Chocolate caramel cappucino porter

Need help with the hops. 6 # dark malt extract, 1/2 # crystal malt, 1/2 # choc malt, 1/4 # black patent malt, 1/2 cup choc caramel coffee grounds, 1/2 # lactose, 1 oz bittering hops, 1 oz aroma hops, american ale yeast.

Will 1/2cup of coffee be enough to come through your grain/extract bill?

I have no suggestions for the hops... but I do have a question...

Have you ever tried to make this with just plain ground coffee before? I know from reading about brewing coffee that overextracting the grounds can pull out all kinds of nasty and bitter flavors that you most likely wouldn't want in your brew.

I've been listening to Basic Brewing Radio and he made a coffee porter where he just brewed a plain old cup of coffee and dumped it into the primary or secondary (he couldn't remember in the episode I heard).

Anyway, I don't know if it matters but it's food for thought...

I've heard the same thing about adding tea to beer. Brewing the tea or coffee separately and dumping it into secondary.

Have not actually tried coffee in a brew yet. Have a recipe book with a coffee stout that uses 1/2 cup grounds steeped after the boil for like 15 min. I would probably use a grain bag for the grounds.

that should work fine. the thing you want to avoid is actually BOILING the coffee. Steep it after the boil or brew it separately at add it later, like at bottling time.

I prefer the latter method (I do this for my espresso stout) simply because I have the ability to add the coffee to suit my taste. You can always add more, you can never take some out.

-walker

I did a recipe very similar last weekend, still in primary so I don't know if it's any good or not. Couple things:

1. Coffee goes in at flameout, steep for about ten minutes. I'd enclose in a big grain bag or something; filtering grounds (I used a pound) is NOT fun.

2. I used Northern Brewer for bittering, based on some secondhand info that Berkshire Brewing Company uses the same in their uber-tasty Cofferhouse Porter. I only used bittering based on a recommendation to not mix the coffee (and chocolate - mocha stout) flavor with the hops. I used a total of 2oz for the full 60 minute boil.

I think the thing to remember about coffee is that you can only take a certain amount of oils and "goodness" from the bean before you start to take the bitter nasty crap out of it. Not only that but make sure you watch how fine you grind the beans, ten min may be to long if you have ground them real fine, you will then start to pull out the nasty crap.

Reverend

I treated it like I was brewing coffee in my french press; a not-too-fine ground, not-quite-boiling water, for not too long. I'm a little worried that there may have still been oils extracted that will mess with head retention, but we'll see in a month.

The rest of my recipe was pretty similar, except a little more grain (I may have gone overboard; 1 1/2pounds of crystal), 3.5# of John Bull Dark LME, and 4 pounds of dark DME. It should be a reasonably big beer when all is said and done. Used the same amount of lactose (I'll check my notes, I was thinking about 3/4# but I think I held back). I also added some baking cocoa (4oz) with the lactose (boiled both for 20 minutes).

Keep us all posted on the final product bird and vegiess. I'm a coffee fiend, but never have attempted to bring coffee into my beer...then I'd be all to tempted for that early morning eye opener! I'll have to admit that chocolate caramel cappucino porter sounds mighty tasty.

Marc.

Thanks for all the suggestions! I may just make this next so it can age. This is what I have now, just have to finalize the yeast.

D's Chocolate Caramel Cappucino Porter

6 # dark LME
1 # dark DME
1 # caramel malt (80*)
1/2 # chocolate malt
1/4 # black patent

1 oz Northern Brewer hops (60 min)
1/2 # lactose (20 min)
4 oz baking cocoa (20 min)
1/2 cup chocolate caramel coffee grounds (steeped for 10 min after flame-out)
1/2 oz vanilla (at flame-out)

Prime with dark DME

anybody ever pitch cold-brewed coffee into the secondary?
I have one of those toddy's that makes concentrated coffee by cold-brewing. It's less acidic and less caffienated. I've debated throwing it in, but haven't tried it.

For testing purposes, when you are bottling just pick out 6-12 bottles to experiment with. Start with a small amount of coffee and then work up to larger amounts. Use your baster (I usu use this for SG sampling, but mine is graduated as well) and you can be a little more precise. Then sample after 3-4 weeks conditioning and make up your mind about the amount.

i.e if you liked the 1/2 oz addition to a 12 oz bottle, then you'd need to add 27 oz to the secondary/bottling bucket for a 5 gallon batch (5 gallons = 640 oz).

Marc.

veggiess said:

Thanks for all the suggestions! I may just make this next so it can age. This is what I have now, just have to finalize the yeast.

