Sanitizing Whole Coffee beans?

[fermentedlychallenged]

So I currently have an extra foreign stout fermenting, I want to add coffee and am contemplating methods. it's a 10 gallon batch and I am splitting it into two five gallons and adding cold brew to one and whole (cracked) coffee beans to the other.

I've read about sanitizing the beans in vodka and i've also heard about sanitizing them in hot water. If you've added whole beans to your secondary what sanitizing method did you use?

 

[MagicMatt]

Any additions that goes in my secondary usually get soaked in some type of liquor (vodka, bourbon, etc). With that said, I've never sanitized coffee beans in any manner prior to using. Either they came from a freshly opened package, or from my freezer. I've never had any issues, but then again I've never added the beans directly to the beer.

Using hot water with coffee would draw out the acidic bitter taste that we try to avoid (hence cold brewing).

 

[Calder]

I just toss the beans in. No prep. They have been roasted, and have no sugars or nutrients, so should have nothing on them. In the remote chance they do, the alcohol of the beer should prevent any problem.

No need to crack beans. They give up their flavor very readily without cracking, and are a lot easier to keep out of the bottles with large pieces. We only grind coffee fine so that we can have our coffee in 5 minutes.

I add whole beans in the fermenter for 6 to 7 days and get great flavor. I use about 1 oz (+ or -) per gallon.

 

[fermentedlychallenged]

Well I'm definitely going with sanitizing them in vodka. Beans are grown with pesticides and they definitely carry over even after being roasted. Plus the oils on the coffee beans reduce head retention and soaking them should extract most of the tannins and decrease bitterness. And I was going to crack the beans to increase surface area so I wouldn't have to leave the beans in there as long which would also decrease the chances of bitterness.. I was also going to use a hop bag so I wouldn't have the issue of beans in my keg.

Does any of that make sense?

 

[GQT]

It just crossed my mind, has anyone mashed with coffee beans? Absurd idea, as long boiling would probably leave no trace of coffee aroma.
Still better to ask than not to.