Coffee question

I've got a batch brewing right now of sorta brownish stoutish ale, and I was wanting to add some coffee flavor to it. What are some ways to go about this? It's already fermenting in primary, so my only option is to do something in secondary.

Should I crack the coffee beans, steep them in hot water (below 170 ish), let this cool, and then dump into secondary? Or should I just brew a pot of coffee and dump that in? I have heard of achieving the coffee flavor in a few ways but was just wondering what people have used successfully. Oh, here's my recipe:

1/4 lb black patent malt
1/2 lb crystal malt
7.5 lbs Dark LME
2 oz fuggles (boiling)
1/2 oz cascade (finishing)
1 tsp gypsum
1 cup brown sugar
Wyeast Northwest ale yeast

There's a lot of options when it comes to adding coffee to a beer... some day I would really like to do a side-by-side comparison of a split batch with different coffee additions to really get a handle on how they come out.

Some people cold brew coffee and add that.
Some people brew coffee like regular and add that.
Some people add coarse ground coffee straight to secondary.
Some people add coarse ground coffee at the end of the boil.

Really, I think you can do it any way you please... I imagine the different methods give a slightly different result, but like I said, I haven't played with it yet to really nail down the differences...

The Blow Leprechaun said:

I imagine the different methods give a slightly different result, but like I said, I haven't played with it yet to really nail down the differences...

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That's the main question I'm after.. was wondering what results are achieved from each of the different methods, anybody have some insight into this?

dude, seriously.. no one can help me out? i mean there is a guy asking a question as stupid as "should i drive 12 hours with my fermenter?" and that is getting more attention than my simple question which has still not been addressed.. here's a quick answer: ****ing wait til you've moved! with as much activity as there is on this site i just can't see why i can hardly ever get answers to my questions.

bergman1118 said:

dude, seriously.. no one can help me out? i mean there is a guy asking a question as stupid as "should i drive 12 hours with my fermenter?" and that is getting more attention than my simple question which has still not been addressed.. here's a quick answer: ****ing wait til you've moved! with as much activity as there is on this site i just can't see why i can hardly ever get answers to my questions.

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Firstly, take it easy. not everybody has your questions as a priority. plenty of people's important questions just kind of float off into the intarwebs. you can't demand attention from a forum.

Secondly, if you have an espresso machine, Next time you make a similar beer add 2 cups or so of espresso (this means you'll have to pull several shots or brew several small pots. I would also recommend adding them to the end of the boil as soon as they're brewed, espresso doesn't like to sit around). For now, I'd say brew a pot of Strong coffee, and fridge it in a (sanitized) pitcher until it's cold, then secondary it up. I've made a coffee beer with the 1st method that turned out great, and if I ever made another I'd use the 2nd method.

Cheers, and relax too dude

Whoa, whoa, whoa. It's possible nobody has an answer because nobody's done it side by side.

Calm down a little... there's not really a right or wrong way to do this, so unless someone's experimented with it as a side by side, I don't know if anyone really has an answer for you.

That said, I'm considering doing this experiment this weekend with a porter. Not sure if I will or not, depends on if I can cheaply acquire 5 1 gallon containers.

bergman1118 said:

I've got a batch brewing right now of sorta brownish stoutish ale, and I was wanting to add some coffee flavor to it. What are some ways to go about this? It's already fermenting in primary, so my only option is to do something in secondary.

Should I crack the coffee beans, steep them in hot water (below 170 ish), let this cool, and then dump into secondary? Or should I just brew a pot of coffee and dump that in? I have heard of achieving the coffee flavor in a few ways but was just wondering what people have used successfully. Oh, here's my recipe:

1/4 lb black patent malt
1/2 lb crystal malt
7.5 lbs Dark LME
2 oz fuggles (boiling)
1/2 oz cascade (finishing)
1 tsp gypsum
1 cup brown sugar
Wyeast Northwest ale yeast

Click to expand...

