French Press and Randal Thread

[deuce92591]

Ready to get into the french press game tomorrow.

Blackberry / Raspberry (4 oz each mashed)
Vanilla (1 bean, shaved)
Jalapeno (1 pepper, diced)
Coconut (1/2 cup, toasted)
Earl of Biggleswade (Quantities are thrown out the window at this point)

Will hopefully report back in a few days. From all I've read, 20-30 minutes in the press with half a bottle...cork the second half and pour over before drinking. Any other input is appreciated, quantities/steep time/etc.

Cheers.

 

[rcubed1]

With BCS, 30 minutes is when I would check on the infusion and see if you want to go longer.

 

[Dbijnagte]

My favorite I've done so far was a s'mores bcbs:

-A bunch of Graham cracker crumbs
-A good amount of marshmallows
-some dark chocolate chips
Steeped for 45 minutes.
Super tasty.

Another delicious one was toasted macadamia nut - coconut bcbs.

 

[justforrazors]

Does anyone have any experience using an aeropress as a randal? I've been brewing a lot of coffee with it and figured I'd throw some beer into it and see if I can get anything cool out. I just don't know how long I should steep in it. It seems like it wouldn't take as long as the French press method as you would be forcing the beer through the adjunct at a pretty high pressure, which should impart a lot of flavor. Thoughts?

 

[CypherEnigma]

Does anyone have any experience using an aeropress as a randal? I've been brewing a lot of coffee with it and figured I'd throw some beer into it and see if I can get anything cool out. I just don't know how long I should steep in it. It seems like it wouldn't take as long as the French press method as you would be forcing the beer through the adjunct at a pretty high pressure, which should impart a lot of flavor. Thoughts?

After seeing this post I went and did some messing around with this idea. I grabbed a BCBS from the cellar and went up to my kitchen.

My first concern was pouring the beer over the coffee grounds and having it foam up because of the nucleation sites so I ran it through my V60 with a paper filter. I also threw in a small amount of dark roast beans in there because why not? I poured the beer into the v60 and it was going at a pretty stead pace at first which was appreciably slower than the rate that water filters through it. Towards the end it really slowed down so I took the filter and squeezed the last bits of BCBS from the grounds.

I then ground a bunch of more aromatic beans at a medium fine grind and put them in the Aeropress. I did the "inverted method" and steeped the beans for at least 3-5 minutes which I figured would compensate for the lack of heat in the extraction. When I flipped it over and started to press it was hard to press and it was filtering very slowly. I think this was in part due to the viscosity of the beer as well as the grind and I think I will try a coarser grind next time I attempt this. The actual pressing took another 4-5 minutes because it was so slow and there was so much resistance. I'm drinking this right now and it is basically straight coffee juice so here are the two things that I would certainly change next time I do this.

1) Coarser grind so there is less extraction and easier filtering(although I feel a large part of the filtering problem was because of the viscosity of the liquid and not the grind itself).

2) Save 1/4 to 1/2 of the beer to blend back into the finished product to mellow it out if it is overblown like this cup was.

 

[mrbubbler1]

Some of my favorite infusions to date have been;

Sitr with blood orange
-16 oz of sitr soak with 1-2 medium sized blood orange chopped into thin slices.
-40-50 minutes of infusion (in fridge), then mix the infusion with remaining contents of the bottle.
-(optional) You can add a splash of vanilla extract or soak with a vanilla bean for a sour creamsicle

Fluffer Nutter! Black tuesday or 1/2 BT & 1/2 Bruery anniversary beer of choice (50/50 mix is similar to the 2nd place blend our team made for the hoarders blending session)

-dissolve +/- 1.5 tablespoons of marshmallow fluff into beer by stirring slowly.(start off small work your way up to desired sweetness)
-add one table spoon peanut butter powder (I would suggest maybe starting with 1/2 table spoon and slowly increase to desired deliciousness) Stir slowly till everything is dissolved

^^ I like making a concentrate version of this blend and adding more beer to water it down. I find that adding fresh beer usually adds a little carbonation.

Crooked stave St Bretta with blood orange
-One bottle of St bretta with 1 medium blood orange sliced thinly
-35-40 minutes of infusion
-pulverize blood orange before pressing your infusion
-Blend with another bottle of St Bretta

Crooked stave Surette with KIWI (try to find some flavorful kiwi's for best results)
-mash 2 skinned kiwis at the bottom of french press
-blend in one bottle of Surette
- 45-50 minutes of infusion
-Blend with another bottle of Surette

Rene on peaches
-mash 2 medium size peaches into the french press (with or without skin, remove the stone)
-pour in 3/4 of a bottle of Cuvee rene
- 30-35 minutes of infusion
- blend remainder of bottle in with infused beer.

 

[drbenzo1]

Fluffer nutter sounds great!

