Dry Beaning

[KennyS1134]

I am going to be "dry beaning" for the first time. I do not want to cold press, since I have already used this in the past. My beer is a massive Russian Imperial Stout at 15%. It has been fermenting for 1 week, and so I was going to add the coffee to the primary for 24 hours, then rack to my secondary, where it will be aged on bourbon soaked oak and some vanilla beans.

My question is, what is the best sanitizing practice for "dry beaning". Should I grind it up, and add the grounds to a straining bag? Add coffee beans to the straining bag? How would I sanitize everything? Soak the straining bag in starsan then just add the beans/grounds to it? Should I soak everything in bourbon? There doesn't seem to be much info regarding this. Keep in mind, I would prefer to try something new, and not do Cold Press. Thanks!!

 

[fermentology]

My process was to put the beans (whole, not crushed or ground) in a sanitized hop bag and put it in the keg. After 24 hours I took a sample and decided it needed more time. I removed them after 36 hours. My beer was 8.3% ABV and it is showing no signs of infection. At 15% you'll be fine.

Is there a reason you want to add them in primary? Why not just wait until secondary? You're going to have to remove the beer from the bourbon soaked oak and vanilla beans, you might as well wait until the last moment to add the coffee since it will fade like dry hops.

 

[pricelessbrewing]

Agreed with fermentology.
Be aware that due to the higher alcohol content, it will extract faster so you might want to be prepared for only "dry beaning" for a shorter time than usual.

If you don't want to dry bean, you could do a coffee extract in bourbon for an even shorter time but it'll be slightly different as the bourbon coffee extract will likely be pretty acrid.

Out of curiosity, why didn't you like cold brewing?

 

[Chadwick]

It seems to me that you could heat up the beans to sanitize them. After all, they've already been roasted at pretty extreme temps. I doubt heating them up in an oven to 250F would really have much impact on them. It would give me the assurance I'd want that I wasn't introducing any unwanted bugs.

 

[Natdavis777]

I typically give my beans a course crush and then add them to a sanitized bag, and soak in the keg for x amount of days. I have however, added the coarse beans directly to the fermenter on a few occasions without sterilizing them first, and didnt experience any ill effects.

 

[Calder]

I have used 2 ozs of whole beans in 5 gallons for 6 days a couple of times with great success. Whole beans makes it easy to rack off

I don't think alcohol level makes a difference for coffee, since it is readily dissolved in water. my beers were about 8%.

 

[Ivypunx]

If its already around 15% I wouldnt worry to much about the coffee beans infecting the beer, especially if they are out of a fresh pack.

 

[David_Trucks]

Like most others said, just throw them in a sanitized hop bag. I used a coarse grind and did this in a porter with no ill effects. 3.5 oz of coffee in a 5 gallon batch. The coffee flavor was very strong at first, but now months later, is almost gone. So I think if you plan on aging this beer for a bit, you may want to add more coffee than you first anticipated.