Adding Coffee

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

brewyourown4life

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2008
Messages
167
Reaction score
4
Location
waterloo, IA
I will be brewing a Stout {extract with grains, 5 gallons} and i have a 4oz can of coconut coffee unopened sitting around that i would like to add but am not sure the best way? any thoughts:confused:
 
Some put beans in the seconday, but I like to cold brew mine with a fine grind in a french press and add it to my bottling bucket. It is probably my favorite of all my brews. Due what does you justice. I've even brewed my coffee and cooled and added to my bucket. I used a tbs for every cup. A little more bitter than a french press, but loved just the same. Still placed
3rd at the state fair, so it wasn't too bad for them. :D
 
I'v heard cold brewing will yield the best results. I have a porter aging that i am going to add cold brewed coffee to when i keg it.
 
I added several cups of strong brewed Community New Orleans blend directly to boiling wort. Some people just have to see for themselves. The flavor did not carry through to the end product.
 
I just made a coffee porter that used 2 cups of cold brewed coffee (grind your coffee, add water, put it in the fridge and let it sit overnight). It's good. You can definitely taste the coffee, but just a little. If I were to do it again (and you bet your a$$ I will), I would add more coffee. Maybe four cups. With your stout I would advise the same.
 
I did an experiment with the porter I have on tap. I kept a 1/2 gallon to the side and ground up some hazelnut coffee and put it in the 1/2 gallon growler with the beer as a secondary. I got 5 12oz ers out of it.

I had one and can say that I added too much coffee. I will be cracking another one open soon to see how a couple of months changes things.

But as far as the method, the secondary or keg is the best option, I personally would never put it in during a boil or the primary as either the wrong or no flavor may make it to the final product.

You can control the envirmental attributes a lot better in the secondary and harshness of the boil will not be there either.

As far as the method to extract the flavor, I have not tried the cold press unless you consider putting the dry coffee grounds straight into the room temp beer. This worked great for me.
 
I just made a coffee porter that used 2 cups of cold brewed coffee (grind your coffee, add water, put it in the fridge and let it sit overnight). It's good. You can definitely taste the coffee, but just a little. If I were to do it again (and you bet your a$$ I will), I would add more coffee. Maybe four cups. With your stout I would advise the same.

I've been thinking about making a coffee porter later this year, maybe have it ready for the winter. I'm going to try this method. Thanks :)
 
i added 4 cups of cold brewed espresso and it is too much. It is okay for a one beer night, but it is FAR from a session beer.

I am hoping that it mellows out a little bit. It is good, but i will cut it in half or possibly add 3 cups instead of 4 next time.
 
So for a stout, the suggested amount is 4 cups of cold brewed coffee in the secondary. How many tablespoons of coffee is needed per cup of water if cold brewing for 24 hours prior to putting in the secondary?
 
is espresso stronger than coffee (taste wise)? I am not a coffee drinker. I assume so... if not, i would urge you to reduce it a little... or hell.. add x cups, taste and if you want more add more and taste again.. i wish i did.. but it is still a good beer.
 
For my first coffee stout I steeped the coffee right after the boil once it was chilling. I waited until the temp was about 175 and let it stay in until i poured into the primary. I am now waiting for the bottles to prime... It has been one week and the sample bottle tastes very nice. First time poster, hope its not to much. The recipe i followed called for this method.
 
Why not just use a good brown malt? This past weekend I had the opportunity to smell and taste some brown malt grain straight out of the bin that tasted and had the aroma of a very fine coffee...DELICIOUS. I immediately used 3/4 pounds in my latest porter recipe!
 
I used brown malt as about forty percent of the grain in my mocha porter. I also added 2 oz. of course ground Italian roast (like for a French press) with two minutes left in the boil and also threw in a 4 oz. bar of bittersweet 100% chocolate. I bottled it a week ago and it tastes great. I sampled a bottle tonight to check the carbonation. It has a ways to go yet. It's conditioning at about 60 degrees so it's going to take a while to carb and age. I have heard a lot of people say not to add grinds directly to the boiling wort but for me it worked out fine. I got a pretty good attenuation and it is carbonating nicely. It has a good coffee flavor but I don't know how much can be attributed to the coffee, brown malt, or cocoa. I think it's a combination of all three.
 
