Coffee espresso beers

[dhelegda]

Ok who has don't coffee or espresso beers, I'm talking quality here not just something to get buy with. Would you use actual grounds or beans in your boil or fermenter, or pour a cup of coffee or a few shots of espresso in the fermenter?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[brdb]

Don't put the coffee in the boil because it will extract oils and bitterness from the beans that won't make your beer too pleasant plus the oils will kill any head the beer may have. You can either dry hop with your coffee beans to get a coffee flavor (coarsely ground) or you can make some cold pressed coffee and add that liquid into your fermenter. If you're going to dry hop with ground coffee I'd recommend putting the coffee in a hop bag to avoid any stoppages when you are siphoning the beer later on. As far as how much coffee to add that depends on how strong of a flavor you're going for. In my experience, dry hopping with 1/2lb of coarsely ground coffee (french roast) has imparted a very noticeable coffee flavor on my beers.
Edit: Also forgot to add that you probably don't want to dry hop with coffee for an extended amount of time, I typically keep it anywhere from 7-10 days.

 

[The_Bishop]

Cold brew the coffee overnight, add it at bottling.

Heat your priming sugar mixture, and at flameout, pour in your cold brewed coffee.

 

[opiate82]

We have an espresso machine so I used that to make espresso, chill it and add it to the secondary. For my Chocolate Imperial Espresso Stout I used 2 cups of espresso and it gave my beer a nice aroma of coffee on the nose with just a hint on the palate. When brewing with adjuncts I like them to be a subtle part of the overall flavor profile rather than the main flavor of the beer.

 

[dhelegda]

What's cold brewing? And two shots of espresso or two measured cups of espresso?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[dhelegda]

Also I keg not bottle does that make a difference?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[opiate82]

2 measured cups, that was for a 5 gallon batch.

I don't see why kegging vs bottling would make a difference.

 

[The_Bishop]

Cold brewing is steeping the coffee in cold water overnight. After cold steeping overnight, remove the coffee grounds, then heat the coffee to sterilize it, then pour it in your keg before you rack your beer in.

 

[rossi46]

I cold brew 8 heaping tbs. with a 16 oz. bottle of water for 24 hours and add it to the keg for a stout. Make sure to add to your taste, don't just dump all of it in.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[BigFloyd]

Cold brewing is steeping the coffee in cold water overnight. After cold steeping overnight, remove the coffee grounds, then heat the coffee to sterilize it, then pour it in your keg before you rack your beer in.

This ^^^^^, except for the part about heating of the coffee to "sterilize" it. Skip that. It will defeat the purpose of cold brewing.

Cold brewing how to prep coffee for a beer if you want a nice, smooth coffee flavor, but don't want the acidity/astringency that you can easily end up with it you add coffee to hot wort or otherwise expose the coffee to heat.

Last year I tasted a porter someone else did where they added the coffee to the boil (as per kit instructions). It reminded me of when I poured myself a cup of coffee at work that had been brewed several hours prior and left on the warmer. Hints of stale and burnt flavors were evident. They would have been better of leaving the coffee out of the recipe.

 

[The_Bishop]

I just made a coffee porter. Bottled it about 12 days ago, have one cracked open in front of me. I didn't heat the coffee to pasteurize it, I added it to my just-off-the-boil priming sugar, then it went into the bottling bucket.

It's still a little young, but it's shaping up very nicely. Great coffee nose, smooth coffee flavor in the middle of the flavor.

Once you cold brew and remove the grinds, heating the mix won't change the flavor in any real noticeable way. It's when you hot-extract the beans that you get that tannin-like bitterness/astringency.

 

[mtnagel]

I just want to mention that a great recipe for a clone of Founders Breakfast stout recommends adding the coffee at the end of the boil. I've done it that way and it still makes a great beer.

I've also read the ideal temperature for brewing coffee is 195-205F, so I've also used my immersion chiller to drop it down to 205F (literally takes about 20 seconds) and then added it and allowed it to steep for around 5 minutes before cooling further. Also made a damn fine coffee stout.

I also just added some coarsely ground coffee beans to secondary for a coffee oatmeal stout.

There are many ways to attack this, so try a few methods do what you like best.

 

[Natdavis777]

I buy quality whole beans and put in a plastic bag and tap with a mallet to break them open, but not ground them down. Then place in a nylon sack and dry hop for a week. You can go from there on how much more or less to use in the future. I didn't have much luck with cold brewed coffee.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[dhelegda]

Great discussion here...thanks for the tips, I am no closer to figuring out what the best method is...so I guess I'll do what we do and play around a bit and see what works the best!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[mtnagel]

LOL. I know what you mean. I think that's because there isn't a best method; there are many ways to do it and all will work well.

 

[Hello]

Great discussion here...thanks for the tips, I am no closer to figuring out what the best method is...so I guess I'll do what we do and play around a bit and see what works the best!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

That really is your best bet. I find that the answer to this kind of question will vary from brewer to brewer. If you find a coffee beer you enjoy, if the brewery is open enough to telling you when and how they add coffee, then you may find your answer. If not though, trial and error. I will say that the logic behind not boiling coffee is solid. Anyone who has walked into the break room at work for a cup of coffee that has been sitting on the burner for a long time will know the taste that comes from overcooked coffee. Starbucks, in fact, is a good baseline for overcooked coffee.

I love the idea of cracking beans and dry hopping for a week. That is something I would love to try.

 

[Newsman]

I haven't done this myself either, but I have to say the argument for doing the cold brew or "dry hop" makes a lot of sense to me....