:

Or hot brew the coffee. The point is to make good coffee and add it to fermented beer. I wouldn't put coffee into the boil.

Click to expand...

As someone who has invested good money into not only brewing Beer I also did the same for Brewing espresso, putting coffee into the boil would not be too advisable as boiling hot water is bad for making good coffee. As some of us have noted brew up a good pot of coffee, wether cold pressed, normal french press style, drip or even espresso, and add to the secondary secondary fermenter.

Awesome thanks everyone! Appreciate it

DROOO said:

2 years later... how'd it go?

Click to expand...

HAHA that is great, realy made my day. Nice find!

I made a vanilla java porter and added 5oz of espresso from Starbucks to the keg prior to racking. I assume that this was poor methodology considering my beer is very bitter? Up front bitterness, great malt and chocolate flavors in the middle with a slight vanilla finish. Can anyone assist with proper tech for introducing coffee flavors to a vanilla java stout?

inbrianl said:

I made a vanilla java porter and added 5oz of espresso from Starbucks to the keg prior to racking. I assume that this was poor methodology considering my beer is very bitter? Up front bitterness, great malt and chocolate flavors in the middle with a slight vanilla finish. Can anyone assist with proper tech for introducing coffee flavors to a vanilla java stout?

Click to expand...

The best way to introduce coffee to any ale is to first cold brew the coffee (google that) and then add to your bottling bucket slowly till you get the taste you want.