D's Chocolate Caramel Cappucino Porter

6 # dark LME
1 # dark DME
1 # caramel malt (80*)
1/2 # chocolate malt
1/4 # black patent

1 oz Northern Brewer hops (60 min)
1/2 # lactose (20 min)
4 oz baking cocoa (20 min)
1/2 cup chocolate caramel coffee grounds (steeped for 10 min after flame-out)
1/2 oz vanilla (at flame-out)

Prime with dark DME

Click to expand...

I hope this works out well, because it's pretty close to my recipe! I was just a little heavier on the grains (had a little roasted barley in there as well), and the darkest crystal malt the HBS stocked was 60L. My hops were double that, we'll see if that proves to be too much. I used a touch more vanilla, probably won't be able to tell the difference, just added to bring out the coffee flavor.

At the end of the day, I think I'm just going to have a slightly bigger version of what you're brewing, for better or for worse.

the_bird said:

I hope this works out well, because it's pretty close to my recipe! I was just a little heavier on the grains (had a little roasted barley in there as well), and the darkest crystal malt the HBS stocked was 60L. My hops were double that, we'll see if that proves to be too much. I used a touch more vanilla, probably won't be able to tell the difference, just added to bring out the coffee flavor.

At the end of the day, I think I'm just going to have a slightly bigger version of what you're brewing, for better or for worse.

Click to expand...

Kewl! We'll either have 2 really good, or else really bad, brews! So how much vanilla did you use? Did you use flavored or regular coffee? I didn't want to go too overboard on the hops, in case the chocolate and coffee add too much bitterness. And the cocoa amount I stole from your suggestion. Don't really know how much 4 oz is, so I may adjust it as I'm brewing. We'll have to let each other know how our brews turn out.
Cheers!
:fro:

I used a combination of mocha-flavored and espresso-style coffees, probably a touch more that you are using. I used 1 oz (two tablespoons) of vanilla, an amount I think I pulled out of my netherregions. Again, I expect zero vanilla flavor, but trust based on what I've picked up from cooking that vanilla brings out chocolate. I got the 4oz from somewhere else, but it seemed about right.

It's still sitting in the primary, I'll be racking to secondary sometime soon and will give an initial assessment then. I think I mentioned it before, but in case I forgot - get a big grain bag or something similar for the coffee grounds, they are an absolute PITFA to strain out (and you really don't want them to sit in the primary, I don't think). Felt like I was on an episode of Dirty Jobs trying to strain them from the brewpot.

When I brewed my Blackstrap Coffee Stout I separately brewed 1/2 cup of gound coffee beans in 12 cups of water and added it 30 minutes into the boil. It came out awesome. Molasses is a bit much. Next time I would only add a cup instead of 1#. Still it is great and has a great head retention from the flaked barley used. No bitterness from the coffee as the molasses takes over. So I am waiting a bit and it should age nicely. It sits in its keg waiting (but I must confess I have at least a pint every night.)


- WW

Just finished brewing it. Used 1/2 cup coarse grounds and steeped them in a grain bag for 12 minutes after my boil. No grounds went through, so it wasn't messy at all. Definately the best tasting (and smelling) wort I've ever had, so I'm quite excited! I don't know exactly how much cocoa I used since I don't have a scale... 4 oz is like 22 tablespoons or something like that. I think I used like 15 tablespoons. I will keep everyone updated when I'm able to rack it.

veggiess said:

4 oz is like 22 tablespoons or something like that.

Click to expand...

Well, remember there is a difference between fluid ounces (like for the vanilla extract) and "weight" ounces, like for the coffee and the cocoa. Not interchangable in the least. I invested in a digital scale (I think $30 in Target, probably could be had for cheaper) once I started mocking up my own recipes, just so I could take good notes and be able to replicate what I've done in the future. Good to know that it was exactly 0.50 pounds of lactose that resulted in the right level of sweetness, not "oh, 'bout half a bag!"

But, congrats on what sounds like a successful brew!

the_bird said:

Well, remember there is a difference between fluid ounces (like for the vanilla extract) and "weight" ounces, like for the coffee and the cocoa. Not interchangable in the least. I invested in a digital scale (I think $30 in Target, probably could be had for cheaper) once I started mocking up my own recipes, just so I could take good notes and be able to replicate what I've done in the future. Good to know that it was exactly 0.50 pounds of lactose that resulted in the right level of sweetness, not "oh, 'bout half a bag!"

But, congrats on what sounds like a successful brew!

Click to expand...

Thanks!

Yep, I know about the difference between weight and volume. I got the weight of one tablespoon from the cocoa container (5 g) and converted that way (2.2# in 1 kg) and it was like 22.4 tbsp for 4 oz, so I really just tossed some in there. I could've added more, but 4 oz is practically half the container. It smelled like it was enough. The lactose I had pre-measured when I purchased it and split into 2 so that I would add exactly 1/2 #. Want to do that so I know if I like it to repeat it again. If I want more, I'll taste it and add it when bottling.