How to Coffee flavor without color?

[torilen]

Okay, so tonight at dinner I had a coffee lager. It was pretty good....Haywire, I think was the brand.

Anyhow, the lager was a normal dark amber color, not dark like
one would normally think of for a beer with coffee in it. I am curious
if anyone has some ideas about how to get that coffee flavor without
getting the color.

The thought I have is to use cracked whole beans, but I'm not sure
if that would work.

Ideas? Thanks.

 

[txago]

I've yet to brew a beer with coffee, but I guess you could brew a tad lighter beer and add a cold infusion of java to secondary. That's how I'd do it anyways.

I suppose it would dilute the colour a bit and not result in a dark beer.

 

[FatDragon]

The only time I added coffee - cracked beans - to a beer, it didn't contribute much color, if any. A coffee beer isn't a cup of morning joe - you might add less than 10% of the coffee beans that you would use for a similar volume of actual coffee, so the color contribution shouldn't be too heavy.

 

[GaBrewZoo]

I usually add whole beans in secondary. It only takes 4 - 6 ounces for 5 gallons. Plenty of coffee flavor, but that was in a stout. We went to a brewery that had their everyday house IPA on tap, with coffee added. You could set a glass of the coffee beer next to the regular beer and couldn't tell which was which. You could definitely taste the coffee though. Very good.

 

[HanaHH]

I try coffee bear in Prague and it was nice to taste but in small quantity

 

[Northern_Brewer]

"White stout" is becoming a bit of a thing, where people try to get as much of those roasty stout flavours in the palest beer possible, if you search for it then you'll get tips from people who have done it.

 

[torilen]

Thanks everyone. That gives me a great start. I guess my initial guess was pretty close. I'm going to be brewing one of these soon...whenever I have the time...I have the ingredients all ready to go....just need the time. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[cmac62]

Ive used a vodka tincture with Cacao and coffee in the past, didn't add too much color, but lots of flavor, and you add it at bottling/Kegging.

 

[gwinn758]

Torilen,

That's Haywire Huskie from Wasserhund in VB. Aaron would probably tell you how he added the coffee.

 

[cactusgarrett]

I've got a white stout on the shortlist to brew soon. After a bit of research, I settled on the plan to add a pint of cold-brewed rich-flavored coffee to it. I can't imagine a pint of coffee in 6gal is going to contribute much dark color.

 

[cmac62]

I've got a white stout on the shortlist to brew soon. After a bit of research, I settled on the plan to add a pint of cold-brewed rich-flavored coffee to it. I can't imagine a pint of coffee in 6gal is going to contribute much dark color.

Agreed. Heck Starbucks sells it in the store now. But you could also cold brew it yourself then you know what kind of coffee is in your beer.