Coffee Imperial Stout Advice

[Brett3rThanU]

I brewed an Imperial Stout and dry beaned it with 2oz of lightly crushed espresso for 24 hours just before kegging. The beer is carbed now, but I didn't get enough espresso flavor out of it. The beer is carbed and cold in my kegerator, so what are my options to get more of an espresso flavor? I'm thinking 2oz more espresso in 1 cup of water that sat in the fridge for 24 hours (cold toddy)? Any harm in adding that to the keg now?

The beer is really good right now and I don't want to screw it up, but would love to get a little more espresso flavor in it.

 

[Northbank]

Part of me thinks you should make some cold brew coffee concentrate, and just add a little to your glass when when you pour a beer .... best of both worlds? A great beer and almost no risk of jacking it up....

 

[Queequeg]

Dry bean with more grinds? If you cold brew you going to get similar extraction (or less due to volume) but also dilute your beer. You could hot brew, then filter through some Chemex filters to remove the oils. This will give you a much more robust coffee flavour. Try it on a sub aliquot first, then scale for the rest of the batch.

 

[FVillatoro]

You can easily add more ground beans in a hop bag tied to the dip tube, or the little nipple on the venting valve on the lid with a stainless clamp - same process as if you were dry hopping in the keg.

Let it steep for another day, sample, and if you need more let it another day.

 

[evsol]

I would lightly crush the beans and then place them in the keg for about 4-5 days. This is what I do with my maple breakfast stout and it is like drinking a cup of coffee. You are essentially doing nothing more than a cold brew steep in your beer. Fantastic flavor and aroma! You can taste it each day to see where the coffee flavor is at the point where you want it.

 

[Happywanderer]

I'll second the recommendation for just adding a bit of cold-brewed concentrate to your mug. Like an oz.

Far fewer issues this way and you can control the flavor. Next batch - instead of dry beaning - just add a liter of cold-brew coffee (after boiling/cooling it to sanitize)

 

[YeastMode]

Add actual brewed espresso. That's how I add coffee to all my beers now, and I do it when I rack to the keg. I have also just dumped it into a cold and carved keg. Just make sure you give it a day or two to disperse evenly in the leg before adding more.

I usually use a Moka pot and Cuban coffee, but I presume any method would work just fine. I would start with a 1/4 cup and work up from there. I prefer this method becuase it is easy, and because you are hearing the water to make coffee, I fee like there is less of an infection risk. Just let it cool a bit before adding.