Coffee infusion in stout

[donshizzles]

I’m looking to do a coffee stout and would like a little advice on getting the coffee flavor in the beer.
Is it better to blend in cold brew coffee or to put fresh grinds in to the secondary? I’ve heard the cold brew method could have the effect of watering down the beer.
I have a friend who owns a coffee bean company and said he’ll provide me with the fresh cold brew or the fresh grinds, just need to let him know what I decide.
Thoughts?

 

[Transamguy77]

I've always done a cold brew but it needs to be strong, I use 8oz (by weight) in a quart mason jar. You'll only end up with about 1/2 the jar in liquid and that isn't enough to water it down.

I don't secondary so before I started kegging I just added it to my bottling bucket right before bottling. But now I just add it right to the keg.

 

[stieg000]

I've always done a cold brew but it needs to be strong.

Ive done it this way and brewed espresso, but the best coffee flavor was from a extreme course grind into a mesh bag in the secondary. I kept it in the fridge for 4 days. I used 2.5oz of beans in a 5.5g batch. This was per a recipe in craft beer mag from epic brewing, the makers of Big Bad Baptist. Their recommendation was 3-5 days to taste.

 

[Calder]

I add whole beans to the fermenter for a week. Coffee readily gives up it's flavor, so no need to grind, and whole beans are easier to remove when bottling. I use 2 ozs fresh beans per 5 gallons.

 

[donshizzles]

Ive done it this way and brewed espresso, but the best coffee flavor was from a extreme course grind into a mesh bag in the secondary. I kept it in the fridge for 4 days. I used 2.5oz of beans in a 5.5g batch. This was per a recipe in craft beer mag from epic brewing, the makers of Big Bad Baptist. Their recommendation was 3-5 days to taste.

And? What were your results?

 

[stieg000]

A well pronounced coffee flavor in my belgian quad. It would probably be slighly less in a stout because of an abundance roast malt. In any case I prefer beans in the secondary over espresso. Espresso can add some ashyness and bitterness.

 

[donshizzles]

A well pronounced coffee flavor in my belgian quad. It would probably be slighly less in a stout because of an abundance roast malt. In any case I prefer beans in the secondary over espresso. Espresso can add some ashyness and bitterness.

So would you recommend corse ground beans or whole beans?