Coffee water

So I love adding a small amount of cold brewed coffee to a batch of brown ale. I was wondering if anyone has ever brewed any kind of extract beer where you start with cold brewed coffee as the water instead of just straight water.. Anyone ever tried? Was it terrible? I may try a one gallon batch just to see what it's like.

IMO, not a good idea to boil coffee for that long. Really good coffee doesn't get to boiling temperatures, at all. Besides, I'm not about to make 8.5 gallons of coffee to boil it for my brew/batch. IF I'm going to use actual coffee in a batch, I'll do one of the condensed, cold-pressed, methods.

You can get very close to those flavors by using grains like kiln coffee or pale chocolate malt. I made a mocha porter that people were asking how much coffee and chocolate I used. Loved the reaction when I told them none. It was 100% grains...

Golddiggie said:

IMO, not a good idea to boil coffee for that long. Really good coffee doesn't get to boiling temperatures, at all. Besides, I'm not about to make 8.5 gallons of coffee to boil it for my brew/batch. IF I'm going to use actual coffee in a batch, I'll do one of the condensed, cold-pressed, methods.

You can get very close to those flavors by using grains like kiln coffee or pale chocolate malt. I made a mocha porter that people were asking how much coffee and chocolate I used. Loved the reaction when I told them none. It was 100% grains...

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Would you be willing to sharing your grain bill? I love a good mocha porter. I made one last year, but I used french pressed coffee. I really like the idea of getting those flavors without having to use actual coffee.

What happens if you boil coffee for that long? Remember that I'm not talking about having any coffee grounds or coffee beans in the "coffee water". It will just be the cold brewed coffee.

bCash said:

What happens if you boil coffee for that long? Remember that I'm not talking about having any coffee grounds or coffee beans in the "coffee water". It will just be the cold brewed coffee.

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The same thing as if you have coffee too hot in the pot too long. It turns NASTY... Ever have coffee from a shop (duncan D comes to mind) where the plate is set too high, and it's been there for too long (an hour can be far too long at high temps)?? It's just plain nasty... That doesn't have any of the grounds in it, just the brewed coffee.

IMO, you're better off compensating for adding cold pressed (higher concentration) coffee with your post boil volume. Add it after the yeast has had some time in the batch, so you retain more of the flavors from the coffee... Or add it right before you bottle/keg it. If you're bottling, then add it once you've racked the batch to the bottling bucket. If you want, brew a pot and mix the priming sugar in with it (don't boil it)...

Daybis said:

Would you be willing to sharing your grain bill? I love a good mocha porter. I made one last year, but I used french pressed coffee. I really like the idea of getting those flavors without having to use actual coffee.

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Not sure if I'm going to share it just yet. I'm going to brew it again in a couple/few batches with some tweaks (more of the flavor grains) and will see how it comes out. My first batch came in at 8%... I'm aiming a little higher with the second batch (closer to 9%)...

Golddiggie said:

Not sure if I'm going to share it just yet. I'm going to brew it again in a couple/few batches with some tweaks (more of the flavor grains) and will see how it comes out. My first batch came in at 8%... I'm aiming a little higher with the second batch (closer to 9%)...

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If you ever decide to release this information, please let me know!