Sanitize Cold-Brewed Coffee?

Anyone worried about the need to sanitize coffee before adding it to the secondary/primary/bottling bucket etc?

I want to add cold-brewed coffee to a stout. I'm planning on cold-brewing the coffee overnight in the fridge (2 oz in 4 cups sanitized water) and then adding the filtered coffee into the primary after 3 weeks and bottling at 4 weeks. I came across some posts regarding sanitizing the beans in vodka etc and thought maybe I could simply things and still get good results by briefly microwaving the cold-brewed coffee (1 min?). But that would definitely change the flavor somewhat.

Does anyone bother to sanitize the beans before grinding them? If so, how? Maybe just soak the beans in vodka for a few minutes?

I'm curious about this also as I'm planing on doing a coffee stout as my next brew. I was leaning towards it not being a big deal if adding it once my alcohol content is already up. But I'm interested in what others have to say...

If you're really concerned, you could just pasteurize the coffee at 160* for 20 mins or so.

B

I bottled a breakfast stout about a month ago and and added espresso grinds at flameout and bottled 8oz of cold "brewed" coffee at bottling time. I simply added 1oz of espresso grinds and cold water in a sanitized mason jar and let it sit overnight in the fridge. The next day I added the coffee to my priming sugar and boiled to sanitize (used a coffee filter to screen the grinds). I was worried that the oils from the coffee would ruin my chances of a nice mocha head. I assumed that these oils would be leached out of the bean if brewed with a coffee maker. Worked fine for me...

so no one sanitized the coffee or beans?

I've used both cold brewed coffee and freshly pulled espresso for a mocha stout. No problems whatsoever regarding sanitation or head retention. However it was an Imperial(10.5%) stout FWIW.

Also, FWIW my brewing partner and I both enjoyed the one made with cold brewed over the one made with espresso. It had more roasty dark coffee flavor and less of the twangy bittersweet flavor that espresso sometimes has.

I wouldn't bother sanitizing. We just dump in dry hops all the time and they are not sanitized, so I think the alcohol in the beer will keep it safe. Yeah I know hops are supposed to have some anti-bacterial components but nevertheless they have dust/dirt/bugs/pesticides, etc. all over them when they get packaged for sale. Coffee Beans are roasted and therefore heat sanitized.

Thanks everyone. I feel pretty comfortable not sanitizing the beans after all your comments. I'll do a cold press with sanitized water and container and giver. Cheers.

I made a coffee stout awhile back. Just added the grinded beans to the mash, all my buddies keep asking me to remake it!

What is the typical coffee:water ratio for cold brewing for a 5 gal batch?

FWIW, my last brew was a coffee (actually, breakfast) stout. I was told to brew or cold-brew the coffee & add it later.

However, I grew up before coffeemakers and started my coffee brewing life with 'camp coffee', just dumping the grounds into water at a rolling boil and then letting them steep. I took a shot and added coarsely cracked beans at flameout, essentially brewing them in the wort. Strained them out after the chill.

It worked great, came out just right for me. But I'll bet all the other methods work great, too. Sometimes I just like to be stubborn.

I did a coffee porter this winter and agonized for a while about how to do the coffee addition. I ended up coarsely grinding the beans and putting them in a 1L mason jar, then topped it off with water. Left it in the fridge for about 4 or 5 days, then just strained the jar out into the bottling bucket. The coffee flavor didn't come through overwhelmingly at all, but the aroma was there and was amazing - it added a lot to the beer.

I used about 4.5oz coffee beans for the 5-gallon batch.

Just bring it to boiling after you get the cold brew coffee off the grounds.

Old thread, but I had a similar concern and still do. Mine is about the sanitary state of my coffee grinder that's been used every day for years, not the beans or the water. In the past I decided to heat the tea kettle and made hot coffee in the press as normal. Then I let it steep in the fridge for 3 days, filtered and added to the secondary with 8oz cacao nibs. This particular stout came out fantastic with an excellent, subtle coffee background & nose...but I have no comparison with a true "cold pressed" batch. FYI I didn't sanitize the nibs, just threw them in... but that's a different debate

Anyone else have experience with this? I'd still like to try a true cold pressed batch on my current RIS. I'm sure it'd be fine, but this one would be a major bummer if anything bad happened.

No need to sanitize. I have a 16oz French press I use for my cold brewed coffee. Grind up some coffee (what you want/need may vary), dump it into the French press, fill with cold tap water, stir, then let sit for 24 hours covered with foil. Then at kegging, I rack the beer on top of the coffee. Works wonderfully, beer doesn't go bad. I think coffee may be too acidic to harbor bacteria.

I have a chocolate-coffee stout conditioning right now in which I used cold-brewed coffee. This was my first time trying the cold-brew technique. Basically, I followed the cold-brewing info in one of the Basic Brewing videos on YouTube. The idea is not to heat the coffee at all because doing so will release oils, which you don't want to do.

For my 1 gallon small-batch, I put ground coffee in a sterilized peanut-butter jar and added room temperature bottled spring water. The jar went in the refrigerator for a few days to brew. Then I took it out of the fridge and filtered the coffee through an unbleached paper coffee filter to remove the coffee grinds. The filtered coffee went back in the fridge for a few more days. On brew day, I poured the coffee into the fermenter, racked the wort onto it, pitched the yeast and allowed it to ferment as usual. At bottling, I took a taste from the hydrometer sample and was happy with the results -- a very clean coffee taste that wasn't overpowering.

Maybe it was beginner's luck this time, but it was easy to do and worked out well. I'll definitely try it again.

