Peace Coffee 2nd Crack Stout question

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johnny1211

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I am planning on doing this kit in the near future. This will be my first attempt with coffee. The instructions call for the coffee addition (4 oz for a 5 gallon batch) at flameout and then steep for 20 minutes before cooling. I've read a lot about coffee addition that says this can lead to unwanted coffee/bitter flavors. Many seem to add either cold brewed or grounds to secondary. So, being a relative beginner here, would you follow the instructions or go with what others are doing for coffee addition? Also, anyone ever brew this kit? If so, I'd appreciate any info you pass on about it. Thanks.
 
I did this kit recently and I found the coffee flavor very good if not a tad astringent. I did it to the exact letter of the instructions. I would say do 50/50 hot steep and cold brew in secondary.
 
I just started a 2.5 gallon batch of this recipe yesterday (bought the ingredients at LHBS but followed the Northern Brewer instructions.) Per the recipe I added the coffee grounds at flameout and steeped for 20 minutes. The recipe didn't call for using a bag or anything so I just sprinkled the grounds into the wort.

Once it came time to pour the wort into the fermenter I began to question these instructions as a lot of the grounds went into the bucket. I wish I had strained the wort as I poured because when I took the OG sample I got lots of grounds. Of course now I'm reading about the many ways to add coffee flavor (cold steeping at secondary, etc) that could serve the same purpose without the floating grounds. Sigh. Next time.

But what about this time? Will the grounds settle to the bottom during their time in the primary fermenter? The instructions don't call for any secondary - 2 weeks in primary and then 2 weeks in the bottle. I'm wondering how I'm going to avoid getting these grounds into the bottles.
 
After a ton of thought on this subject and looking into a few ideas on the Internet, I opted to make a coffee concentrate (cold brew 4 oz coffee in 16 oz of water) and add that to secondary. I didn't have to worry about the grounds that way. I didn't get the coffee flavor out of it that I was looking for. Like you, I bought the ingredients at the LHBS and I have a gourmet roaster right down the street. He set me up with a coffee combination (Guatamala and Sulawesi) that was great out of the French press, but I'm not sure if the concentrate route was enough to hold up for 5 gal of beer. I'm tempted to get the kit and brew that for comparisson, but I'm too cheap to pay for shipping. To answer your original question, I would assume the grounds would settle much as they do if a coffee filter lets some through. You may want to secondary to help out. If you get some through, just say it's adding a "certain earthyness" to it and watch all your friends agree with it, unless they too are brewers. :)
 
Just bottled this last night after 3.5 weeks in the primary. The coffee grounds did indeed settle at the bottom. I tied a paint strainer to the siphon and it kept the bottling bucket free of rogue grounds. The coffee flavor has mellowed since its time in the primary and I think this beer's gonna be a winner. Looking forward to it.
 
I'm raising this one from the dead...

I brewed a 5 gal. partial mash batch a couple weeks ago and plan to bottle tomorrow if the FG number hasn't changed. I tasted the wort when I took a sample for the reading and was very pleased with the flavor. I didn't follow the recipe in that I cold brewed my own local beans in a Toddy then added 5.5 cups of it to the carboy, then added the wort on top of it.

My only problem is, and it could be my amateur hydrometer skills, my OG was 1.000 and that doesn't seem right. The sample I took a couple days ago was 1.008... doesn't that come out to a negative ABV?

I pitched it with Safale US-05 sprinkled dry on top in the carboy and fermentation has been great with a lot of krausen and active fermentation for over a week.

Me thinks I did something wrong. Is there a way to get an accurate ABV reading if I don't have the OG?
 
Your OG was not 1.000. Not sure what you did there, but if it finished at 1.008 then the OG was probably closer to 1.032. That's pretty low for a stout, even a dry stout. Probably will end up tasting a little thin.

Assuming the OG I stated above, you're probably at about 3.2%. It's legal in Colorado.
 
Yea I'm not sure either, but I learned a lesson. I'm going to take a picture of the reading just to be sure and keep good notes. On the hydrometer, it was right on the line between "beer" and "wine" markings.

Hey, maybe it'll just be a session beer. Better luck next time.
 
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