Using coffee in porter

[ElJefeBrews]

I'm looking to try using coffee in beer for the first time in a porter and I'm not sure what the best way to prepare it is and how much to add. What's your experience using coffee in your brews?

 

[TGFV]

I usually use roasted malts for flavour but when I have added it I made cold brew coffee for it. Ground espresso beans in a French press set 24hrs in the fridge.

Much less tannins this way and adds a nice smooth complexity if good beans are used.

Another method is to just make up a pot of good espresso to add, but never done it personally.

 

[65C]

I had a coffee porter the other day - it was drinkable but should have just got a half and couldn't do another

I probably lean to it being a wrong combination - I treasure my coffee in the morning and my beer in the afternoon/evening - mixing the two is not a sum greater than the parts

Packing bitterness and weird grains (like smoked) into a porter - I'm all for that

 

[ElJefeBrews]

what amount of coffee did you add and what were the flavor results?

 

[Calder]

I think coffee goes well in a Porter. I usually add some coffee to a couple of gallons when ever I do a batch.

I have some smaller fermenters, so I take 2.5 gallons in a separate fermenter and add 1 ozs of fresh coffee beans for about a week. I leave the beans whole as it is easier to keep them out of the bottling bucket that way; I put a mesh bag over the racking cane. Coffee readily gives up its flavor, so there is no need to grind it You only need to grind it of you are trying to extract the flavor quickly; such as in a coffee maker.

 

[Braufessor]

I rough crack whole beans and add them to the fermenter/keg for only 12-24 hours and then move the beer off the beans to serving keg to carbonate. I use 1/2 - 1 ounce of beans per gallon.

Usually, I finish fermentation completely. I put a mesh screen on dip tube of clean keg. Fill keg with star san. Push it out with CO2. Throw cracked beans into empty/purged keg. Rack beer onto beans. 12-24 hours later I jump the beer off the beans into a purged serving keg. Mesh screen filters out any coffee bean particulate.

 

[CTS]

I made a Russian Imperial Stout with coffee about 6 years ago. I would recommend cold brewing the coffee and then adding it to the secondary that way. Been So long that I can't remember how much I added. Want to say 2 cups to 5 gallons but that's a total guess.

Also make sure to look up proper cold brewing, it's not making coffee and letting it cool.

 

[TGFV]

I did 2 cups for 5 gallons when I did the brew with a friend.

I would advise against using whole bean, it's harder to get the flavour under control (easy to have too much coffee flavour) and the beans left for too long can give an unpleasant bitterness I find in many cases, a problem completely removed by using brewed coffee

 

[NGD]

Keep us posted on which method you used. I’d like to see how it turns out.

 

[ElJefeBrews]

I like the idea of the cracked whole beans. I think I'm gonna give that a try. Ill update as I go

 

[ElJefeBrews]

Did you guys sanitize the cracked whole beans before tossing em in?

 

[C-Rider]

I always use cold brewed coffee and add to the bottling bucket at a rate of 8 qz to 2 gallons. I'm thinking of upping it. If you add to bottling bucket taste till you figure out how much you want to use.

 

[Kharnynb]

I sprayed a cup of whole beans with starsan and then dumped them in the fermenter...worked great and amazing coffee flavour(used a extra dark expresso arabica)

 

[toddo97]

I was trying to find a coffee that would go well with stout, but wasn't sure what to get since I'm not a coffee drinker (yet I love coffee stouts for some reason). I remembered that Modern Times sells coffee and makes a coffee stout so I emailed them for their suggestion. Here's the the response I got:

'We definitely recommend using Black House blend for you coffee/beer needs; it's mellow, chocolatey, and not too acidic.
Add the coffee post fermentation at rates of 3.84oz/gal
Whole Bean, 24 hours. '

I haven't made it yet, but plan on it soon--unless it gets warm too quickly in which case I'll wait till the Fall.

 

[pozmantv]

I made a stout a while back with chocolate grains, I added freshly brewed Italian Espresso coffee straight in to the fermenter on bottling day, worked a treat.

 

[portguy]

I just like to get coffee flavor from malt. And chocolate too. I think getting these flavors from the real things are overrated.

 

[jbraaten]

I made a Russian Imperial Stout with coffee about 6 years ago. I would recommend cold brewing the coffee and then adding it to the secondary that way. Been So long that I can't remember how much I added. Want to say 2 cups to 5 gallons but that's a total guess.

Also make sure to look up proper cold brewing, it's not making coffee and letting it cool.

I did the same . Still drinking it honestly.

I would advise decaf, though. Just my opinion.

 

[CTS]

I did the same . Still drinking it honestly.

I would advise decaf, though. Just my opinion.

Same, haha. Still have quite a few bottles. I just use them for making chili now. Haven't drank one in a long time.

 

[Lefou]

I always use cold brewed coffee and add to the bottling bucket at a rate of 8 qz to 2 gallons. I'm thinking of upping it. If you add to bottling bucket taste till you figure out how much you want to use.

You like the coffee flavor, I see.
Me, I like the essence of coffee but can skip a bit of the bitterness. I treat coffee like roasted barley, chocolate malt, or Carafa.
2-4 oz, 6 at most, in 5 gallons. Ground French roast, cold-steeped and added to the bottling bucket for porters and stouts. Boiling French roast in the wort can make the bittering more obvious.

 

[dendron8]

Whole bag of beans, dipped in star San, muselin bag into fermenter for two days. Prominent coffee flavor, no bitterness