Heck, on my breakfast stout, which was awesome by the way. I cooled to 160, threw in coffee grinds, and let sit for 5-10 mins then cooled. Did a dry coffee by dumping an additional 2 oz of grinds to the beer and let sit for a few days. Tasted fine, aged for months and no hair or pellicle grown on the beer at all.

Actually, why cold brew if you can just "dry coffee" on a secondary? If you leave a well crushed amount of coffee beans in a hop bag for 24 hours... you will still be cold brewing it.

Has anyone used the Starbuck Via instant coffee packets? The flavor is awesome and they mix into solution almost instantly.... I would think you could just add to taste at bottling time?

yeahfairly said:

Has anyone used the Starbuck Via instant coffee packets? The flavor is awesome and they mix into solution almost instantly.... I would think you could just add to taste at bottling time?

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Are those actually good? I have not yet had an instant coffee that was good and didnt have that "instant coffee" flavor (kinda an old coffee/plastic flavor). And I thought the starbucks ones came with the creamer and sugar in them already as well. That is an idea though.

DrunkleJon said:

Are those actually good? I have not yet had an instant coffee that was good and didnt have that "instant coffee" flavor (kinda an old coffee/plastic flavor). And I thought the starbucks ones came with the creamer and sugar in them already as well. That is an idea though.

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I drink a lot of instant coffee. The starbucks, to me, taste very similar to nescafe instant. Not saying don't use it, but don't expect something revolutionary.

On the subject of sanitizing cold-steeped coffee -- and this applies to cold-steeped grain tea as well -- studies in pasteurization have shown that heating to 160 for just 30 seconds kill 99.9etc% of bacteria and yeast.

160 for 30 seconds and then immediate ice bath is my compromise for sanitation and not losing too many volatile aroma compounds.

I will try crush some coffee beans, trow it in a container with a little 98% alcohol and set it on fire, wait a couple minutes and put it in a sanitized hop bag inside secondary.

After 6 or so batches now adding cold pressed coffee, I'm convinced there is no need to sanitize the coffee itself. The ph should be too low for anything to take hold. I do sanitize the container I brew in though, and let it brew at refrigerated temps for a day or two. If you're concerned about the water, boil it first then cool, or use bottled.

I've seen several reports that cold-pressing whole beans is even better than grinds. It probably takes 3-4 times longer than grinds, but has anyone had experience with both here?

If so then logically I would think the best method would be to rack to secondary and dry-bean it for 4-7 days before kegging or bottling. At least you wouldn't have to worry about the correct dilution equation anyway.

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I've searched and this one seems to have the most info for what I'm looking for.

I've decided that I want to use cold brewed coffee, but one option that I haven't seen here is store-bought cold brewed coffee. I'll buy a 10.5oz bottle of Stumptown cold brewed coffee every now and then, and often thought that this would be a good addition to a stout. I actually just saw a bottle for sale at a local roaster/shop Zumbar (who collaborated with New English brewing to make my favorite coffee stout, next to Speedway), and was thinking of using that.

Any one else just buy a bottle of coffee to add, and if so: Did you sanitize? How much did you use? How was it?

I just boiled and cooled the water, sanitized the container and cold brewed the coffee and added to the bottling bucket to taste. Ez.

brewzombie said:

so no one sanitized the coffee or beans?

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Nope, I just added 16oz of cold brewed coffee straight to the finished beer (after 14 days in the fermenter) and charged the keg. I put it in the wine cellar and will taste it this weekend.

They are micro ground beans, not instant at all.

dunnright00 said:

I've decided that I want to use cold brewed coffee, but one option that I haven't seen here is store-bought cold brewed coffee. I'll buy a 10.5oz bottle of Stumptown cold brewed coffee every now and then, and often thought that this would be a good addition to a stout. I actually just saw a bottle for sale at a local roaster/shop Zumbar (who collaborated with New English brewing to make my favorite coffee stout, next to Speedway), and was thinking of using that.

Any one else just buy a bottle of coffee to add, and if so: Did you sanitize? How much did you use? How was it?

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I've been wanting to use Seaworth Single Fin Sludge cold brew ... and I'm thinking about 1/2-1 Cup for a 2.5 gallon batch based on earlier research of people making their own cold brew concentrates. Seaworth is definitely a concentrate, but I was never able to find if Stumptown was concentrate... though I'm pretty sure it's not since it's designed to be drank straight from bottle (I have had it in the past).

Like you though, I'm not sure exactly how to add it. In past research I think plenty of people were just adding it straight to bottling but there shouldn't be too much wrong with a quick pasteurization at 160. I don't think too many volatiles will be driven off at that temp for only a short time. To possibly avoid oxidation at bottling it may be a good idea to add it to the very end of fermentation like with dry hops......

I don't bottle but I make my own cold brew coffee and add the concentrate straight into the keg before racking the beer into it. I suspect you could do the same thing in the bottling bucket prior to bottling. I figure there is enough alcohol in the beer prior to kegging that I'm not worried about getting contaminated ... But I do try my best to keep the process clean.

Made a coffee porter recently that turned out real nice, and I shared those sanitation concerns. To play it safe, I opted not to make any cold brew and I just doused the beans in vodka and threw them in whole like dry hops for a week. It was likely a waste of vodka, but nothing wrong with a little insurance. It also avoids even remotely watering down the beer with added liquid. Another way to play it safe is to get Trader Joe's cold brew coffee concentrate and add that. If the package is opened right before adding, it will be sanitary.