Adding whole coffee beans in a conical

[YeastFeast]

Hello, I've read a ton of posts about adding whole coffee beans and plan to do this to my stout that has just finished fermenting.
My question is, if you toss them loosely into the conical, do the whole coffee beans ever drop out? If so, do you just dump them out the dump port before transferring?
Two days ago I dropped 2 whole coffee beans in a glass of water and they're still floating? Will cold crashing help to drop them???
Thanks for any info/experience you have.

 

[mashpaddled]

Coffee beans generally float for a while as you're seeing. If this is an issue you can bag them and pull the bag before racking. You can also make a cold brew and add that to your keg/bottling bucket.

 

[hotbeer]

You only need the stuff between the top and the bottom. I don't see where you have a problem.

 

[YeastFeast]

You only need the stuff between the top and the bottom. I don't see where you have a problem.

I guess I could be wrong (this will be the first time with the conical) but I don’t see why dozens of beans floating on the top of the wort wouldn’t make it through the racking port and jam up the tube to the keg??

 

[Kickass]

Coffee beans, in my experience, float. At least for long enough that I don’t know when/if they stop floating.

You could always try to stop the flow at the sight of the first bean and hope for the best. Or...

+1 on the “bag the beans” method. I wouldn’t want beans plugging my racking port either. Additionally, this sacrifices the least amount of beer of the two options. Unless, need to pour a pint or two for your homies in the pen.

 

[DrGMG]

They will stay floating, at least for the 2-3 days you should leave them in the beer. It should not block the transfer, until they get to the dip tube.

 

[gonpce]

Just finished drinking a coffee stout. Used cold brewed coffee. Worked great

 

[hotbeer]

I guess I could be wrong (this will be the first time with the conical) but I don’t see why dozens of beans floating on the top of the wort wouldn’t make it through the racking port and jam up the tube to the keg??

If you want every last drop of beer, I suppose that might be an issue. But usually as one gets more experienced they start to plan their batch sizes to account for certain amounts of waste, whether that be hydrometer samples, beer going out with trub on the bottom or that very top layer of beer with stuff floating in it.

Kits sort of are built with little account for such, so you have to just accept you aren't going to get the full one, five or ten gallons the kit is. But when you plan and buy your own ingredients and adjust the recipe to your needs, it's all a different story.

If those beans are still on top and clog the valve, then it won't be but a swig you lost. If they get in the bottle, if you happen to be bottling straight from the conical, then consider that a "feature" much like a worm in tequila, since no one today really knows how long that worm lived after being put in the bottle. But most everyone wants that worm... at least they did back when I was a teen and young adult.