Coffee Wine

[Leadgolem]

People keep asking me for my coffee wine recipe, so here it is.

This wine needs 4-6 months to mature. Longer is better.
ABV: 12.7-14%

6 oz medium roast ground coffee, by weight. I used Dunkin' Donuts brand, because that's what I like to drink.
About 2 1/2 lbs of granulated table sugar. 2 lbs for fermenting, 1/4-1/2 lb for back sweetening.
2 tsps yeast nutrient
1 tsp yeast energizer
1 5 gram packet of Pasteur champagne dry yeast
1/2 tsp bentonite powder, optional
2 tsp vanilla extract

Pour the ground coffee into a 1 gallon container, or a couple of smaller pitchers, add hot water until total volume is 1 gallon. Hot water in this case is not boiling, or the typical 212F for brewing coffee. It's more like 110-120f. You aren't trying to brew the coffee with heat, just get some body out of it. If your tap water tastes good then just hot from the tap is fine. If not, heat some bottled or filtered water on the stove.

In a few minutes the ground coffee should have formed a kind of mat in the top of the container. Break that up and stir it into the liquid. Most of the coffee should drop into the bottom of the container.

Cap the container, or put aluminum foil over the top of the container. Let it sit at room temperature for approximately 24 hours. After about 24 hours, pour the coffee through a coffee filter. Leave the majority of the grounds in the bottom of the container, they will just make it take longer to pass through the filter. The point of this is to brew coffee with a low psuedo-tannin content. That's what makes coffee bitter, and coffee has a tendency for far to high levels of these to enter solution in the presence of alcohol. That's also why there aren't any coffee solids in the fermentor. Brewing long and at a low temperature extracts lots of coffee flavor compounds without extracting a significant amount of psuedo-tannins.

Pour the cold brewed coffee into your fermenting container. I would recommend a 2 gallon fermenting bucket. The caffeine causes even low flocculating yeast to foam more then is normal. Add sugar in two or three additions until your gravity is between 1.095 - 1.100. Make sure to fully dissolve each sugar addition before adding the next, and check the gravity before each addition. It's Ok to pour the sample back in. If you are off even a little in your volume you change the sugar needed in a batch this small fairly significantly. With the volume lost from the coffee solids left behind, and the water in them, you should get almost exactly 1 gallon of liquid after the sugar has been added.

Add the yeast nutrient, stir until dispersed. Aerate if you wish. You will probably have to shake the ish out of it to dissolve the sugar so aeration is going to be redundant. Pitch the yeast. Seal your fermentor up.

In about twelve days add your bentonite powder if you are using any. In about 14 days, transfer off the yeast cake. Give it another week to be sure it's done fermenting. Add vanilla extract. It is recommended this be back sweetened, then pasteurized. Somewhere between 1/4 lb and 1/2 lb of sugar is about right, depending on taste.

Happy Brewing!

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

A caffeinated 12-14% ABV beverage. Wow. This is to be enjoyed in moderation I am sure.

 

[ACbrewer]

I must try this. It is basicaly the flavor of Black coffee with sugar?

 

[Leadgolem]

A caffeinated 12-14% ABV beverage. Wow. This is to be enjoyed in moderation I am sure.

Yup. Not something to drink when you are headed off to bed. It's nice on it's own, but easy to get out of control with. The caffeine can mask how hammered you are getting.

I must try this. It is basicaly the flavor of Black coffee with sugar?

Pretty much. You might want to try some cold brewed coffee by it's self first. The flavor of the cold brewed coffee is unmistakable in the finished product. That isn't really the same as regular black coffee. It doesn't have the same bite, and it's... uh... easier to drink I guess. I like it a great deal, but not everyone does.

 

[ACbrewer]

I cold brew all the time, but I think at a different ratio. Any idea how much coffee grounds by volume ? (I'm assuming it is 6oz weight)

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Yup. Not something to drink when you are headed off to bed. It's nice on it's own, but easy to get out of control with. The caffeine can mask how hammered you are getting.

Yeah, I could sorta see waking up sometime late the next morning in jail, with vague rememberances of me howling, buck naked, about 50 ft up in my neighbor's pine tree, surrounded by the neighbors, local police, animal control, and my wife on the cell with a divorce attorney if I got too heavy into this.

I will perhaps try a 1-gallon batch someday.

 

[Leadgolem]

I cold brew all the time, but I think at a different ratio. Any idea how much coffee grounds by volume ? (I'm assuming it is 6oz weight)

It's almost exactly 2 cups ground coffee by volume.

