Mint coffee stout?

I bought a peace coffee java stout kit from midwest, and would like to add some mint to it. I have mint extract in the pantry. I am guessing I should add it to the secondary, maybe a tablespoon? two?

Anyone done anything like this, I really am clueless on this addition????

Thanks all

I don't know why, but mint coffee stout doesn't sound great to me. Do coffee and mint mix?

If you want to do it, your best bet is probably to ferment it out, take a sample and test out how much of the extract works then scale it up. If you just dump in a tablespoon you could easily overshoot.

I've done a mint choc stout. Do a search and you'll find a decent amount of info on the subject of adding mint.

Since you're adding extract it's not fermentable. That's good in the fact that you can just add it to the bottling bucket. In fact, you can add your priming sugar to the bucket and then bottle a few and then say mint the second half of the batch. At that point just add the mint to taste in the bucket and bottle it when you're happy.

My wife had a mint chocolate stout and loved it. It wasn't to bad, but I am more of and IPA guy. I did not even think about adding at bottleing time, but it makes perfect sense. I am assuming there is nothing growing in the extract because it is alcohol based. Just add some, try and add more if nessary.

Thanks

As already mentioned just add it to the bottling bucket. When i add extract flavors i just add a tiny amount, swirl it, then take a sample, then repeat as necessary till it tastes to my liking. Oh and since you're making a coffee stout i would also make a cup of coffee and throw that in at bottling time. Or at least that is what i like to do.

The recipe I have at home uses peppermint certs and fresh mint. I haven't brewed it, but I have tasted it at the LHBS and it was great. The mint was subtle, but excellent. If you're interested I can post the mint portion when I get home.

I changed my mind on the fly and added 6 oz hershey's cocoa with 1 min. left on the boil. The instruction say to brew the coffee and add it to the secondary. I think I will do that, and then also have some more around when I bottle. So come bottling time I will have coffee, mint extract, and chocolate extract ready for additions. Do I need to worry any infections with the coffee? I plan on cold brewing the coffee, not using a coffee maker. I use a chemex coffee maker for my daily coffee, so I figured I will just use cold water instead of hot water.

Any other ideas for extracting the coffee flavor from the beans?

Cold Steep it. That's what I did. And you don't need as much as you'd think. I think I cold steeped 1/2# of Komodo Dragon from Sbucks. It was freaking intense. Next time I'll go with a coffee with a little nuttier flavor and something more mellow instead of something so intense. It was too much for the stout.

I have the same kit waiting for the coffee.
What are the benefits of moving it to a secondary before adding the coffee?
Why can't I just add it to the primary and wait another couple of weeks?

flyfisher4est said:

I have the same kit waiting for the coffee.
What are the benefits of moving it to a secondary before adding the coffee?
Why can't I just add it to the primary and wait another couple of weeks?

Click to expand...

that is a good question!

So I decided to put it in a secondary with the coffee b/c I am harvesting, washing and reusing the yeast and didn't want the coffee flavor in my next batch.
Guess that is the cool thing about this hobby. You can adjust to needed requirements

When I make coffee stout, I hot steep it. I use an imperial stout base recipe and add 1/2# of ground coffee about 5 minutes after flame-off. Wait until the temp drops to 205-210 range (just as if you were making a French press coffee) and then dump it right in.

When you strain to get your spent hops out, most of the coffee will come out. What doesn't will sediment in primary.

If you don't strain out your hops, use a muslin bag for the coffee. Note that this will probably float, so keep your spoon (not wooden, the boil is done) to push it down every once in a while.

Steep for five minutes and you're good to go.


Fair warning, this results in a VERY intense coffee/beer experience. Cold steping whole beans in secondary is a much more subtle way to do it.

Changed everything again on the fly- .5 lbs of coffee cold steeped 24 hrs in with 2 quarts of water. added 4 more oz of cocoa with the coffee and mixed. Now I think the beer is going to be to bitter. How do I add some sweet to this beer? to take the edge off the cocoa?

I think this may be a run away freight train!!!!

flyfisher4est said:

I have the same kit waiting for the coffee.
What are the benefits of moving it to a secondary before adding the coffee?
Why can't I just add it to the primary and wait another couple of weeks?

Click to expand...

When c02 evolves from the beer during fermentation, it carries with it a number of volatile compounds. These include flavor and aroma compounds.

If you smell fermenting beer, whatever it smells like, that smell is leaving and diminishing in the beer. Usually fermenting beer smells strongly of hops, this is why people like to dry hop after fermentation, because a lot of the hop aroma from the boil additions is lost in fermentation.

Sparky... brewed my Scottish Grogg Coffee Stout today. All I do is brew the pot of coffee (in this case a pot and a half of Scottish Grogg), and dump it in my primary to cool while the wort is boiling. I usually do this with espresso too, and the coffee flavor/aroma is superb. I've never put my coffee in during secondary, but I think I'd do it the same way. Some ppl just dump whole beans in the primary/secondary. To each their own!

5gB

5gbrewer, no concerns from the oils given off from the hot brewed coffee? Or do you cold brew it since you said you use it to cool the wort.
(I guess not, you did say it tastes wonderful.)

I haven't had any oil problems yet. The only time I had a 'problem' with a stout was when I was making a chocolate stout, and used giardelli chocolate. The fat from the chocolate created a chunky layer on the top of each beer in the bottle. Once you got past that, all was good. Chocolate power works much better hahaha. Lessons learned in HBing.

5gB