Imperial coffee stout...thoughts, & suggestions

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ogdogg

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Sup guys,
So we brewed up & altered a recipe that i found:
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3/4 lb. Mun Chocolate
3/4 lb. Roasted Barley
1 lb. 120crystal

1lb. Dark DME
9lb. amber LME

20z. N. Brewer - Boil
2oz. Cascade - 15min

Wyeast 1056

OG 1.068
FG 1.016

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Alright, so we brewed this 2 weeks ago, & today we added about 20-24 oz of dark roast starbucks, using a french press. We boiled the water, added to the french press, then slightly cooled it in the freezer for about 15 min, added it to the secondary & racked on top of it. I haven't had any activity in the past 4-5 days in the primary. The temp. stayed pretty steady around 68-72. It tasted pretty good to me a few days ago when i took a reading. It'll still needs to grow into itself for a while, but it's got some potential

But what i notice now is...pretty much nothing. There is zero activity going on in there. We just added the coffee today & was wondering:

1.)Will the coffee have any effect on what yeast is left in there?
2.)Has anyone had much experience/problems with adding coffee?
3.)Is there any holes in this process or recipe?

Thanks in advance
 
Unless you put sugar in the coffee you didn't add anything fermentable so you shouldn't expect any activity. Everything else looks pretty solid. Just let it age for about six weeks before you try it. It will have time to blend.
 
Just out of curiosity, what size batch is this? Just trying to figure out why OG is 1.068 with 10 lbs of DME in it. I just did a recipe (just shy of 5 gallon batch)with 10 lbs DME, 1 lb sugar, and a little molasses and my OG was 1.104!

Aside from that, I say nothing to worry about since no fermentables were added with the coffee.
 
I did a 5 gallon extract + grains a few months ago. It's just coming to age now after 4 weeks in the bottles.

I only used 8 lbs of LME + 1.75 Lbs of asst grains. Og was 64 but it only went down to 36 Not sure why it stalled.

I added 4.5 lbs of cold brewed coffe at bottleing time. No secondary.

Also had lactose as it's a Sweet Stout. But 1/2 lb was to much for my taste.
 
Just out of curiosity, what size batch is this? Just trying to figure out why OG is 1.068 with 10 lbs of DME in it. I just did a recipe (just shy of 5 gallon batch)with 10 lbs DME, 1 lb sugar, and a little molasses and my OG was 1.104!

Aside from that, I say nothing to worry about since no fermentables were added with the coffee.

I started the boil with 5 gal & it boiled off a gal. I used 9 lbs. of liquid & 1 lb of dry (if that makes a huge difference) I expected it to be a bit higher also. this is our 5th brew so any suggestions willl be noted. Thanks
 
I also heard that adding coffee will decrease the head retention, so i'll probably use about 3/4 cup of priming sugar when we bottle.
 
I started the boil with 5 gal & it boiled off a gal. I used 9 lbs. of liquid & 1 lb of dry (if that makes a huge difference) I expected it to be a bit higher also. this is our 5th brew so any suggestions willl be noted. Thanks

Not sure... I could be wrong, but a 5 gallon batch with that amount of extract should be around 1.073, so I would think a 4 gallon batch would be higher... around 1.092.

What temperature was the wort when you took the OG reading? Is the OG you posted (1.068) corrected for temperature and after you topped it off?

For instance, if you topped it off to 5 gallons, and took the reading while the wort was in the mid-80's your OG would be right on with what you should expect.

I guess my molasses and sugar added a good bit of gravity to my wort...

No tips, just thought it was curious, but really could be pretty close to accurate. Shows how much I know! lol
 
I topped it off to 5 gal, aerated, then took the reading. & as far as i know, it was about 70 deg when i took the reading. It was hard as hell & took forever to get the temp down 2 weeks ago. I had a wort chiller in the beer, I went through all the ice in the house & we kept changing the water in the utility sink with the hose from outside. It's like the ground water was above 70 degrees. I'll know next summer to get more ice.

I would also think that adding all the sugar that you did, the reading would be pretty high
 
yeah, if you topped off to 5 gals and the temp was 70 or so, you're about right on target. I bet my extra gravity came from the sugar and the molasses.

I hear you on the ground water being a PITA in the summer. If it helps, I usually boil 3 gals and top off to 5 with ICe cold water. I mean, it literally has chunks of ice. So that brings it down pretty fast when combined with a cooler. But if your water is as warm as mine, the immersion cooler will only bring it down so far. D'OH!
 
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