I made an espresso stout which I added at botteling. Came out great! My words of wisdom: a little coffee goes a very long way.

first of all, i appreciate your responses, thanks guys. And thanks booper for the non-preachy advise.

secondly, you don't need to tell me to relax; i was in no way mad about the situation, and i understand its hard to tell someone's tone from forums. i just found it sort of odd/funny that so much attention was being spent on a pretty moot question.. and obviously, my response worked, cause some peeps actually answered. sorry if the censored cursing came off as anger, but i pretty much cuss like a sailor most of the time, and its damn good for emphasis.

i intended this to originally be a brown ale.. but i figure b/c i put a low amount of hops in this it will be a bit sweeter (as many browns can be anyhow), and i figured the coffee would add a bit of bitterness to balance it all out.

my plan originally was to crush up 1/2 lb coffee beans (coarsely ground.. maybe about as much as i crack grains) stick them in a sanitized muslin/nylon bag, and throw them into secondary for a few days. does this sound reasonable? my only concern is on how long to leave that in there.. undoubtedly the longer i leave it the more like coffee it is gonna taste.

brewing a pot and cooling seems fine, and i also have a french press (which i prefer to use much more over my regular pot).. so i'd probably use that over my mr. coffee

If you want a more subtle coffee-like component to the flavor, you might consider steeping some roasted barley and chocolate malt... maybe an 1/8 oz. combined. At the very least, it'll "complex up" the flavor.

thanks.. i'll have to try that next time i make this brew. the roasted barley and choc malt would make it more of a porter then, right? i don't mind if the brew tastes a bit more like coffee than normal.. just want to find a happy medium where its not like i am drinking a bottle of alcoholic coffee, but i can still definitely taste it somewhere in the brew.. i'm sure it will take some experimentation to determine

Some won't consider it a stout without the roasted barley.

But rather than repeat what's been said elsewhere... check out this thread for some interesting discussion on the difference:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=43383

i think what i'ma do is brew maybe.. 16-32 oz of french press, cool it, and dump it into secondary. i'll be back with the results later

I don't have solid advice, as I haven't done this before either....

.. but here is what I'm doing.

I have a stout that came in with a low ABV. I've brought it up alittle by adding more wort.
Last night I ground 1/2 pound of coffee, and poured about a pint of vodka in it. I let it sit over night, and will be straining it, and adding the vodka into my secondary tonight.
It should add coffee flavor and boost the ABV a little.
I'll update later on how it turns out.

nice idea man! seems like a good way to up your abv and give you a coffee flavor at the same time.. this being only my 2nd batch, i've never added vodka to secondary in any form.. i assume it doesn't impart any weird off flavors to the beer? definitely let us know how that turns out plan9

Vodka doesn't really have a flavor, and when you're using it in beer you're usually using it in such relatively minute quantities that it shouldn't even increase how alcoholic the beer tastes.

I brewed a chocolate coffee stout in February. I dry beaned in the secondary 11 days with 1/2 pound of regular roast 8 oclock whole coffee beans that I lightly cracked with a rolling pin. I put the cracked beans in a hop bag and put that in the secondary with some stainless steel weight to hold the bag to the bottom of the bucket. I got some coffee oil on top of the beer, which didn't seem to affect head retention, as I carbonated it lightly anyway.

I got rave reviews on this beer, but if I were to brew it again, I think I would only use 1/4 pound of coffee in the same way. I'm hoping it mellows more in another six months.

I did extensive research on this before attempting, and from what I could find, this was one of the better ways. I also thought about doing a cold extraction, (grind the beans and put them in cold water in the refridgerator for a few days, then strain) and add this to the bottling bucket to taste.

I would not recommend adding the coffee during the boil, at least this is what a lot of other fellow brewers said.

thanks man, that's about what i was looking for..

I'm wondering how it would be if i tossed in coarsely ground coffee beans (instead of cracked) in a bag and let it sit in secondary.. i'd imagine it might seep through the bag and be a b*tch to siphon/separate out and i might get even more coffee oil on top than w/ lightly cracked beans.. but i can only speculate

not 24 hours ago i added 20 oz. of cold brewed espresso to my chocolate espresso RIS. I need to taste it tonight or tomorrow to see if I need to add more chocolate, as I did my coca addition at flameout. I did a lot of research asking the same questions as you, and in the end determined that everyone has had good results with every different method, and no one has done a side by side...

one day... i'll do a side by side and see the results.. one day

After I strained my vodka/coffee I ended up with a cup and a half of coffee extract.
I took a little sip, and the hair on my chest grew an inch.

I added that and a cup of dark cocoa. I'll give it a taste in a week.