Such great minds here. To add just the slightest bit of depth to my robust porter before using the brown in my latest batch, I added two tablespoon of ghirardelli unsweetened chocolate powder and two tablespoons of good coffee grounds. Have seen one "Old Peculiar" clone with a tad of black strap molasses. If anything, I don't care for strongflavors that can be tasted in themselves, but just the tiniest bit to add interest...such as the classic touch of licorice root in stout
 
Such great minds here. To add just the slightest bit of depth to my robust porter before using the brown in my latest batch, I added two tablespoon of ghirardelli unsweetened chocolate powder and two tablespoons of good coffee grounds. Have seen one "Old Peculiar" clone with a tad of black strap molasses. If anything, I don't care for strongflavors that can be tasted in themselves, but just the tiniest bit to add interest...such as the classic touch of licorice root in stout

When did you add them?

I have been playing around with the idea of a bourbon-coffee stout to have on tap. Thanks for the good coffee advice.

~M~
 
Cold brewed .5# of coffee over night in 2 quarts of water added into secondary with a bunch (6 oz) of cocoa. Coffee is there, not so much the cocoa, also it was a little bitter, may add some lactose or splenda to help sweeten it up.
 
i coarse crushed 4oz of beans and steeped them for 5 min at flameout. the beer was a sweet stout, the coffee was very noticeable and the beer was one of my most popular
 
I added several cups of strong brewed Community New Orleans blend directly to boiling wort. Some people just have to see for themselves. The flavor did not carry through to the end product.

the flavor left the priamary with the CO2....that happens with most of the aromatic flavorings...its best to add to the secondary...
 
Oh, and I like to cold steep the coffee. This method keeps the acid levels very low in the coffee, so you are extracting a very mellow coffee flavor (low bitterness). I like to mix coffee, water in a jar and let sit overnight before using. Add to the secondary so you dont loose too much aroma out of the airlock in the primary.

As a side note, I like to make a strong coffee extract using this method when going camping. Then all you have to do is add water and heat in the morning. no messing around with grounds and filters in the camping gear.
 
The big advantage to cold brewing is head retention.

I used both hot and cold brewing, and more oils are extracted using the hot process and that kills any head on the brew. With cold, I have no problems at all.

Another problem is the flavor seems to diminish greatly over time. With the first batch, I added coffee "to taste". Seem perfect at bottling, but 6 weeks later, I could hardly detect it.

With the last one, I cold brewed 1lb of coffee within a 1liter bottle, added at bottling. And the flavor seemed TOO strong. I was tempted to dump it, but after a couple months, it smoothed out, and was amazing
 
Remember when adding coffe the oils tend to in-hibit carbonation. If your not kegging, make sure you add a bit more priming sugar.

I don't doubt you at all but in my experience with coffee additions (only 1 batch), I added 2 cups of cooled (brewed hot) dark roast coffee at bottling and wound up over carbonating. Maybe it depends on the type of coffee used (i.e. some have more oil than others)?
 
I use about 12 shots of expresso in my Spun Monkey Stout. (Named after my previous roommates kids) I added it the first time before fermentation and it had a really nice coffee / expresso taste to the beer. With everything else I put in, it was a nice addition. I might try after primary fermentation next time I do make it or before bottling.
 
I don't doubt you at all but in my experience with coffee additions (only 1 batch), I added 2 cups of cooled (brewed hot) dark roast coffee at bottling and wound up over carbonating. Maybe it depends on the type of coffee used (i.e. some have more oil than others)?

I just got some "brazilian" blend coffee this week that looks to have quite a bit more oil on the surface when i brew (coffee) in the morning.

m`m
 
I use a full 12 cup pot to my coffee stout. This could be why I needed more priming sugar. Temps during the first week of bottling could also make a difference. I'm not talking major addition to the priming sugar. I like to use Sumatran beans, which also may have more oils than others.
 
Had a stout last night that was being "dry hopped" with ground coffee. Amazing aroma after only a day for steeping.
 
I've got a porter sitting in the primary right now. I'm going to put the coffee (cold pressed for 48 hours) in the secondary. For a 5 gallon batch, how much coffee? Some stouts call for 8 cups, but I'm not sure about with a porter.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top