Clone Beer Founder's Breakfast Stout Clone

[cantrell00]

But don't (re)roast the coffee beans like the nibs.

Correct. Sorry for that omission.

 

[paguy]

I wouldn't soak them in vodka. I would roast them @ 350 for 12 minutes & add to secondary in a muslin bag.. 2-3 days to taste. 4 oz

I would add the coffee the same way. 2-3 oz of whole sumatran coffee lightly cracked in a muslin bag, 1-2 days in secondary.

I have to ask, why would you reroast the coco beans? They are already roasted. Have you had any bad experiences with soaking them in vodka?

 

[cantrell00]

I have to ask, why would you reroast the coco beans? They are already roasted. Have you had any bad experiences with soaking them in vodka?

No I haven't.

I've had really good results with roasting them though.

Not all nibs are roasted by the way.

 

[Helly]

I kegged my most recent batch today. I used moop's whole bean coffee approach and it tastes great right now. Anyone ever put this on nitro? I have the parts to do it but haven't assembled my nitro tap yet.

 

[pwortiz]

This was my first nitro beer via beer gas/stout tap. Loved it. I would do it again in a heart beat.

 

[brew_ny]

need to try this one

 

[Helly]

This was my first nitro beer via beer gas/stout tap. Loved it. I would do it again in a heart beat.

Cool, thanks. I will have to try it.

 

[Hoppity]

Brewed this today. Almost out of my 1st batch. Great recipe!

 

[CraigKing]

I read the first 3 pages, then skipped to the end - have their been any note-worthy additions and/or changes to the recipe I should be aware of?

Thanks

 

[Hoppity]

1st page all the way. Some have tried different coffee additions. Everyone who tried mine either said it is the best beer I ever brewed or said: "I don't like Stouts, but this is amazing!". ...That good!

 

[CraigKing]

Thanks. I'll stick with the original recipe and start gathering my ingredients.

 

[Helly]

So I've tapped my keg and the recent batch tastes terrible all of a sudden. Tastes bitter and a little sour, maybe a little metallic. I was hoping it would fade once it's carbed but it's not, at least not yet. Never had a batch go from good to bad so quickly. I'm wondering if it's infected? I used the whole bean "dry bean" approach, I suppose it's possible that it got infected from that?

 

[Hoppity]

So I've tapped my keg and the recent batch tastes terrible all of a sudden. Tastes bitter and a little sour, maybe a little metallic. I was hoping it would fade once it's carbed but it's not, at least not yet. Never had a batch go from good to bad so quickly. I'm wondering if it's infected? I used the whole bean "dry bean" approach, I suppose it's possible that it got infected from that?

How long did you hold it in primary and or secondary? How "clean" we're the adjunct additions? I bathe everything with CO2 post-primary just to be safe. Sorry for your effort wasted. Unsure it will come back, based on your diagnosis.

 

[Helly]

7 weeks in primary fermenter including the "dry bean" addition. Not sure how long those were in there. The only other thing that got added was priming sugar to the keg, and that was boiled prior to addition. It tasted great when I put it in the keg. So I'm thinking it's likely infection from the coffee, priming sugar, or dirty equipment. So strange. I'll let it sit a bit and see if it improves. Either way looks like I'll be doing some serious cleaning and tearing that keg apart to make sure there's nothing Hiding in there.

 

[CraigKing]

I would think that before you add the dry beans, you would sanitize them first, right? Can you use StarSan to sanitize them beforehand?

 

[Helly]

I would think that before you add the dry beans, you would sanitize them first, right? Can you use StarSan to sanitize them beforehand?

I didn't, and that's the biggest gap I can find in the process. Total mistake I admit. There's also a slight chance that I'm getting off flavors from the keg line but I can't imagine it would be to this extent. I'm gonna get the super duper keg line cleaner and try that first before I would dump it.

 

[CraigKing]

Gathered all of my ingredients and bought 7gals of reverse osmosis drinking water. I am going to use Folger's 100% Colombian ground coffee.

I have also prepped my camping cooler to use it as a swamp cooler to maintain the cooler fermentation temps.

