So just wondering why you wouldn't use instant coffee???? Have you ever tried it ???
Nope. Haven't tried it. Haven't tried brewing with extract though either, because it's not very interesting to me. I like having complete control over the individual ingredients that go into my beer as well as how they get into my beer. I'm not saying you haven't made good beer using instant coffee. I'm sure you and others have. Judging by your use of seven question marks spread over two questions, I'm guessing you were offended by my statement that I wouldn't use it. Sorry, you needn't have been offended.
BUT...coffee is an addiction of mine--I medicate myself with coffee far more often than with beer. There are lots of people that have just as much passion and knowledge for coffee as you and I do for beer. They roast their own beans at home from the raw green product, can name you the flavor profiles, acid and oil contents, and proper degree of roasting for each individual type or origin of bean, and have invested in expensive equipment incuding burr grinders and brewers or presses. I am an acolyte when it comes to coffee, but I know that there is a huge difference between an Antiguan and a Yrgacheffe, for example. Each bean has very specific characteristics over a wide spectrum. I think of the guy who walks into an artisanal roaster and asks for the darkest, boldest, or most robust coffee they have the same way as I think of the rednecks who walk into the liquor store and ask for the beer with the highest ABV or the wannabe beer geek who asks for the IIPA with the highest IBU's, because that's all he/she wants to drink.
Also, I believe that with proper handling you can choose the characteristics of a specific bean to best complement the beer they are going into. I recommended Sumatran coffee just based on its dry, earthy flavor, low acid and low oil content.
Real coffee is not at all difficult to use and I've had very good results so far, based on what I've sampled, and also from several craft brewers who have made amazing products, but none of them used instant coffee, so I really don't see any draw to using instant.
Homebrewing isn't a cheap hobby. If I'm going to pay for all of the other premium ingredients as well as investing the time into brewing a batch, there's no way I'm putting instant coffee in there. I wouldn't drink instant coffee unless really in a pinch (been in that pinch a few times before...the stuff is nasty), so I certaintly wouldn't choose to put it in my beer either.
You asked. There's my answer. "Don't knock it 'til you've tried it" is also the argument my gay friends use when I tell them I have no interest in having sex with a man. I'm not buying it. Did I just analogize using instant coffee in beer to having gay buttseks? Yup, I guess I did. Not sure which activity I'd rather indulge in...
RDWHAHB (or a hand roasted cup of Jamaican Blue Mountain),
Andy
(they call me the jerk for a reason)