 

[LoneTreeFarms]

still sticking with the hot water on this recipe? i'm thinking i'll try it this weekend but i thought about cold brewing the coffee instead.

 

[ACbrewer]

Hot water works faster, but brings out more coffee tanins (bitters). By cold brewing, you don't extract as much of the bitter flavor. Although more time is needed to get the same coffee results.

 

[Leadgolem]

still sticking with the hot water on this recipe? i'm thinking i'll try it this weekend but i thought about cold brewing the coffee instead.

Hot water works faster, but brings out more coffee tanins (bitters). By cold brewing, you don't extract as much of the bitter flavor. Although more time is needed to get the same coffee results.

Yup. The hot water isn't that hot, so pseudo tannin extraction is fairly minimal.

Really though, it breaks down to what kind of coffee you like when it's cold and doesn't have any sugar in it. That's kinda what this tastes like, only with alcohol, when it's done. I find I prefer cold brewed coffee that's been "bloomed" in hot water.

 

[Mike_Turner]

I need some help guys/gals.
I followed the recipe except for the following:
-did not use energizer or bentonite
-used 1 lb table sugar, 1 lb brown sugar
-used decaf dunkin donuts

OG:1.098

After 8 days fermentation seemed to be complete so I took gravity reading

FG:0.990

I was shocked how fast it had fermented! I took a taste and about threw up in my mouth.
It tasted like straight vinegar/ammonia. It was awful.

Anybody know what I did wrong? I'm very new at this so any help will be greatly appreciated!

 

[LoneTreeFarms]

Not positive cuz I haven't made this yet. But the second sentence says 4-6 months not days to mature out. I'd suggest putting an airlock on it and forget about it.

 

[Gar]

does milk sugar add any of the flavor of milk? ive never used it its not fermintable right? i was thinking it may a better back sweetner i dont know tho.

 

[Leadgolem]

EDIT: Sorry I've been MIA guys. I've been busy with family.

I need some help guys/gals.
I followed the recipe except for the following:
-did not use energizer or bentonite
-used 1 lb table sugar, 1 lb brown sugar
-used decaf dunkin donuts

OG:1.098

After 8 days fermentation seemed to be complete so I took gravity reading

FG:0.990

I was shocked how fast it had fermented! I took a taste and about threw up in my mouth.
It tasted like straight vinegar/ammonia. It was awful.

Anybody know what I did wrong? I'm very new at this so any help will be greatly appreciated!

Bottle it and leave it for a few months. It's pretty gross when it's just hit FG. It's a little bit like mead that way.

It's also better if it's heavily back sweetened.

The nutrients are there to avoid sulfur compounds being produced during fermentation. If you had that problem you would have something that smelled pretty much like rotten eggs. So, I think you are alright there.

I'd probably skip the brown sugar next time. The flavor compounds you end up with from it post fermentation aren't, IMO, really compatible with the coffee flavor.

The process used to remove the majority of the caffeine from coffee also removes a reasonable number of flavor compounds. I would suggest increasing the amount of ground coffee you are using by 30-50% if you want to make a low caffeine version with decaff coffee.

does milk sugar add any of the flavor of milk? ive never used it its not fermintable right? i was thinking it may a better back sweetner i dont know tho.

Lactose is not fermentable. IMO, it doesn't really give you a milk flavor. It does give your brew a nice rich mouth feel though.

As long as you aren't lactose intolerant, it's a really good choice for backsweetening this stuff.

 

[MadBoozer]

Why and how do you pasteurize it? Wouldn't it cause the alcohol to evaporate?

 

[Leadgolem]

Why and how do you pasteurize it? Wouldn't it cause the alcohol to evaporate?

If you back sweeten with a fermentable sugar you need to kill the yeast off so it doesn't continue to ferment in the bottle and cause the bottles to explode. If you use a non-fermentable sweetener, like splenda or lactose, then you don't need to pasteurize.

I'm referring to pasteurizing in the bottle after it's capped. No chance for loss of alcohol due to evaporation. It's really common with sweet cider.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/easy-stove-top-pasteurizing-pics-193295/

If you want to do this with wine bottles the process is slightly different. Put something in the pot to keep the bottles off the bottom. Fill the bottles, put them in the pot of cold water uncorked. You want the water level to be slightly higher then the liquid level in the bottles, but not over top the bottles. Heat the water to your desired temperature. I usually pasteurize at 160f for 10 minutes. Then take them out and set them on a towel to cool down. A silicone oven mit is ideal for this. When the wine drops down back into the bottle from it's climb up the neck you can cork them. If you're worried about contamination, or need to leave them overnight, then make some foil hats for the bottles.

