Coffee Stout or Porter

Anybody ever try this, I am sure someone has.

What is the best way to get coffee flavor into beer? Cold steeping is one way, do you add this to the boiling wort near the end of the boil? Or can I just throw a pound or 2 of beans or ground coffee directly into the wort and then strain it out after the boil?

Any input would be appreciated I tried searching a few terms and couldn't find much of use.

Adding ground coffee after the ferment produces excellent results.

porter said:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/brown-porter-added-coffee-134212/

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Good thread I don't know why that didn't come up in my search.

david_42 said:

Adding ground coffee after the ferment produces excellent results.

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OK so if I put it in secondary what kind of vessel do I put the coffee in? A grain bag couldn't fit in my carboy. Or can I just dump it in the carboy or fermenter just loose?

oils in coffee beans can really bring down the head if not destroy it completely. I use instant coffee.. It seems like cheating, but you will get the best results with it and it won't kill your head. Not to mention you can add little by little until you get the taste your looking for.

jesse said:

oils in coffee beans can really bring down the head if not destroy it completely. I use instant coffee.. It seems like cheating, but you will get the best results with it and it won't kill your head. Not to mention you can add little by little until you get the taste your looking for.

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instant coffee is used in most cooking applications as well. cheating but i think it's got less oils in it

davefleck said:

instant coffee is used in most cooking applications as well. cheating but i think it's got less oils in it

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I was always turned off by the idea of using instant coffee. I have tried to make coffee ice cream with real coffee and it is a pain in the ass. Then I finally gave in and used instant and I have to admit, it was pretty good.

I also have made this creamy coffee syrup for chocolate muffins or ice cream by cooking vanilla ice cream with instant espresso. Turns out great.

Eric

Add some oatleal to your process. I use Kona Coffee as a dry hop and Sumatran at flame out. I also add oatmean for a good head an smoothy silkiness. I feel this is needed so the coffee flavor is not TOO harsh.

I've brewed two beers with coffee, beans smashed with a pint glass put in a muslin sack for last 15 minutes of boil. One was a stout, one a porter... no head problems whatsoever. May be a rarity however

I wouldn't use instant. Choose a freshly roasted bean with low acidity. Sumatra is very good for this. Go to a local roaster. You also want a lighter roast that will impart less oils and acids into your beer, these are what kill the head. We have two very good roasters in my city, and one is known for roasting their beans on the dark side and the other on the light, so you can guess which roaster I went to for my beans.
For my stout I added a cold extraction from two-ounces of coursely chopped beans at flameout for coffee flavor with minimal addition of tannins and oils (search coffee cold extraction) and then also "dry-beaned" with cracked beans for the last week of secondary--just cracked a couple ounces with a rolling pin and put them in a hop bag. Had to push a little to get it into the carboy but no biggie. I believe the cracked beans at the end of the conditioning process will add much more coffee aroma. Hydrometer tastings have been phenomenally delicious. I can't wait until it's cold outside and I'm drinking these for breakfast.
I did also add flaked oats and barley to ensure head retention.
Edit: The pound you mention would probably be too much. I used a total of 4 oz. of beans for a 5.5 gallon batch with on OG of 1.061.

I used starbucks italian roast (was moon-lighting there my last year active duty-so it was free). I used 1 pound of pint glass crushed beans in both recipes for the last 15 minutes. Head for days, amazing coffee profile that belnded seamlessly into my malt profiles... no problems

Anyone ever used homemade coffee extract? I think if I were to try and add coffee flavor I might go this route using a Toddy Maker brew Toddy Coffee Maker at Toddy Cafe: Cold Brew Coffee, Acid Coffee Low, Coffee Brewer, Best Coffee Maker it makes a very low acid very high flavor "extract" of coffee. A coffee Stout sounds like a good coldweather brew too.

knotquiteawake said:

Anyone ever used homemade coffee extract? I think if I were to try and add coffee flavor I might go this route using a Toddy Maker brew Toddy Coffee Maker at Toddy Cafe: Cold Brew Coffee, Acid Coffee Low, Coffee Brewer, Best Coffee Maker it makes a very low acid very high flavor "extract" of coffee. A coffee Stout sounds like a good coldweather brew too.

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You don't need to buy any product to do this. This IS the best way to get coffee flavor into beer without also adding oils, acids, and tannins, but all you need to do is the day before you brew boil 2 cups water, cool it, put it in a sanitized vessel, and add crushed or coursely ground beans into that cool water. Let it sit in your fridge 24 hours. Strain the water (extract) through a sanitized coffee filter into your beer at flameout, leaving the beans/grounds behind. Use about 1/2 as much coffee as you would if you were adding the beans directly to the beer, because you will get very concentrated coffee flavor this way without the burnt/tannic/roasty/bitter flavors you otherwise might.

