When to add coffee to my porter

Am about to make my first batch of coffee porter. When should I add the coffee into the process? I was thinkin right before i have it ferment? I am going to use the French press and cold water for about a day? Any advice would be great

I add whole beans in a nylon bag during my secondary fermentation (~55 deg F), and let them sit for about 4 to 5 days, or until the coffee aroma and flavor are to taste. That method works well for me.

I have a friend who does a Coffee Pale Ale, and does the French press method as you described, but mixes the coffee in when it is going into the keg.

Either method, I would wait until primary fermentation is finished to add the coffee. I would suspect that the flocculating yeast would bond with some the lipids from the coffee and strip out some of the flavor.

Awesome! thanks for the tip

How much coffee are you adding? Is it a 5 gallon batch?

I'm not sure yet. I'm going to experiment with it since I have never attempted it. I'll let you know how much I end up doing and I'll get back to you on the taste

And yes its a 5 gallon

I cold brew my coffee overnight, and add to secondary, to taste. It gives very nice flavor and aroma, without the bitterness you might get with hot extraction.
I roast the coffee myself, and use around 4oz / 5 gallons.

I do a cold brew using a 3/1 ratio and (water to beans) I pour the coffee into my keg, purge, and then rack the beer onto that. I've used anything from 3oz to 16oz of coffee (my wife loves coffee in a way that should be illegal). I try to compensate gravity-wise to deal with the dilution.

I'm in process for my coffee porter right now. I went for a coarse grind added directly into the primary after 1 week of fermentation. I plan to let it sit for 2 weeks before kegging. I'm basing my method on a local brewer who has an amazing latte stout. We've discussed his method in detail, and mine is slightly less contact time. I expect it to be very overwhelming coffee, but that's my goal. I'll update when we taste.

Fulldraw - who is the local brewery and what is their beer?

He's a new startup brewer. Reipsteins Pub and Brewery. Though he's made this beer under a couple different roofs over the last few years.
Purely a pour or growler place vs distribution.

dryboroughbrewing said:

I do a cold brew using a 3/1 ratio and (water to beans) I pour the coffee into my keg, purge, and then rack the beer onto that. I've used anything from 3oz to 16oz of coffee (my wife loves coffee in a way that should be illegal). I try to compensate gravity-wise to deal with the dilution.

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So you're saying you use a 1oz coffee grind to 3oz water ratio and cold brew? So when you say you add 3oz to 16oz to the keg, do you mean the "final liquid volume" you are adding to the keg? (i.e. if you're adding 6oz to the keg, that's 2oz of coffee grinds brewed in 6oz of water)

I kegged mine last week, and I will say that I almost took another hydrometer sample. Wow. Intense coffee, wonderful flavor and aroma.There was nothing off in my sample. Just need to get it into serving rotation for a proper glass. Most of the grains were caught in the yeast cake, what was leftover, I caught with a strainer bag on the end of my siphon tube.

Update for mine. I tapped this last night and was amazed at the coffee profile this beer had. Aroma was over the top, and flavor was fantastic. As far as comparing to my local brewer, unless they are side by side, you can't tell the difference. My base recipe was a very black porter that weighed in about 4.7% abv, full bodied.

Another club member added his coffee the same way, same beans, but only for 1 week. Unfortunately, his is coming off very bitter, but I do not know his hop schedule or grainbill. His abv is higher though, 6.5,i believe.

Mine will be made again.

Follow up on our tastings since three of us brewed this. We all used the same amount of the same coffee from the same coffee shop. Each of us added it in the primary after active fermentation, but for different times. 1,2, and 4 weeks. We all agreed that 2-4 weeks is the way to go and that some vanilla beans help to round out the flavor.