Alcohol loss from this process is minimal. Ethanol in a water based solution prefers to evaporate at more like 173-178f. Most of the little you'll lose at 160f is going to be undesirable methanol anyway.

I would not recommend doing this sparkling. The acid flavor added by the carbonic acid in solution of a carbonated beverage does not play well with the coffee flavors. I have tried it. It was nasty.

 

[Gar]

well i just messed up i started making this but i forgot it first warm the water will this be ok to make this without warming the water?

 

[Leadgolem]

well i just messed up i started making this but i forgot it first warm the water will this be ok to make this without warming the water?

Sure, the warm water just speeds things up a tad and gives you some extra body. Give it an extra half day or so to extract. It will be fine.

 

[mgonbrewlab]

So, I tried this recipe out (bottled about a month ago). I made a 5 gal batch and split into 5 one gal's for secondary.

Since I had so much I added about .25 cup cocoa per gallon to two carboys and about 1 tsp mint to another and gave it almost a month before bottling. Mint smells a little overpowering, but the cocoa is delightful.

I didn't back sweeten with sugar so I am sure it will be very dry, but the first early samples I have had have been interesting and not too bad. Maybe drink it on ice with a little flavored cream?

 

[mgonbrewlab]

I was shocked how fast it had fermented! I took a taste and about threw up in my mouth.
It tasted like straight vinegar/ammonia. It was awful.

Yeah- I thought my eyes would burn off every time I racked this. I reracked again and gave this an extra month before bottling. I chilled a bottle to sample and it was pretty tolerable.



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[Leadgolem]

So, I tried this recipe out (bottled about a month ago). I made a 5 gal batch and split into 5 one gal's for secondary.

Since I had so much I added about .25 cup cocoa per gallon to two carboys and about 1 tsp mint to another and gave it almost a month before bottling. Mint smells a little overpowering, but the cocoa is delightful.

I didn't back sweeten with sugar so I am sure it will be very dry, but the first early samples I have had have been interesting and not too bad. Maybe drink it on ice with a little flavored cream?

That's not a bad idea. I don't like coffee without sugar myself. My basic guideline has been to fix the wine the way the person likes their coffee, only cold. That's been pretty successful so far.

 

[Gar]

Took a sample of my coffee wine and i gotta say wow i really didn't expect that it was very coffee forward and i didn't get much of a booze burn. mine is about 2 months old and is a 5 gallon batch that isn't exactly like Leadgolems but none the less its very good or at least the shot glass worth of it i tried was. i'm gonna age it and see if it gets better. think im gonna add milk sugar in various amounts to 3/4 of the bottles and maybe some vanilla i been aging. very nice Leadgolem cheers

 

[mgonbrewlab]

Ok, tasting notes. I bottled 8 weeks ago. I skipped back sweetening and Pasteurization, but added cocoa (about .5 cup per gallon) to 2 of my gallon carboys.

this is still very boozy. Very boozy. It is also very potent. The first sip was very forward with the boozy taste with the coffee and cocoa tastes coming next. The smell was all cocoa in the carboy but now it is booze and coffee. It is pretty pleasant after the initial burn, and it has a nice warming effect.

I am hoping a couple more months mellows it out a bit. as it is, it is a very dry, very strong, but still fairly pleasant sipper. For swmbo it is tolerable on ice with cream, but still a bit too boozy.

Next time this gets made it will definitely get back sweetened or, considering how strong it ended up I may make it in winter so I can crash it before it ferments dry and then stabalize it.

I will try a bottle where I added mint in about 6 weeks

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[jtromp]

Hi there. Just a question. Has anyone tried to use a simple syrup to add the sugar? Thoughts?


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[Leadgolem]

Simple syrup would be fine to add the sugar. It's easier to disperse it through a liquid that way. Since people make them a little differently it's harder to produce a coherent recipe with them though. That's why I don't write recipes that actually call for them.

 

[mgonbrewlab]

3 months in- this is really starting to mellow out. Makes a delicious hard iced coffee drink with a splash of creamer.

I am no longer so strongly regretting not back sweetening this wine, tho next time I will for sure

 

[arky1974]

I was wondering if anyone has tried to back sweeten this with some more cold brewed coffee (maybe concentrated cold brew) to add a little more coffee flavor. I have a gallon of this in the secondary and I really like it so far, but it's very very dry. Felt like I was drinking moonshine! LOL! Anyway, I would love to make this a little more "coffee" like before I bottle it.