 

[mrk_d]

Did some blends tonight using Hottenroth as a base, the results were pretty tasty.

First, I muddled a handful of both raspberries and blackberries, added some beer to each, and let them sit for about 30 mins.

Next, I strained using a metal Kone coffee filter.

The resultant concentrate:

And the finished product, which was roughly a 1:1 ratio. The raspberry one foamed up a ton.

Overall the results were good. The raspberry version got a super creamy mouthfeel which was nice, and the blackberry version wasn't overpowering but had a good subtle fruitiness. Overall it's worth repeating, though I might add more fruit and let the mixture sit in a sealed mason jar for ~1 hour so that it picks up more fruit and stays better-carbonated.

 

[rcubed1]

Get a French press. That will make that infusion a lot easier for you.

 

[Chest Rockwell]

Does anyone have any experience using an aeropress as a randal? I've been brewing a lot of coffee with it and figured I'd throw some beer into it and see if I can get anything cool out. I just don't know how long I should steep in it. It seems like it wouldn't take as long as the French press method as you would be forcing the beer through the adjunct at a pretty high pressure, which should impart a lot of flavor. Thoughts?

I do it all the time, but only for coffee. Traditional method. Use about 3oz of BCBS heated up to ~180F. Stir for 20 seconds then press. Add back the rest of the bottle to the glass. I don't use the inverted method because I feel like it over extracts the coffee.

 

[drbenzo1]

Bean paste didn't do as much as I hoped.... Tons of coffee and coco

 

[voldemortadella]

Kiwi & lime Westbrook Gose turned out amazing!

 

[demmons]

Just threw about a 1/4c of coffee beans in a 1L growler of Kane Port Omna. Too much coffee?
Gonna let it sit for a couple hours and drink it this evening. Will report back.

 

[RyanG1]

I don't drink coffee, but need to invest in a french press now after witnessing the splendid concoctions in here.

 

[demmons]

Kane Port Omna growler conditioned on whole coffee beans for over 6 hours. Coffee heaven.

 

[rcubed1]

No picture but I took Hottenroth from The Bruery and pressed some kumquats. Turned out great. Pretty much any fruit would go well with the beer. Recommended.

 

[jeblikesbeer]

Kiwi & lime Westbrook Gose turned out amazing!

itcamefromthesea we should do this!

 

[Calcifer]

Just did a blackberry and raspberry Gose with phenomenal results.

 

[matedog]

Jumped on the French Press + gose bandwagon last night.

Not visible, but I mashed about seven or eight strawberries, tossed them to the bottom of the FP and pressed the gose. Super easy and it worked out really nicely. The strawberry was certainly present (something I couldn't really say about the recent Almanac Strawberry) without being overwhelming.

*note - can in photo is unopened because I crushed the other can right after pouring.

 

[Tyrsis]

I had the best French Pressed beer of my life at this years Woodshop.
Bar Fly with Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

oh lawdy

 

[Fluke828]

So If I was to use a full 12 oz of BCBS in french press with toasted coconut, with an additional bottle to add afterwards to help carb, should I use 2 cups of coconut ? I see most folks seem to be using about 1 cup for 1 bottle...

 

[user 305963]

So If I was to use a full 12 oz of BCBS in french press with toasted coconut, with an additional bottle to add afterwards to help carb, should I use 2 cups of coconut ? I see most folks seem to be using about 1 cup for 1 bottle...

I've done 3 Tbsp of unsweetened coconut, toasted quickly in a pan, into half of a bottle. Let it steep for about 10 minutes. Pour into glass then pour in remainder of the bottle. Tastes great and one of my friends, who's had Prop, says its almost the same....almost.

 

[rcubed1]

I've found you get good extraction after 30 minutes. I always eyeball the amount though. You'll want to overdue the coconut character just a bit when you blend back a fresh bottle for carb/to taste.

 

[cyde]

I've been on a BCBS infusion kick lately to boost hoarding moral on Black Friday:

Toasted coconut & macadamia nut BCBS

Sour cherry infused BCBS

Both blended together. Ho Lee ****

 

[mjshearer1]

GRDave, Otis and I had this last night. French pressed with toasted coconut and pure Madagascar vanilla extract. I don't know if I ever need to have Prop if this can be home made, because I really can't imagine it getting any better than this. Just incredible.

 

[drbenzo1]

Next time, try adding a small amount of coldbrew coffee to these ideas.... Soooooo gooood! I will report back soon... Have a bottle of BT at home to fiddle with tonight

 

[drbenzo1]

Mocha Saturday

 

[Jb123]

X post fux given

 

[cyde]

Mocha Saturday

Was the cocoa powder was too fine and passed through the mesh filter?

 

[drbenzo1]

Was the cocoa powder was too fine and passed through the mesh filter?

Yes... But it ads good flavor... Some texture. Cocoa nibs only add good glove over a long period of time in my experience.