Coffee help...

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Jdk261

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Planning to brew a vanilla coffee stout tomorrow and after many searches, I turn to the community for help...

When is best to add the coffee? In the mash? Steep at flame out? Primary? Secondary? Bottling/kegging? I am just not sure...

Anyone with more experience have some advice? Please let me know any and everything you can. Thanks!
 
I would brew some strong coffee and add it to the bottling bucket. Make sure you have accounted for the dilution in your initial recipe.

I'm sure others will chime in with other suggestions.
 
You know everyone says bottling bucket, Im currently drinking a homebrew coffee stout right now and I put 1Lb of coffee beans in with the mash for this one. Its amazing! so its really your call.
 
Fair enough, I was leaning toward adding at bottling...so I guess that's what I'll stick with. Thanks!
 
I've done 3oz of coarse ground in secondary for 24 hours, and 12oz of cold press at bottling. IMO the cold press at bottling was superior in flavor and smoothness. Interested to hear more about coffee in the mash though.
 
I like mine dry beaned. I look at the coffee more as an aromatic rather than a flavor. I got more aromatics from dry beaning in secondary vs. the brewed. Brewing or adding heat really can cause carbonation issues if you are bottling. The oils and some astringent flavors can be pulled by the heat. I have had excellent Coffee Stouts each way. Pick a method and stick with it. I think the last time I dry beaned i used 6oz in 5 gallons and was a bit much. Now that it is 6 month old it is really getting good. I thing 4oz is what I will use next. Coffe Stouts is oone of my favorite winter beers.
 
Well, as you can already tell you are gonna get a lot of opinions.. so here is mine.

Cold brew your coffee. Cold brewed coffee will have a lighter, more delicate flavor as the bitter oils are not extracted by this process. Avoiding these oils is important for head formation. Use a good coffee, not cheap store brand. Use a dark roast, Italian or espresso for example. Buy from a place that roasts their own coffee, and make sure you are buying beans that were roasted in the past couple days. Ask them to grind it extra coarse -french press or coarser (tell them you are cold-brewing). Use bottled water if your tap water isn't perfect - any off flavors will come thru in the coffee.

Cold brewing is easy. Put your coffee grounds in a container and add cold water. Use a lot of grounds, and a little water (last time I used 1/2lb espresso and 1 liter of water). Stir to make sure all the grounds get wet, and put it in the refrigerator for a couple days. You may have to stir occasionally to break up the crust on the top. When the coffee is done, the grounds will have sunk to the bottom. Decant your coffee through a filter (I put a cone filter in a funnel and pour it through).

If you are using a secondary, put the coffee in the secondary and rack the beer on top of it. If not using a secondary, pour the coffee into the bottling bucket with your priming sugar before racking your beer onto it.
 
I would never put the coffee in with the mash because really boiling coffee is nasty. I did it at bottling to avoid the stale coffee taste. I did about a half gallon of espresso in the bottling bucket for a 5g batch. That was about 1oz per bottle, it was fantastic.
 
I second Slurm, I made an Coffee Extra Stout and it was amazing! I cold brewed 1.5 ounces in 1 liter of bottled water for 72 hours before I racked into the secondary. Be sure to boil in case there's a chance of contamination before racking. It added excellent aroma and just enough flavor balance I was looking for.
 
Planning to brew a vanilla coffee stout tomorrow and after many searches, I turn to the community for help...

When is best to add the coffee? In the mash? Steep at flame out? Primary? Secondary? Bottling/kegging? I am just not sure...

Anyone with more experience have some advice? Please let me know any and everything you can. Thanks!

The best way is cold expressed coffee added at Bottling. Just soak coffee grounds in cold water in the fridge while it ferments, Strain grounds, bring to a boil for 5 mins to kill any bacteria, and use the coffee as your priming liquid(of course add your priming sugar to it when you boil it) this is how i do it, and it works great for me.
 
Do not boil coffee.

It is a potential vector for infection, but the chance is slim. Boiling coffee will change the flavor, and will drive off the delicate aromatics. If you want coffee in your beer, take the risk. If you feel the risk is too great, don't use coffee.
 
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