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hewnizit · 02-28-2012, 10:27 PM

So here is my idea.
One gallon brewed Folgers coffee
4.5 lbs clover honey
1 cup raisins for nutrients
1 packet red star traditional yeast

What do does every one think
Mind you I have to by every thing from the grocery store(no lhbs and I don't shop online)

**TheBrewingMedic** · 02-28-2012, 10:32 PM

sounds like a brew that will have you buzzin with alcohol and caffeine

tjpfeister · 02-28-2012, 10:37 PM

I have a friend who has been experimenting with coffee mead. His first discovery is that pretty much all of the color drops out. The second thing we have determined together is that the flavors don't marry themselves the best. But adding a third flavor, such as vanilla, chocolate, or raspberry (to name a few he has tried) helps meld the other two flavors together.

By no means allow this to steer you away from trying it, I just figured I would chime in with what he has discovered this last year. He should be stopping over this evening, I will ask him what his coffee/mead ratio was as I don't think it was as strong as yours. Perhaps he had it backwards, perhaps the mead should be the sweetener versus the coffee being the flavoring!

**Golddiggie** · 02-28-2012, 10:43 PM

I got a lot of coffee flavor in a batch of mead by using coarse ground coffee beans. I think you'll be a lot happier with the results there.

Also use the calculation tpol on the got mead site to figure out how much honey to use. Nothing worse than using more honey that the yeast will be able to handle.

**biochemedic** · 02-29-2012, 03:07 AM

Golddiggie, did you add the ground coffee directly to the mead?

I've had good results getting coffee flavor into an oatmeal stout by making cold steeped coffee in a french press. Using an ounce of ground coffee beans in 1 qt water steeped for ~ 24 hrs in the fridge gives a very nice coffee presence to 5 gal of beer (and I would assume would work just as well for mead, although I've not tried it yet...)
This technique would probably be very similar to adding coffee to the fermenter directly...not using heat while "brewing" the coffee minimizes the extraction of oils and bitter compounds, and emphasized the flavor and aroma.

**Golddiggie** · 02-29-2012, 03:11 AM

I racked onto the ground coffee beans in the mead. I didn't want to dilute the mead at all, but still add the flavor. I also did this after it was finished fermenting, so that the acid in the coffee didn't impact the yeast. I used Lalvin EC-1118 for my yeast, and took it to 18%. I also used some cacao nibs in the batch (was looking for more of a mocha flavor). The current batch of the same recipe is now 4 gallons (instead of the original 1 gallon) and I plan on using smaller additions so that I have better control over the flavor contributions.

IMO, smaller flavor addition steps are far better since you have more control over the end product that way.

**biochemedic** · 02-29-2012, 03:16 AM

Yeah, that technique would be a lot like the cold brew technique, and would help retain the color and aroma from being scrubbed during primary.

I hadn't thought about the acidity of coffee, but that could definitely be an issue with using straight coffee as the brewing liquor as per the OP's original idea....

hewnizit · 02-29-2012, 03:24 AM

So would racking already made Mead onto grounds sound better?

ashfatboy · 02-29-2012, 08:47 AM

Would it have to be made with honey,would a wine work?

icanbenchurcat · 02-29-2012, 10:35 AM

Add an acid blend and yeast energizer to the primary, or you might stress the yeast in primary. To keep things cleaner, why not cold brew some coffee and add it to secondary? The amount of water you add will not noticeably affect abv.