Cold brewing coffee

I have a milk stout I'm getting ready to bottle and would like to add a little coffee. Why does everyone seem to favor cold brewing coffee to add to the bottling bucket vs just brewing coffee hot as usual and adding it?

Also, how much brewed (cold or hot) coffee should I add for five gallons? I'd like to offset the sweetness of the lactose without the coffee being over powering.

Well if you've ever made cold-brewed coffee, you'd know the difference. It's a completely different beast compared with hot drip coffee. It's stronger and richer, but much less acidic. I don't brew iced coffee any other way. I love drip coffee, french press, or espresso as much as the next guy, but for iced coffee it's the way to go. For this application, you'll get a rich coffee flavor but without the acidic/bitter finish. Which is desirable, because chances are there's enough roasted bite in your stout already.

I'd try making up some cold-brewed coffee first to try it out. Get a cup or so of finely ground coffee (I like dark roast), mix it with a quart of cold water, then lit sit at room temp for 24 hours. Strain or filter and you've got some pretty concentrated brew (when I make it for drinking I usually dilute afterwards). Try adding a small measured amount to a taster of your beer (or even a commercial milk stout) then scale up from there.

Sounds good I will try it. What would be a good rule of thumb to add to a five gallon batch if I don't want to do the testing, 12 oz? I know that's a guess but what do you think would be safe?

A little late for a reply, but there is no rule of thumb here because everyone will brew the cold coffee at different concentration based on temperature, time, type of bean, coarseness of the grind, etc.

You are going to test to see either way. It will either be a 6 oz test or a 5 gallon test.

dongemus said:

A little late for a reply, but there is no rule of thumb here because everyone will brew the cold coffee at different concentration based on temperature, time, type of bean, coarseness of the grind, etc.

You are going to test to see either way. It will either be a 6 oz test or a 5 gallon test.

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I ended up cold brewing about 2 cups of coffee using about a cup of grinds, in a French press, and dumped it all in the bottling bucket. Rave reviews.

Excellent! Was the coffee flavor prominent or subtle?

dongemus said:

Excellent! Was the coffee flavor prominent or subtle?

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It was fairly prominent I'd say