 

[Gar]

I was wondering if anyone has tried to back sweeten this with some more cold brewed coffee (maybe concentrated cold brew) to add a little more coffee flavor. I have a gallon of this in the secondary and I really like it so far, but it's very very dry. Felt like I was drinking moonshine! LOL! Anyway, I would love to make this a little more "coffee" like before I bottle it.

I did somthing like this when i made 4 gallons i realized after fermintation i had not used enough coffee so i fixed a one gallon batch with the extra coffee cold brewed in to make the 5 gallons to scale. i also added 1 cup of sugar to the batch im sure this made mine less strong then the op's version but i gotta say it was very coffee forward at 2 months when i bottled but i havent tried it since.

 

[jtromp]

So I finished bottling mine. Using a simple syrup helped speed up the brew day, especially with 2 kids under two and a half years! I did use a 2 gallon fermenter and thankfully a blow off tube as well. It went INSANE! When I bottled it I found it a little harsh but not too bad. In the future I'll try adding some more coffee during the cold brew time. I would make a 5 gallon batch soon, Christmas is just around the corner...


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[Texconsinite]

Regarding the pasteurization, couldnt you just use sorbate and K-meta to stabilize, then backsweeten?

 

[mgonbrewlab]

You absolutely could- I personally didn't because I didn't think about it until the last minute, and I would have missed my window of available time to bottle had I waited for stabalization.

Curious, since I see myself starting more wine in the late fall or early winter- how effective is a cold crash to stabalize wine? Would I rack, crash, bottle, or crash, rack, then bottle?

 

[arky1974]

So I just racked this for the third time. The last time I racked it it was very very carbonated! It seems to be gone now. Anyway after racking I topped it off with some more cold brewed coffee. I figured why add just water. I also went ahead and added the 2 tsp of vanilla and gave it a taste. So far I like it a lot - it's much better than I would have ever thought. It's very coffee forward and the vanilla adds a little sweetness. It sort of reminds me of a light bodied Coffee Stout Beer without the carbonation. I think back sweetening it before bottling it will even make it better. It's still very "hot" 14.5% alc!

 

[Know]

I tired this exact recipe and after an extremely strong fermentation and 2 months in primary it turned out to be liquid snot in texture (even though 12%abv according to FG), smelled off, and tasted nothing like what it should. I went wrong somewhere. Probably infection. Trying again as soon as a carboy opens up.

 

[arky1974]

I racked and filtered this about three weeks ago. I decided to go ahead and fortify it with some vodka and homemade coffee extract. I also back sweetened it with 1 cup of sugar. Hopefully everything will blend well together and the end product will be enjoyable. So far it's pretty good!

 

[jak1010]

Add tequila and the smallest amount of cream/milk and you get something similar to cafe patrone. Very nice!

 

[mgonbrewlab]

That sounds amazing. I have tried blending with ice, mint leaf, cream, and stevia. I bet this would be a great blended mix with rumchata

 

[Gar]

Well i just tried one of mine i started in jan of this year. i bottled mine and some i put some vanilla and some i put hazelnut in. i then capped and pasterized and let them sit and finally tonight i could give one a try. it is very smooth and way to easy to drink with no real signs of burn but kicks like a mule. coffee and booze who would ever have guessed they hit you hard when combined. i'm gonna age these and make more for the pipe line. if you have friends who like to goof with you as i do when you pass out keep one of these bad boys on hand.

 

[rowan57]

Is it worth using really good coffee for this? I'm wondering if you can pick up the delicate flavours found in excellent coffee (I'm talking $15+/lb) or whether best just to use nice but 'normal' coffee? I LOVE Coffee and am currently addicted to fermenting stuff, seems quite a natural fit for me.

 

[Gar]

Is it worth using really good coffee for this? I'm wondering if you can pick up the delicate flavours found in excellent coffee (I'm talking $15+/lb) or whether best just to use nice but 'normal' coffee? I LOVE Coffee and am currently addicted to fermenting stuff, seems quite a natural fit for me.

I would have to say yes. but you can cold brew some of your coffee and see.
btw what coffee do you like? i'm a big fan of kona coffee.

 

[rowan57]

I think I might just jump right in I buy my coffee from a specialist roaster over here in the UK called HasBean. Ive never had such nice coffee as with these guys, it just rocks my socks.