I already have a Toddy Maker because I LOVE using it with my homeroasted coffee. Its fantastic just pouring some Toddy Coffee over ice in a lowball glass. But thats all besides the point.
Anyways, Good to hear that its a good idea, I think that a coffee porter is 2nd on my list of beers to brew. The next one up is going to be a Belhaven Clone i think.

thejerk said:

I wouldn't use instant. Choose a freshly roasted bean with low acidity. Sumatra is very good for this. Go to a local roaster. You also want a lighter roast that will impart less oils and acids into your beer, these are what kill the head. We have two very good roasters in my city, and one is known for roasting their beans on the dark side and the other on the light, so you can guess which roaster I went to for my beans.
For my stout I added a cold extraction from two-ounces of coursely chopped beans at flameout for coffee flavor with minimal addition of tannins and oils (search coffee cold extraction) and then also "dry-beaned" with cracked beans for the last week of secondary--just cracked a couple ounces with a rolling pin and put them in a hop bag. Had to push a little to get it into the carboy but no biggie. I believe the cracked beans at the end of the conditioning process will add much more coffee aroma. Hydrometer tastings have been phenomenally delicious. I can't wait until it's cold outside and I'm drinking these for breakfast.
I did also add flaked oats and barley to ensure head retention.
Edit: The pound you mention would probably be too much. I used a total of 4 oz. of beans for a 5.5 gallon batch with on OG of 1.061.

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So just wondering why you wouldn't use instant coffee???? Have you ever tried it ???

After researching the cold brew techniques, I want to try cold brew coffee myself. I had to give up coffee due to my acid reflux. I wonder if I could drink a moderate amount of cold brew and tolerate it. I am going to brew a batch tonight to have for tomorrow morning. I am just going to use a french press.

If this turns out well, I might use this method for making coffee ice cream at home too. Nothing better than mocha chocolate chip ice cream.

Eric

jesse said:

So just wondering why you wouldn't use instant coffee???? Have you ever tried it ???

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Nope. Haven't tried it. Haven't tried brewing with extract though either, because it's not very interesting to me. I like having complete control over the individual ingredients that go into my beer as well as how they get into my beer. I'm not saying you haven't made good beer using instant coffee. I'm sure you and others have. Judging by your use of seven question marks spread over two questions, I'm guessing you were offended by my statement that I wouldn't use it. Sorry, you needn't have been offended.
BUT...coffee is an addiction of mine--I medicate myself with coffee far more often than with beer. There are lots of people that have just as much passion and knowledge for coffee as you and I do for beer. They roast their own beans at home from the raw green product, can name you the flavor profiles, acid and oil contents, and proper degree of roasting for each individual type or origin of bean, and have invested in expensive equipment incuding burr grinders and brewers or presses. I am an acolyte when it comes to coffee, but I know that there is a huge difference between an Antiguan and a Yrgacheffe, for example. Each bean has very specific characteristics over a wide spectrum. I think of the guy who walks into an artisanal roaster and asks for the darkest, boldest, or most robust coffee they have the same way as I think of the rednecks who walk into the liquor store and ask for the beer with the highest ABV or the wannabe beer geek who asks for the IIPA with the highest IBU's, because that's all he/she wants to drink.
Also, I believe that with proper handling you can choose the characteristics of a specific bean to best complement the beer they are going into. I recommended Sumatran coffee just based on its dry, earthy flavor, low acid and low oil content.
Real coffee is not at all difficult to use and I've had very good results so far, based on what I've sampled, and also from several craft brewers who have made amazing products, but none of them used instant coffee, so I really don't see any draw to using instant.
Homebrewing isn't a cheap hobby. If I'm going to pay for all of the other premium ingredients as well as investing the time into brewing a batch, there's no way I'm putting instant coffee in there. I wouldn't drink instant coffee unless really in a pinch (been in that pinch a few times before...the stuff is nasty), so I certaintly wouldn't choose to put it in my beer either.
You asked. There's my answer. "Don't knock it 'til you've tried it" is also the argument my gay friends use when I tell them I have no interest in having sex with a man. I'm not buying it. Did I just analogize using instant coffee in beer to having gay buttseks? Yup, I guess I did. Not sure which activity I'd rather indulge in...
RDWHAHB (or a hand roasted cup of Jamaican Blue Mountain),
Andy
(they call me the jerk for a reason)

I never bothered responding to the instant coffee comment above because then I would have had to of been the jerk. Thanks thejerk, you've saved me from having to be one.

Instant coffee to me is like using anything artificial, if I can avoid it I will. Plus, being a home roaster of coffee I KNOW my coffee is fresher and I know all of its wonderful little characteristics.

What kind of color adjustments will coffee make? I can't seem to find that anywhere. Will it have any effect at all?

I have a dry processed guat that I'm thinking about dropping in a beer

How much instant coffee did you use? And when did you add it?