• Please visit and share your knowledge at our sister communities:
  • If you have not, please join our official Homebrewing Facebook Group!

    Homebrewing Facebook Group

Coffee in coffee stout

Homebrew Talk

Help Support Homebrew Talk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

DefinitelyJon

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2014
Messages
128
Reaction score
9
Location
Westminster
I recently made a 6 gallon American stout that I want to split in two carboys and add coffee and vanilla in one. I bought some whole coffee beans from a local shop here but still am not sure the proportions I wanted to add to the beer. I was thinking maybe an Oz per Gallon and soaking the coffee and vanilla beans in bourbon to sanitize. I'm not sure if an 3 ounces in a 3 gallon beer is too much and if I should grind the beans up a little. I dont really want to add the beans dry to the carboy as it seems a little iffy still with infection.
 
Here is my recommendation, take 1.5 to 2 quarts of water and and bring it to a boil. Take 3 oz of finely ground fresh coffee and put in a filter and tie it shut or a tea infuser or something to contain the grounds (or not -- I just dump them in the boiling water). Add the 1/2 vanilla beans (I break them up in pieces). Reserve the other 1/2 to soak in bourbon to add a little later. Vanilla can be a volatile oil so it will dissipate. Boil about 20 minutes. Then put the pan in ice and chill as quickly as you can to 70 or less. Then pour carefully into a sanitized glass container you can use to pour into the fermentor. All of the debris will settle in the pan during cooling so pour care fully to leave as much as possible behind. Add to your stout and allow it to sit for a couple of weeks.
 
I made a coffee stout very recently and i had the same issue. I went about it by grinding up beans and then poured them into some water that I boiled and then cooled. I left that mixture in Tupperware for a few days and then straining the raw grounds out. Next I put in literal vanilla extract to the point where the liquid smelled like a vanilla late and then I dumped that directly into my fermentor. I think I had about a pints worth of vanilla coffee juice to my five gallons of wort. Turned out very nice I really enjoyed the coffee vanilla flavor.
 
My third beer was a coffee stout, and I was satisfied with the cold-steep method. For five gallons, I put 4oz. of ground coffee in a very fine mesh bag, tied it, and let it sit over night inside the fridge in, I think, one and one-fourth quarts of cold water. Take out the bag, and boil the coffee with the priming solution, let cool, and then rack beer on top in bottling bucket.
 
I use my french press but double my coffee to water ratio at a minimum. Nice coarse grind on the coffee and then just processing as usual. I steep my vanilla beans in the water I make the coffee with and then rack those in.
 
Thanks guys for the response. I went with brewerinbr's method and it seemed to work out pretty well. A lot of people say they've had a lot of success with cold brewing or even adding them straight to the fermenter. I'd think that it'd probably be alright I just still worry about some kind of infection from not sanitizing
 
When I brew a coffee stout I add 4 oz of ground coffee of my choosing and add it to my wort at flame out, lid on for 20 mins then chill and pitch. They all way turn out great. 2 oz ground And added to fermentor just like dry hopping for that extra aroma/flavor.
 
I made a coffee stout and it has a strong roast bitter flavor any suggestions how to mild it out?
 
Back
Top