Coffee and a Smoke - All-Grain Smoked Oatmeal Stout

[aaronmrose]

First time posting and was hoping for some thoughts on this recipe. It's a combination of sources and some tinkering on my part. It will be my fourth All-Grain batch using DeathBrewer's modified BIAB method.

Recipe:
8# US 2-row
1# Flaked Oats
1# Roasted Barley
1/2# Chocolate Malt
1/2# Smoked Malt

2oz Fuggles @ 60 min
8oz Coffee (brand TBD) cold brewed added to secondary or keg

Mash 60 min @ 154F @ 1.25 qt/lb
Sparge for a 7 gallon boil

I plan to do ~7 days in primary, followed by ~14 days in secondary to clear, then keg. Do I add the coffee to the secondary or the keg? I have never kegged but just bought the equipment - how long do I need to age before serving?

Thanks!
Aaron

 

[BlackGoat]

Looks pretty good, a little smoked malt can go a long way so I'd just really do your homework on the quantities of it that others have used in the past and what their results are otherwise you could end up with a heavily smoked beer that might be tough to stomach. As far as how long in primary/secondary you shouldn't be focused on a schedule and instead be making those decisions based on when fermentation is done. You probably don't need a secondary at all, why are you planning on using one? There are lots of different methods used for the coffee, some add at the end of the boil, some add to the primary, some add to secondary or at bottling/kegging time. I probably would just add it to the primary once the fermentation is complete and just leave it in there for a few weeks before packaging.

 

[aaronmrose]

Thanks BlackGoat. I've always used a secondary to help with clearing prior to bottling. Since I don't filter, the transfer step helps reduce the amount of sediment transferred to the bottling bucket and then to the bottles. I know a lot of people prefer just to do a long primary, which acts as both primary/secondary.

Add the coffee to the primary (or secondary in my original suggestion) as beans or cold brewed, filtered liquid?

 

[BlackGoat]

I haven't used coffee in my brews in years, but the preferred method seems to be a cold steep (or whatever the term is) of the coffee prior to incorporating it into your beer. I would do a search as I'm sure there is detailed info on some threads around here somewhere on exactly how people usually do this.