This will either be a great breakfast stout, or it'll be that nastiest thing ever.
I don't think there will be a middle ground

I crush my coffee with a rolling pin and steep with grains prior to boiling. It has worked well for me. I do have to let it sit a little longer for the bitterness to mellow out. Part of that is based on the hops i use.

bergman1118 said:

dude, seriously.. no one can help me out? i mean there is a guy asking a question as stupid as "should i drive 12 hours with my fermenter?" and that is getting more attention than my simple question which has still not been addressed.. here's a quick answer: ****ing wait til you've moved! with as much activity as there is on this site i just can't see why i can hardly ever get answers to my questions.

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I think you need to ease off the coffee a little, or atleast go decaf...

i did coffee porter, cold steeped about 16 oz. cold water and 4-5 TB coarse grind beans, and added to bottling bucket. Coffee taste/ aroma was good, maybe a little strong, so i would 1/2 it next time, or even by a 1/3. Almost tasted like a coffee soda,
but still good...

Plan9 said:

After I strained my vodka/coffee I ended up with a cup and a half of coffee extract.
I took a little sip, and the hair on my chest grew an inch.

I added that and a cup of dark cocoa. I'll give it a taste in a week.

This will either be a great breakfast stout, or it'll be that nastiest thing ever.
I don't think there will be a middle ground

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hahaha good sh*t. i bet that vodka/coffe mix was BRUTAL. you definitely gotta let me know how that turns out man


that's interesting mhot.. i was gonna brew 2 pots of french press and throw it into secondary, but maybe i'll just do one.. coffee soda may be interesting but i still want to know i'm drinking a beer. i never thought of throwing it into the bottling bucket either.. i would assume that would give it less coffee flavor b/c its sitting in the beer for a lesser period of time.

bergman1118 said:

hahaha good sh*t. i bet that vodka/coffe mix was BRUTAL. you definitely gotta let me know how that turns out man


that's interesting mhot.. i was gonna brew 2 pots of french press and throw it into secondary, but maybe i'll just do one.. coffee soda may be interesting but i still want to know i'm drinking a beer. i never thought of throwing it into the bottling bucket either.. i would assume that would give it less coffee flavor b/c its sitting in the beer for a lesser period of time.

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i used french press and cold steeped the grinds for 2 days in fridge. Trust me, still tasted like beer, but had that "Manhatten Coffee Soda" taste. I mean, it was a porter after all. Actually just had one recently (brewed it in February), and it did mellow and blend, tasted real good. BUt i still would cut back by 1/2 of what i used.

i'm gonna go with your suggestion mhot. i didn't even plan on putting this one into secondary until i got the idea of coffee addition, but now that i know that throwing it in the bottling bucket will give coffee flavor i think i'll try that. i'm gonna cold extract about 2 tbsp in the french press for a couple days and throw it in the bottling bucket... i'll be back with results. thanks for all the suggestions guys!

ok, so my brew has been in primary longer than i expected, and i've got some coffee thats been cold extracting in my fridge for about 4 days...

i sanitized everything beforehand, but the fridge ain't exactly the most sanitary place.. so i am worried about the coffee getting infected and passing on the infection to my beer when i add it to the bottling bucket.. or should i not be worried about bacteria getting into the coffee? the pH of coffee can go anywhere from 5 to just below 7 and there's definitely bacteria that can live in those conditions.. the water was never boiled as well(being a cold extract), so i'm a bit worried about ruining an otherwise good batch of beer w/ bacterially infected coffee.. am i just worrying or can coffee carry bacterial contaminants?

I've seen mold grow on coffee, so I'm sure other things can, too.

You should probably boil the water and then let it cool for the cold extraction, and then keep it covered inside the refrigerator. Bacteria can't climb, so as long as the top is protected it should be fine.

why not put coffee beans in with the mash? Wouldn't that work?

Berg,

I just tried a coffee brew this week, so I'm waiting for the verdict as well. I used a recipe I found online called "New House Ale" done by a guy living here in Hawaii. He recommended a pound of coarse ground steeped at 170 for 20 min, then cooled and added to the brew before pitching the yeast.

My recipe also included
8# of Amber extract
1/2 # of Chocolate (grain, not candy)
I had to substitute my hops from what he used.
I went with 2 oz of Spaltz
and finished with 1/2 of Pearl I had left over from a previous batch.

Considering what others have said, I may find my batch WAY too coffee strong with a full pound.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Lance

well i sanitized the french press and put the lid on it.. its just been sitting in the fridge w/ the lid on so i suppose its probably not gonna be contaminated.. i dunno guess i'll find out when i bottle. and yeah let us know how that turns out lance, i'm curious myself