How to add coffee

Hello all, this is my first post here (besides the intro). I have JP's Imperial Porter - Extract Beer Kit in the primary now and putting into the secondary this weekend. I'm going to do 2 secondaries actually. Would like to do 2 gallons in a one carboy and 3 gal in the other.

The one with 3, I'd like to add 6 oz of cocao nibs to it to give it some nice chocolate flavor.

The one with 2 gallons I'd like to add some coffee, but have no idea how much. I think I'll brew the coffee and let it cool and add it to the secondary, just don't know how much to add?? Is this a good way to add the coffee? To brew it? I've heard of people adding the ground up beans and heard of adding the beans themselves. What do/would you do?

Also, I'm concerned (I'm new) about the sizes of the carboys I'm using. I was going to put the entire 5 gal in my 5 gal glass carboy. But now the 5 gal carboy will have 3 gal with the cocao nibs and I have a 3 gal glass carboy that will hold the 2 gallons that I want to add the coffee to. Is this all ok, I know Oxygen isn't a good thing at this point.

Thanks much for your help and time!!

Jimmy

http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter19-3.html
Palmer says:
Coffee Stout: This is an easy variation to any Stout recipe. Simply add up to a quart of fresh, moderately-strong, drip-brewed coffee to the fermentor. If the coffee is boiled with the wort it degrades the aroma and flavor. (It's why coffee percolators quickly went out of style after Mr. Coffee came along.)

I have never tried it but thought about doing it for my next stout. I guess I wouldn't use more than 2/5th's of a quart for your 2 gallon batch. Good luck!

I've been told by quite a number of brewers (and have read myself) that cold pressed/steeped coffee is the way to go. The cold steeping process removes a lot of the nasty acids from the coffee that will kill the head retention of your beer.

Do you have to worry about sanitizing the coffee maker/container? Or it later in the fermentation process that this wouldn't be an issue?
Thanks.

teetee523 said:

Do you have to worry about sanitizing the coffee maker/container? Or it later in the fermentation process that this wouldn't be an issue?
Thanks.

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personally, i wouldn't worry. some may argue otherwise.

if the fermentation's far enough along, you should be ok. if you're making hot coffee, probably the same. if you're cold-steeping it, some would sanitize just to be safe. i wouldn't bother, personally

Domo arigato from Okinawa Japan! I appreciated all your help!

jla_doc said:

Domo arigato from Okinawa Japan! I appreciated all your help!

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While the beer is fermenting go Scuba diving out at the Kerama Islands.

I brewed a Porter last year and decided to make half of it as an Espresso Porter. Right before bottling, I brewed 16oz. of espresso. After bottling the first half of the beer I poured the cooled espresso into the bottling bucket, stirred it in gently and finished bottling. This has been one of my favorite beers so far. You'll love it.

NRS

Man...the espresso sounds great! No espresso machine though Think I'll have to do the cold brew coffee.

The Keramas! Beautiful for sure! Haven't been diving there in years, but it's some of the best no doubt!

definitely cold brewed coffee dumped into the bottling bucket. i made a batch of oflannigan standard stout, bottled half, then added the cold brewed coffee (about 1 cup worth strained from about 2-3 oz of grounds) and bottled the second half.

The plain half was good, but the coffee half was delightful. with the amount i put in, the coffee flavor was identifiable, but subtle, not overpowering. and the cold brewing gave it a very smooth, gentle flavor, not the roasty bitterness that you get from hot brewed coffee

Wow, just 1 cup of cold brewed coffee? I know it's concentrated, but wouldn't think that would be enough. Glad I know now! Thanks!

jla_doc said:

Wow, just 1 cup of cold brewed coffee? I know it's concentrated, but wouldn't think that would be enough. Glad I know now! Thanks!

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probably more like 1.5 cups, and it was to just 2.5 gallons of beer. i'd go for a little more next time, but i really enjoyed the way this one came out.

I picked up ingredients for a porter and am going to add coffee. Any suggestions on the type of coffee choosen? Something dark, medium?

beckaboo said:

I picked up ingredients for a porter and am going to add coffee. Any suggestions on the type of coffee choosen? Something dark, medium?

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what do you expect the porter to taste like? and what flavors do you like in a coffee?

I brewed my porter and racked 5 gallons on top of about 1/2 gallon of espresso strength coffee. This was my first coffee beer and I enjoyed my base porter recipe, so I decided to experiment.

I used about 6oz beans freshly roasted that week from a local coffee shop, ground course and brewed hot using an aeropress. Scored 31.5 in the competition I submitted it too and was a huge hit at my HBC. Best beer to date. Head retention was fine despite reports of hot brewed coffee retaining oils. I will surely be making another one.

beckaboo said:

I picked up ingredients for a porter and am going to add coffee. Any suggestions on the type of coffee choosen? Something dark, medium?

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I would choose a coffee that you enjoy, because that's the flavor/aroma it's going to impart on your beer.

I'm set to brew an gold/copper ESB next month and plan to add a quart of coffee brewed with a 1/2 lb of fresh ground coffee to the primary after 7 days fermentation. I'll let it sit for a few days and then bottle.
I'm going for a subtle coffee note to combine with the 2 lbs of home-toasted Two Row and Golding/Fuggle additions. I've never used toasted malt and coffee together in a brew before and will likely be tweaking coffee/hop/toasted malt additions in this recipe.
I'll repost my conclusions here.