• 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 Wine

Homebrew Talk

Help Support Homebrew Talk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
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?
 
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!
 
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.
 
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!
 
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
 
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:drunk:. 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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Curious, has anyone tried this with any other yeast? I have a couple of packs of red star cuvee on the shelf that need used and was thinking this might be a good use
 
Bottled this one today and I'm trying the last half a mug with a little cream and sugar. Tastes just like morning coffee with a lot of kick ur ass added in..... potent stuff but delicious
 
Hey everyone, new to the forums, pretty new to brewing. I saw this recipe in a book and had to look up some reviews.

Question... it seems like the recipe is coffee for flavor, sugar for booze. Aside from the fun of doing it, what are the advantages of brewing this instead of putting vodka in some cold brew?

Thanks!
 
Hey everyone, new to the forums, pretty new to brewing. I saw this recipe in a book and had to look up some reviews.

Question... it seems like the recipe is coffee for flavor, sugar for booze. Aside from the fun of doing it, what are the advantages of brewing this instead of putting vodka in some cold brew?

Thanks!
The fermentation alters the flavor of the coffee. Both the fact that it has fermented at all, and what yeast strain you use impacts the final product. That isn't obvious when it's young, but there is a depth to the flavor you just don't get with vodka+cold brew coffee. A kind of, elusive richness that is hard to describe.
 
I've had this in a primary 1 gal carboy for about 6 weeks. It has a bit of an ammonia smell and tastes a little off but not terrible. It's dried out completely, right at 12%. Is the off smell and taste just because it's young? Or is there something else wrong? It's drinkable, especially if it's sweetened and made into a hard drink with cream and sugar. I read that 6 months was mature and wonder if this is just a step in the process.
 
If I was going to make 1 gal coffee mead with a touch of vanilla, how much honey do you think would take the place of the sugar in these recipes? I made some chocolate mead using 2kg of honey in increments 1.5, .25, it's just gone into secondary so it'll be a while but the .25 will go in at the next racking but that might be too much for the coffee. Interested in any thoughts?
 
I've had this in a primary 1 gal carboy for about 6 weeks. It has a bit of an ammonia smell and tastes a little off but not terrible. It's dried out completely, right at 12%. Is the off smell and taste just because it's young? Or is there something else wrong? It's drinkable, especially if it's sweetened and made into a hard drink with cream and sugar. I read that 6 months was mature and wonder if this is just a step in the process.

Have you bottled yet, and if so, did you back-sweeten it or bottle as-is?
 
Just corked mine.

clear.JPG

Used 1:16 ratio with coffee and filtered water. I pre-tasted several different coffees to get the one that was best as a cold brew. Coffee was in the water 11 hours, when it was filtered and topped with filtered water to leave little headspace in the 5 litre demijohn. Added 700 gramms brown sugar, dissolved and pitched Lalvin EC-1118 into it.Went to 1.000 SG in 2 days, settled by the third day. Racked, added 5 drops home made vanilla extract (soaked vanilla beans in vodka for months, we just keep this stuff around for cooking). I also added bentonite at this point, stirred and let it clear. It cleared again in 4 days. Racked, then added Isinglass. Cleared in another 3 days. Racked into bottles and corked with silicone. It tastes great.

Coffee was Raul Gutierez filter roasting from http://www.casinomocca.hu/

Another pic:
12109941_10208038949119967_6835118696613758986_o.jpg
 
A small update on this. The wine got a bit cloudy over the past couple weeks. We opened one up for tasting, and light carbonation occurred. We got a beautiful sparkling wine.

I have to mention that the coffee used was not washed but a light-roast that was made with a fermentation technique. You really want to get a coffee like that, otherwise the taste will be plain and cardboard-like.
 
I've used this recipe or one like it using Boondock coffee and add Macadamia Nut sweetner when it's done. Make 3 gal and it doesn't last long. People are amazed you can make wine from coffee!
 
wanted to say thank you to the OP for this one. I made a small gallon of this using Café Bustello and red start wine yeast I had on hand. I just passed the 2 week mark and moved it over to a secondary. Took a sample and added just a bit of sugar and vanilla extract to my cup and I must say this tastes amazing already. As well as having some good kick to it. I am so tempted to make a 5 gallon batch of this in the upcoming weeks to hand out as gifts as a line of friends eager to try this.

Thank you again!
 
I've made coffee wine several times, including decaffeinated, and either way it's great. I prefer regular coffee (Folger's Black Silk) and brown sugar instead of white. I also use Coffee syrup for back sweetening - Vanilla or Hazel Nut - and find coffee lovers love it! It's easy to drink too much, and my son discovered late at night was not a good idea unless he wanted to be up all night.
 
I made this today, following the recipe mostly to the letter. It's currently sitting in a 2.5 gallon glass barrel shaped jug I got from Walmart for 10 bucks (drilled a hole and added airlock).

Man, it took forever to filter the coffee. I unfortunately had to run an errand so some of it sat for about 26 hours. Since I only used 5.5 oz of coffee hopefully that balances it out some. The coffee I used was my uncles own home roasted. I might start a batch in a few weeks with some regular 8 o clock coffee since I drink that most often.
 
Well, this became the first wine that I've ever racked to a secondary. It's very hot tasting but good already. OG was 1.096, racked at 0.9 (I may have messed up taking measurements since I didn't know what I was doing at the time). Also, the heads up about foam was appreciated, any container less than 2 gallons would have ended with foam in the airlock.

Thanks for the recipe! I'm going to start another batch this afternoon with 8 oclock.

Edit: bottled on 2/21/17 and it tastes nice. I back sweetened with 1/3 lb sugar and am pasteurizing now by dumping boiling water in my sink to bring the temperature up.
 
I just had a bottle of this i made in jan of 2014 i dont drink much in wines but i made this because i like coffee alot. every time ive tried this batch its been better then the last i went about 1-1.5 years without trying it this last time and i gotta tell you its amazing. the next batch you make hide some from yourself and let this go for years your future self will thank you.
 
This looks like an amazing recipe!

Has anyone ever tried or noticed a difference in flavour from the roasting of the beans (from light/blond roast -> dark roast?)
 
I just transferred a batch to a secondary (made 5 gal) and so far so good. Tastes a bit hot but that's ok. I will most likely back sweeten with Hazelnut syrup
 
For back sweetening, has anyone tried using Lactose? I'm lazy and haven't gone through the entire thread!


EDIT: Literally was talked about on the 2nd page. Ignore me! I'm starting this tonight!
 
Back
Top