 

[pwortiz]

Gathered all of my ingredients and bought 7gals of reverse osmosis drinking water. I am going to use Folger's 100% Colombian ground coffee.

I have also prepped my camping cooler to use it as a swamp cooler to maintain the cooler fermentation temps.

You put some money into that water. I sincerely hope I don't come off as a "coffee snob" but PLEASE don't use Folgers in this beer. If it's 100% arabica, it's less of a risk, but if you use the robusta that commonly makes up Folgers, I fear your savings in this case will end up creating a beer you may not end up truly enjoying.

That said, I wish you the best 'o luck!

 

[CraigKing]

^-- I'm not sure I follow.

My water... I bought 7gals of RO water from Walmart at $.86/gal. That didn't seem like much money.

As for the coffee, I didn't buy the Folgers based on $$ savings, I bought it on practicality. This recipe does not call for much coffee. And the specific types of coffee that the recipe suggests, were not available at my store. Not to mention, there were "fancy" coffee brands, but a lot of them were 1lb containers that would end up going to waste because I only needed a few ounces for the brew.



I don't drink coffee, so the terms "robusta" and "arabica" don't mean much to me. Care to elaborate? I haven't brewed this yet, but plan to do it very soon. Is there a coffee substitution you suggest that a non-coffee drinker like myself could easily obtain?

Thanks

 

[YeastMode]

The quick and dirty answer is that the robusta beans are less desirable and arabica would be considered to be the "superior" or premium option. Starbucks used 100% arabica, fwiw.

I just did this brew and I used Cuban coffee, if that is available in your area, specifically the premium Bustelo brand. While that was around $5, the basic version or Pilon brand will run you about $2.50 for a 10 oz pack. I think it came out great.

 

[cantrell00]

Use low acidity.

As recommended earlier in the thread by someone else, Sumatran works really well.

 

[pwortiz]

Thanks, YeastMode! Summed up my reasoning spot on.

I was able to use the Sumatra but not Kona.

CraigKing, if you look up the profiles of the two coffees the original recipe calls for, I think you ought to find appropriate subs in your area.

 

[sweetcell]

Gathered all of my ingredients and bought 7gals of reverse osmosis drinking water.

apologies if i'm asking the obvious, but will you be adding salts to the RO water?

 

[CraigKing]

apologies if i'm asking the obvious, but will you be adding salts to the RO water?

No. I'm dumping the water straight in. Should I be adding salt? I thought RO water was ready to go, straight out of the container.

 

[sweetcell]

No. I'm dumping the water straight in. Should I be adding salt? I thought RO water was ready to go, straight out of the container.

RO is devoid of minerals, which the yeast needs, so RO is not ready to go. the main mineral you want is calcium, so some calcium chloride and/or calcium sulfate (gypsum) would be beneficial (mostly the CaCl). table salt (NaCl) won't be of any help.

spring water has minerals in it, so while the makeup is unknown it's going to be better than RO/distilled water. if you're not going to mess with water chemistry, it is better to use spring instead of RO.

 

[CraigKing]

I have gypsum. Is there a general amount I can add?

 

[sweetcell]

i've never worked with RO so i'm not sure what the right quantities are (i use my tap water, filtered, for which I know its mineral content and thus what needs to be added). i can run it through my water spreadsheet tonight, but maybe someone can provide some guidance before then.

gypsum tends to accentuate hops, which isn't really the point of this beer, so ideally you'll want to use enough to get you to 50 ppm but not much higher. not that going higher is going to ruin the beer, this is an american imp stout after all :cheers:

 

[CraigKing]

After reading about RO water, distilled water, spring water, etc from various threads for the last hour, I've come to the consensus that there is no clear consensus on water.


I'll stick with my 7gals of RO water for this brew.

 

[hanuswalrus]

Here's a very simple "primer" on how to treat soft / RO water: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=198460

Basically it says to add 1 teaspoon of CaCl to each 5 gallons of water treated.

 

[hanuswalrus]

Here's a very simple "primer" on how to treat soft / RO water: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=198460

Basically it says to add 1 teaspoon of CaCl to each 5 gallons of water treated.