Brewing with coffee

So, I'm about to brew my fourth ever batch - a porter extract recipe devised by the folks from my LHBS. I've wanted to experiment with coffee in my beer since I started, and I'm going to give it a go this weekend. However, I have questions.

I've done some research, and it appears that there are a few approaches to brewing with coffee. Those are:

1) Steep 0.5 lbs of coarsely ground coffee (or more, depending on taste) after the wort is doing boiling, once the wort has cooled below, say 180 degrees.

2) Brew coffee (the approaches vary, but I think I'll use a french press) and add to the wort as the wort cools.

3) Same, but add to the secondary.

4) Add coarsely ground coffee to the secondary.

Additionally, I've read of some folks who use a combination of approaches (such as adding some grounds to the wort after the boil, then again to the secondary). Also, obviously, the last two aren't for those who don't use a secondary.

So, my question is this: what has worked for you?

Thanks in advance!

I brewed 16oz of strong coffee, and used it as my priming sugar solution. I dissolved the sugar in the coffee, added to my bottling bucket, racked on to it, and bottled. I loved the results!

Look into the cold extraction method. It involves soaking the beans in cold water for a day or more I believe, then dumping the liquid (minus the beans) in the secondary. Many have reported good results using this method.

I like the direct approach. Coarse ground coffee in a large tea ball or muslin bag directly in the secondary. Its the same as cold extraction (which is just steeping grounds in not hot water). The plus is that you aren't diluting the beer. I know for a fact Terrapin steeps directly in the beer (at a rate of 1lb/bbl) for their Wake N Bake Stout.

Edcculus said:

I like the direct approach. Coarse ground coffee in a large tea ball or muslin bag directly in the secondary. Its the same as cold extraction (which is just steeping grounds in not hot water). The plus is that you aren't diluting the beer. I know for a fact Terrapin steeps directly in the beer (at a rate of 1lb/bbl) for their Wake N Bake Stout.

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That sounds like "dry-hopping" with coffee. There's no concern about infecting the beer this way?

nickmv said:

Look into the cold extraction method. It involves soaking the beans in cold water for a day or more I believe, then dumping the liquid (minus the beans) in the secondary. Many have reported good results using this method.

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Cold extraction is by far the best way. You can add it at bottling or put in in the secondary. Heat pulls out a lot of acidity from the coffee that you don't want. Randy Mosher, Jamil, etc... all like this method.

Depends on what characteristics of coffee you like. I like the acidity.

My last Coffee Porter - I put in half a pound of coarsly ground Starbucks French Roast at flame-out. let it steep 20 minutes, then proceeded as normal. After a good 6-months aging, it was an awsome recipe - although a tad strong. I may change to a quarter pound next go round, as Edcculus points out above that Terrapin uses a pound to 31 gallons where I used a pound to 10.

I would second the cold brewing method. You can pick up cold toddy brewers that come with the brewer and a glass container for about $25. This will get you about a half gallon or so of strong coffee extract. If you want more acidity then you can go with brewing a pot of french press coffee. Keep in mind that if you go with the cold brew method to use a coffee that is fairly high in acidity to begin, that will benefit from the long (12 hour) cold brew time to pull out the flavors but none of the acidity.

Whatever you do don't steep the coffee in the hot wort for longer than 4 minutes, if you decide to go that route! After 4 minutes in sub boiling water coffee grounds will start to get nasty flavors extracted out of them that make for a very bitter brew.

Let us know how your results end up, I'm going to be doing something similar to this for my next batch as well!

For my coffee stout, I cold brewed a half pound of coffee in sterilized water in the fridge over night, filtered the grains and added to the secondary. Got a really rich vanilla and roasted coffee flavor without the bitterness. You might want to give that a try.

Adding coffee to the secondary makes the most sense to me. When you're brewing coffee, you certainly don't want it boiling hot, and steeping for more than 3 minutes will result in unpleasant bitterness and/or stiff cardboard flavors. Steeping them in the secondary should avoid all of these problems. Espresso may even be a better option as only the sweetest most robust flavors are extracted.

Hang Glider said:

Depends on what characteristics of coffee you like. I like the acidity.

My last Coffee Porter - I put in half a pound of coarsly ground Starbucks French Roast at flame-out. let it steep 20 minutes, then proceeded as normal. After a good 6-months aging, it was an awsome recipe - although a tad strong. I may change to a quarter pound next go round, as Edcculus points out above that Terrapin uses a pound to 31 gallons where I used a pound to 10.

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Personally coffee acidity on top of the acidity from all those roasted grains makes me cringe. It seems like it would take an extra long aging process to mellow.

I've used triple sec to bottle prime wheat beer with good results so I am not going to try a coffee liqueur. I have a brown ale in the primary that I am going to bottle prime with Trader Vics Kona Coffee Liqueur. Of course this method really only works if you want to bottle.