How much coffee to add on a Coffee Stout?

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neudson

neudson

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Hi guys, i'm planning to brew a coffee stout for my next beer. I will be using pale ale malt, cara 20, coffee malt and roasted barley, and adding some oatmeal to add a little body to it.

Another thing i am planning to add is some real coffee. A friend gave some powder and grain of a special coffee, cultivated in the brazilian state of Bahia, that is well regarded nation wide by coffee lovers.

I'm planning to brew a very strong coffee with it, and add it by the and of the boil, at flame out. And maybe add some cold brew of the grains at the secondary.

My doubt is how much of it I should add at end of the boil? I was thinking something like 200, 300ml of a very strong coffee, for a 10 liters batch. Is it too few or too much?
 
Hey Neudson,

Just to clarify - are you looking to add actual coffee, or coffee beans? The only time I've ever added coffee to a beer was a stout, and I ended up using about 4oz. of cracked beans. I took the 4oz. and cracked them with a dumbell (only thing I had that would work efficiently - don't judge...) until they were in little chunks. Didn't grind them up, but you could probably do that too. I put these in my carboy after primary had finished out, and left them for a week. Had a nice coffee flavor, and slight coffee aroma too - stout was at 6.5% and was very slightly hopped (I believe around 20 IBUs).

Hope this helps!
 
Jipper said:
Hey Neudson,

Just to clarify - are you looking to add actual coffee, or coffee beans? The only time I've ever added coffee to a beer was a stout, and I ended up using about 4oz. of cracked beans. I took the 4oz. and cracked them with a dumbell (only thing I had that would work efficiently - don't judge...) until they were in little chunks. Didn't grind them up, but you could probably do that too. I put these in my carboy after primary had finished out, and left them for a week. Had a nice coffee flavor, and slight coffee aroma too - stout was at 6.5% and was very slightly hopped (I believe around 20 IBUs).

Hope this helps!
Click to expand...

Yeah Jipper. The idea was to brew an actual coffee, only stronger, and add it at flame out. My first idea was only add the coffee at the secondary, using that cold brew technique.
 
For Redhook Double Black Stout (brewed twice and 2nd in my queue), I've added 15 oz. of brewed espresso to the secondary.
 
DromJohn said:
For Redhook Double Black Stout (brewed twice and 2nd in my queue), I've added 15 oz. of brewed espresso to the secondary.
Click to expand...

I have hazy but wonderful memories of this beer. Can you post the recipe?

I dry-beaned a stout with 2oz ground dark coffee. It wasn't nearly enough. How much is enough would probably depend both on personal taste and how roasty the base recipe was.
 
I have done several coffee beers over the last year. I cold steep 50 grams in secondary for 2-3 days. Little to no pepper character from the coffee. I like the taste of a lighter roast in my beers, the last one I did was a dark roast and it had an ash character to it.
 
I've added coffee before, always using the cold press method. I would cold steep 50-75 grams in a French press for a few days and add at bottling.

I've always been leery of adding coffee earlier, especially to the boil. The heat creates bitterness, as opposed to the smoother and more robust flavour of the cold press. I don't think extended aging is necessary to develop the flavour, which is why I add it at bottling.

However, recently I've heard people talking about how the coffee flavour and aroma fades with time. The solution is to add whole beans to your secondary (I say secondary, because historically this is done in a strongly flavoured, high alcohol stout that is being bulk aged for some time). It would require more beans (I'm currently thinking 4 oz for 5 gallons), and a few weeks of time.

I am making 15 gallon of Kentucky breakfast stout in a bourbon barrel and I am planning on 8 oz for 4 weeks, whole beans. Against my usual plan, I will also add ground coffee at flameout.
 
There was a Can You Brew It episode about a coffee stout. The recipe and podcast are here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/ca...ee-oatmeal-imperial-stout-218372/#post2557072
http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/700

It gives the amount of coffee they use per gallon. They just rack onto the coffee beans in secondary, but I've used the cold brew method in the past with good results. Like others have said, you probably want to stay away from getting the coffee too hot or else it'll make things more bitter than you're expecting.
 
kingwood-kid said:
I have hazy but wonderful memories of this beer. Can you post the recipe?QUOTE]

Recipe Type: Mini-mash
Yeast: White Labs California Ale 001
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.25
Soaking Time (Minutes: 45
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 7 @ 68'

Beer Profile
Estimated Original Gravity: 1.069 SG
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.016 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 6.943 %

Ingredients
Amount Item Type
1.25 lb Chocolate Malt
0.75 lb Pale Ale Malt
0.50 lb Black Roasted Barley
0.50 lb Black Patent Malt
1.00 lb Crystal 60L Malt

4.50 lb Amber Extract
3.00 lb Wheat Extract

2.50 oz Northern Brewer hops, 60 minutes
1.50 oz Cascade hops, flame out

2x White Labs California Ale 001

15.00 oz Espresso (brewed), secondary

Soak grains 45 minutes in 2.5 gallons water at 155%.
Pour 2 qts water at 170% over bag, remove bag.
Add extract, boil for 60 minutes.

7 days primary.
7 days secondary
28 days bottled
Click to expand...
 
It's been 12-13 years since I had the Redhook DBS, back when they used Starbucks. My friend and I both agreed it was the best beer we'd ever had, although we hadn't had many then. I didn't realize they'd started remaking it, although it sounds like they've changed the recipe quite a bit. Thanks for the recipe; it'll take its place in line to be brewed.
 
Traditionally in my coffee stout, I've added 3 dry cups of coffee grounds at flame out (to 5 gallons). But that was with an immersion chiller, so the coffee stayed at close to boiling for less time. With my current 10 gallon plate chiller setup, I'm going to go with adding cold-brewed concentrate (Toddy brew system) to secondary. After trying various amounts in Guinness Export, I came up with 425 mL of concentrate per 5 gallons (I added various amounts to 3 oz samples and went with the one that hit the aroma and flavor profile I'm going for). If you're going to use brewed coffee, there's no point in adding it before secondary, IMO.
 
I find that when making any brew with coffee, you don't want to do a hot brew. It leads to a bitterness that is hard to even out. I always go with a cold brew to the secondary for really good flavoring without added harshness or bitterness. Put your grounds in a fine mesh hop bag in a bit of water and put in the fridge for about 24 hours. I would add that to secondary if you are taking that approach. That said, I find that tossing the cracked beans in the secondary for a 24 hour period gives really good flavors.
 

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