Advice pls: Adding coffee to secondary

[fongsong]

I have made a coffee mead
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f30/macachinilla-macadamia-mochachino-vanilla-215995/

But it has no where near the coffee flavour that I want. I'd like to add some more, I can think of two alternatives
1. Add some ground coffee
2. Cold brew some coffee and add it

I'll probably go with option 2.

My concern is how to avoid contamination. Any advice?
I can sanitise the containers and boil the water but no doubt the coffee itself will have contaminants on it. I really don't want to introduce something that will grow and spoil this batch.

Do you think if I boiled the cold brewed coffee it would change the taste much? Would this be best?

Thanks

 

[CM4OSU]

Whereas my experience with mead is little to none, my experience with coffee is significant. I would definitely cold brew the coffee, I bet the oils would really throw things off. As for contamination, you could microwave the beans for a little bit but not long to damage the beans.

 

[Bugeaud]

Well, cold brew is the obvious way to go, but watering down your mead? If you'd like to avoid that, than you could add whole coffee beans. A wouldn't suggest ground as it will make it really silty and the ground coffee will be really hard to remove. About contamination, if your really that worried just thoroughly wash the coffee beans, but it's really nothing to be worried about. The coffee beans or w/e at first didn't contaminate it, so what are the chances it will now that your yeast is inactive?

 

[fongsong]

Thanks for your replies.
At first I was concerned about watering it down but I checked my notes and it was only 180ml in 5l so it won't be too much.
I was thinking that previously I had added the coffee during fermentation which would have killed bad things. But, yes, it was added to secondary, so no more likely to do anything now than before.
Thankyou

 

[Pickled_Pepper]

What about espresso? I have one of those little bialetti espresso makers, but I bet you could just as easily run up the road to a Starbucks or Java the Hut (insert name of local coffee house) Take a sanitized container with you when you go...ask the (whatever you call the coffee person) to just dump a shot into your container. Leave it covered in your container until it cools and then pitch it in the secondary.

Just a thought.

 

[Bugeaud]

What about espresso? I have one of those little bialetti espresso makers, but I bet you could just as easily run up the road to a Starbucks or Java the Hut (insert name of local coffee house) Take a sanitized container with you when you go...ask the (whatever you call the coffee person) to just dump a shot into your container. Leave it covered in your container until it cools and then pitch it in the secondary.

Well the whole cold brew thing is to try to minimize the sort of bitter flavour that comes from hot brewing coffee, so it would kind of invalidate the original cold brewing, wouldn't it?

 

[Pickled_Pepper]

yep. I didn't say it was the perfect plan. haha I guess I just drink so much of the bitter stuff I didn't consider people actually not liking it.

 

[biochemedic]

Just recently made a coffee oatmeal stout with cold brewed coffee...1 oz of coffee brewed with 32 oz of water in to slightly over 5 gal of beer gave a very nice but strong coffee aroma and flavor. We'll see how it bottle conditions, but I was thinking I might cut back to 0.75 oz coffee next go around...

 

[WaterViper15]

hey fongsong

I'm moving to Hong Kong next month from the states and am an avid home brewer. Where do you buy your supplies in Hong Kong? Heard its pretty hard to find anything for home brewing!

I'd really appreciate any help you can give me on the subject!

 

[user 103238]

I will be adding cold brewed coffee to a porter in a couple of weeks. Did you add it at bottling or in the secondary? If secondary how long?

Just recently made a coffee oatmeal stout with cold brewed coffee...1 oz of coffee brewed with 32 oz of water in to slightly over 5 gal of beer gave a very nice but strong coffee aroma and flavor. We'll see how it bottle conditions, but I was thinking I might cut back to 0.75 oz coffee next go around...

 

[biochemedic]

I will be adding cold brewed coffee to a porter in a couple of weeks. Did you add it at bottling or in the secondary? If secondary how long?

I added it to primary after fermentation finished, then allowed the beer to clear as usual and bottled right from primary. I haven't done a secondary on a beer in I don't remember when.

 

[BoyntonBrewer]

I am in the process of making a coffee porter, the porter is currently in the primary with about a week or so to go. I plan on cold brewing the coffee and dropping in the primary once fermentation has completed for a few days prior to kegging. What would you suggest for the amount of coffee to add for a nice coffee flavor but not overpowering?
Thanks.

 

[TheShadowfox]

The next time you could put a cap full of bleach in a gallon of water, then put a cupful of that solution into the coffee mixture. Let the mixture sit covered for about 10 minutes, then warm it up to let the chlorine evaporate. As long as you keep anything from getting in it between warming and the carboy you should be fine.

You could always add coffee extracts to a mead.

 

[TheBrewingMedic]

The next time you could put a cap full of bleach in a gallon of water, then put a cupful of that solution into the coffee mixture. Let the mixture sit covered for about 10 minutes, then warm it up to let the chlorine evaporate. As long as you keep anything from getting in it between warming and the carboy you should be fine.

You could always add coffee extracts to a mead.

I would think using bottled water or water that has been boiled and cooled to make the coffee and take your chances with the very unlikely possibility that the coffee itself is contaminated, would be a better option than recommending adding bleach to any beverage. While most cities use chlorination systems that is a lot different than dumping household bleach into anything you will eat or drink. Ingesting sodium hypochlorate leaves you open to a host of gastrointestinal issues that are much worse than possibly infecting a batch of mead.

Not to mention the chemistry of coffee which is loaded with a pile of amine compounds and other chemicals that produce funky gasses and other reactions when combined with bleach that one will find quite unpleasant (and potentially dangerous)

 

[YeastieBoys]

The next time you could put a cap full of bleach in a gallon of water, then put a cupful of that solution into the coffee mixture. Let the mixture sit covered for about 10 minutes, then warm it up to let the chlorine evaporate. As long as you keep anything from getting in it between warming and the carboy you should be fine.

You could always add coffee extracts to a mead.

I think the Dead Milkmen wrote a song about that.

 

[ExoticMeadMaker]

what about some instant coffee? The starbucks via are pretty good.

 

[biochemedic]

I am in the process of making a coffee porter, the porter is currently in the primary with about a week or so to go. I plan on cold brewing the coffee and dropping in the primary once fermentation has completed for a few days prior to kegging. What would you suggest for the amount of coffee to add for a nice coffee flavor but not overpowering?
Thanks.

I've done two versions of a coffee stout recently using cold steep...the first one I used 1 oz of beans - fresh ground right before brewing - coffee cold steeped in 32 oz of water (which is the volume of my french press...). I thought that one was a little strong, so I cut back to 0.75 oz on the second batch. Incidentally, 0.75 ounces is approximately what I generally use to brew my pot every morning, and this gave a pretty nice coffee aroma and flavor that wasn't too overwhelming. I *might* consider cutting back to 0.5 oz for the next batch, just to see how it compares...

I think the Dead Milkmen wrote a song about that.

+1! The bleach thing is a *really* bad idea! You don't need to worry about sanitizing the coffee...just add to the primary after fermentation stops, while you're waiting for things to clear. (I rarely if ever secondary my beers...)

what about some instant coffee? The starbucks via are pretty good.

This really isn't too bad an idea either, but I have no idea exactly how you would "dose" it...

 

[YeastieBoys]

"Don't you want to hang with the bleach boys baby. In a world where ministers murder golf pros."

Use a cold press for the coffee. The flavor comes out rounder and smoother without the total bitterness. I'm speaking from experience from coffee stouts though. I would wait until fermentation ceases, transfer, then add cold coffee mixture. If you're worried about "contamination", freeze it for 24 hours and then thaw out.

Never drink bleach.