coffee in my stout

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Big-R

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Ok, I"m not a newb, but I recently switched to kegs. I know there's a lot of opinions about what to do with coffee and beer, I've read tons of them. My favorite recipe is an espresso stout. Originally I experimented with a 6 pack, 3 bottles with just beer, 3 bottles with a bean in the bottle. The bean in the bottle was my wife's idea. I love the results so I don't want to switch to brewing coffee, making extract, etc etc. I think I know what I'm going to do but I wanted to put it out there. I'm anxious because I don't want to screw up my favorite beer.

[Come on BigR ask the questions!]

So should I just use the same ratio of beer to beans? 1 bean / 12 oz.

Should I put the beans in secondary for 2 weeks?

Should I just drop my beans in the keg?
 
I lightly crush 2oz of espresso beans in plastic bag with a hammer and put them in a hop bag. Then I put that in the keg or secondary for 24 hours and take it out. Initially there isn't a ton of coffee flavor, but after sitting for a couple of weeks the coffee flavor comes through really well.
 
There are some roast grains available that give coffee flavor without having to use any actual beans.
 
I make a coffee porter that is rather nice. I follow Jamils Black Widow Porter and use a local coffee. The way I get the best coffee flavor is to cold brew it with the beer instead of water. Basically the process goes like this:
1. Keg the beer like you normally would
2. After kegging pull off 3/4 of a gallon of the beer into some sort of wide mouth vessel and then add 12oz of coffee.
3. Let the mixture sit on the counter out of the light if the vessel isnt dark for 24 hours.
4. Pour mixture into a french press and use to get just the coffee'd beer.
5. Pour back into the keg, carbonate and serve.

Doing this you get a TON of coffee flavor and aroma but you also get LOTS of caffeine. I have brewed this twice and its a huge hit, being said next time I will use 6oz of coffee to try and get less caffeine since after a pint you feel like running a marathon.
 
I agree with cold steeping coffee. However, I think you are better off to use them like dry hops. 1 day in a mesh bag/screen then pull and package. Youre bottling, so rack into bottling bucket on top of the beans in a muslin bag (cracked not crushed), crash for a day then package.
 
I make a coffee porter that is rather nice. I follow Jamils Black Widow Porter and use a local coffee. The way I get the best coffee flavor is to cold brew it with the beer instead of water. Basically the process goes like this:
1. Keg the beer like you normally would
2. After kegging pull off 3/4 of a gallon of the beer into some sort of wide mouth vessel and then add 12oz of coffee.
3. Let the mixture sit on the counter out of the light if the vessel isnt dark for 24 hours.
4. Pour mixture into a french press and use to get just the coffee'd beer.
5. Pour back into the keg, carbonate and serve.

Doing this you get a TON of coffee flavor and aroma but you also get LOTS of caffeine. I have brewed this twice and its a huge hit, being said next time I will use 6oz of coffee to try and get less caffeine since after a pint you feel like running a marathon.

Is that for a 5 gallon batch? In your opinion, would 8 oz be too much for a 2.5 gallon batch?
 
I just add the whole beans to the fermentor when I cold crash.

This is exactly what I do for my coffee porter. It's the easiest method I've tried and gives me the coffee flavor I want. The amount of whole beans is up to you, but I generally use either 12 or 16 ounces (just depends on the size bag of beans I'm using) for a bold coffee flavor. 24 hours is pretty much perfect.
 
I agree with cold steeping coffee. However, I think you are better off to use them like dry hops. 1 day in a mesh bag/screen then pull and package. Youre bottling, so rack into bottling bucket on top of the beans in a muslin bag (cracked not crushed), crash for a day then package.

Great idea I will be trying this way next time for sure!
 
Is that for a 5 gallon batch? In your opinion, would 8 oz be too much for a 2.5 gallon batch?

The bag of coffee I am using is 12oz and I do all of this in a corny keg so yes right at 5 gallons.

8oz per 2.5 gallons might be much but depending on the coffee you are using it might be just enough. The aroma and flavor I get out of 12oz of coffee is amazing the only reason I am thinking about dialing it back is to cut back on the amount of caffeine in the beer. I swear you can drink a pint of the stuff and be up ready to run around the block but thats just me.

This is the coffee I use:
http://www.independencecoffee.com/products/madalyn-s-backyard-pecan

Grain Bill (Jamil's Black Widow Porter)

6 gallons in fermenter

11 lbs 12.0 oz Pale Ale Malt 2-Row (Briess) (3.5 SRM)
1 lbs 8.0 oz Munich 20L (Briess) (20.0 SRM)
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)
12.0 oz Chocolate Organic (Briess) (350.0 SRM)
8.0 oz Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM)
1.75 oz Goldings, East Kent [6.40 %] - Boil 60.0 minIBUs
0.75 oz Fuggles [9.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min
0.75 oz Goldings, East Kent [6.40 %] - Boil 0.0 min
1.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) [50.28 ml]
12.00 oz Coffee (Bottling 0.0 mins)

Mash at 156*F for 75 min
Mashout to 168*F
Fly Sparge
Preboil 8 gallons
Boil 60 mins
Ferment @ 64*F for 10 days
Measured Original Gravity: 1.060 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.020 SG
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 5.3 %
Calories: 204.5 kcal/12oz
 
I cold steep ground coffee in fine mesh bag in a pot over night. Boil with priming sugar and add to bottling bucket before racking.
 
I read this thread on the weekend and was salivating at all the talk about coffee porters. Then I remembered that I brewed an oatmeal stout couple of weeks back and it's due for bottling.

Chucked in 75g/3oz of whole beans into the primary bucket 18 hours before bottling. Was surprised that they floated.

Tasted the sample after bottling, as you do, and the coffee hit was pretty firm. There was coffee flavours in there anyway but this really brought it to the front. Overall it was excellent, only thing was that the coffee introduced a fair amount of extra bitterness which I hadn't planned for in the recipe. I'd say about 10 IBU worth, in my non-scientific opinion.

I read that cold steeping extracts less of this bitterness so maybe I try that next time. This is certainly simpler though.

I was wondering if people adjust their recipes to use less bittering hops when adding coffee? Or maybe the bitterness and coffee flavour fades over time?

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