Adding Clarified Coffee to Golden Stout

[kev211]

Last night I was at Ballast Point and had their new R&D beer Red Velvet. Essentially it was a golden stout, blonde stout, whatever you want to call it with other stuff in it to make it mimic a red velvet cake. On the whole it was meh.

But that made me curious. I've had golden stouts before but never put much thought into brewing one til now. I havent built the whole recipe yet but so far itll be your basic milk stout, minus roasted grains. So probably 2-row, flaked oats, C40 (or similar) and some hops.

Also added are cocoa to the boil and coffee. I didnt want the dark color of coffee so I set out to figure out how to do it without getting the color and I came across a clarified coffee recipe. Basically, using gelatin to make clear/golden coffee. Perfect, right? Im gonna try making it this weekend and see what happens.

But heres where Im stumped. Ive never made a beer with coffee in it, so I dont know when I should add the clarified coffee. Obviously it will be going through a lot of stuff; gelatin, muslin, etc so I want to pasteurize it. Should I boil it after then add to the keg? Or add it to the during the boil and just let it ferment with the coffee in there? Or mix it with some vodka and add it in?

How would you guys do it?

Thanks!

 

[splyn]

i would think sometime after primary.

 

[brewshki]

I have never done it but I have heard of people adding coffee at about every stage of the process. If you add it in the boil, I'm sure it will be vastly different from if you add it during sometime in fermentation. I have heard of people aging beer on coffee beans after primary so I would probably follow that path. I would also take a sample of the beer after primary and add a controlled amount of coffee until you it where you want it and then scale that up.

 

[BentBrewer]

My short notes from the coffee lecture at the California Craft Beer Summit:

Add coffee after fermentation.
Medium to dark roast, coarse grind.
Dial back acidity and type of roast, back off on hops, add alkalinity to mash, back off on roast malts, up the chocolate and sweet malts. Munich works well.
If barrel aging, add coffee after aging.

 

[kev211]

My short notes from the coffee lecture at the California Craft Beer Summit:

Add coffee after fermentation.
Medium to dark roast, coarse grind.
Dial back acidity and type of roast, back off on hops, add alkalinity to mash, back off on roast malts, up the chocolate and sweet malts. Munich works well.
If barrel aging, add coffee after aging.

Wow thanks! Put the coffee in a hop sack or let them swim free? Does the coffee need any form of "sanitizing"?
How long would you leave them in?


I was also thinking about maybe making a vodka tincture with coarse ground coffee and cocoa nibs and adding that to the keg. Thoughts?

 

[jodell]

I have had the best success with adding cold brewed coffee either during secondary or right at packaging time. Cold brew is much stronger and has no bittering, so you can add less liquid with the same coffee results, ultimately keeping the beer part of the recipe more consistent.

I've tried coffee beans and aging, coffee beans in the boil, flame out, and a few others and cold brew has given me the best results

 

[kev211]

I have had the best success with adding cold brewed coffee either during secondary or right at packaging time. Cold brew is much stronger and has no bittering, so you can add less liquid with the same coffee results, ultimately keeping the beer part of the recipe more consistent.

I've tried coffee beans and aging, coffee beans in the boil, flame out, and a few others and cold brew has given me the best results

Since Ive never used coffee in beer I dont know a ton about it. Obviously I know hops have anti-bacterial properties so you can toss them right in to dry hop with no sanitation issues, but what about coffee/cold brewed coffee? Is there any need to sanitize/pasteurize?

 

[jodell]

You really shouldn't have any issues. My brother owns a coffee shop and makes the coffee for me, and I just pour it in right at packaging.

Oh and I go at a rate of 2 fluid ounces per gallon of concentrated cold brew.


EDIT: It's actually 4oz per gallon

 

[jodell]

It's the same principle as dry-hopping as far as sanitation since coffee is also very acidic

 

[PDevlin75]

Wow! I had no idea this was even possible!

I was wondering how they got such a strong coffee flavor in their Calm Before the Storm without any real coffee color. I guess this answers that question!

Thanks!
-Pete

 

[jodell]

Yeah a normal cup of coffee is roughly 16grams water to 1gram coffee, and concentrated cold-brew can be as strong as 5gram water to one coffee

 

[BentBrewer]

Wow thanks! Put the coffee in a hop sack or let them swim free? Does the coffee need any form of "sanitizing"?
How long would you leave them in?


I was also thinking about maybe making a vodka tincture with coarse ground coffee and cocoa nibs and adding that to the keg. Thoughts?

As I recall, they were using a sack for the coffee. Probably more for clarity than anything else. A sack probably cuts down on transfer of flavor, but you also don't lose as much product to kruft in the bottom of the fermenter. YMMV.
If you think about what it takes to roast coffee, it should be pretty sanitary. Assuming you don't leave it out for a week, and handle it with your grubby mitts, and didn't run something weird through your grinder beforehand....
Timewise, I suspect is going to be more of a temperature issue than anything else. You'll need to leave them in longer at 50F than at 70F, eh?
Overthinking the vodka IMHO. I know a lot of people do it, and It's tempting to make sure that your beer isn't contaminated with GodOnlyKnowsWhat, but in reality, if your yeastie beasties are happy, you probably won't have any issues.