Help on adding coffee to a stout during secondary.

[tcd2004]

Well me and my buddy are on our 4th batch and we decided to go with a stout. The recipe we bought from our LHBS is called west coast stout and this is what's involved:

1lb flaked barley
1/2lb chocolate
1/2lb roasted barley
1/4lb black malt
1 oz amarillo (bittering)
1 oz cascade (bittering)

What we want to do is add coffee in the secondary so we are seeing what the best way to do it is. We plan on racking to secondary after 7 days, which will be this sunday, so we would like to have an idea before then. I've read many different ideas from adding it during the boil, adding coarse ground coffee during secondary, and adding cold filtered during secondary. What are you thoughts on how to do it and when to add it to secondary to get a nice coffee flavor out of it without being too over powering? Thanks for the help!

 

[rigeek]

What I've heard is to cold-brew some coffee, let it sit cold overnight, and then pour it into secondary. I'm not really sure how much you would use though. I'm going to try a coffee stout myself soon. I'll be watching this thread to see how it goes!

 

[Topher79]

I made a Coffee Oatmeal Imperial Stout in January and it's 9.2%. I bottled it 3 weeks ago, and won't crack one open for 3-4 more months to let the alcohol flavors die down a bit. However, the sample at bottling time was excellent! It had a great coffee flavor, and it wasn't overpowering.

The process I used was to cold brew some coffee by adding 1/2 cup fresh ground coffee beans (I used a medium roast) to 4 cups of spring water. I did this the night before I brewed. The next morning I strained the mixture through a coffee filter, and added the cold brewed coffee at flameout. This process, minus the addition at flameout, should work fine for your secondary addition.

The reason people say to cold brew the coffee is so that you don't get a bitter coffee flavor coming through in your beer. Good luck!

 

[max129]

I've tried cold brewing coffee and adding to secondary and found that the coffee flavor was a bit overpowering. For my recent Breakfast Stout clone, I added 2 oz of coarsely ground coffee beans (Fresh Direct's Breakfast Blend) in a muslin bag and just sampled the beer every couple of days until I got the flavor I wanted. It ended up being about 5 days. Either way gave a much smoother, less bitter coffee flavor than the time I added it during the boil.

 

[tcd2004]

Thanks for the responses so far. If I went the cold brew way, would I just dump it in the bottling bucket or add it to the secondary for X amount of days before bottling?

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

I just drank one of my coffee brown ales last night, great stuff. What I recommend is cold brewing some coffee as others mentioned then add it to taste at bottling time. This way your not overpowering your brew, or not getting enough coffee flavor. The bottle I drank last night was around 6 months old and the coffee hadnt faded at all.

I cold brew coffee to drink and enjoy and here is the recipe I use. Its more of a concentrate meant to be diluted with milk. But in your case the stronger the coffee the less you'll need to use..... 1 1/3 cups coffee beans(ground finely as possible) mixed into 1 qt of water. Also heres a thread I started a while back about using coffee......https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/what-type-coffee-beans-do-you-use-329340/

 

[Topher79]

Thanks for the responses so far. If I went the cold brew way, would I just dump it in the bottling bucket or add it to the secondary for X amount of days before bottling?

I would add it to the secondary when you rack over from your primary.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

I would add it to the secondary when you rack over from your primary.

This gives you no control unless you want to open your fermenter and taste every single day. You also have to deal with the grounds and sediment when racking to the bottling bucket. By adding the coffee at bottling you can add a little at a time until you like where its at and filter it prior to adding so you dont get any sediment.

 

[hcuda]

I made a porter once that I added coffee to. I added two strong pots of brewed Gautamalan coffee as top off liquid. I didn't do anything fancy with brewing the coffee just made it really strong. Made a very delicious beer. Turned out more of a black stout in characteristics and held a bit a caffeine kick for awhile. If I were to do it again I think I might try a nuttier coffee and only do one pot.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

I made a porter once that I added coffee to. I added two strong pots of brewed Gautamalan coffee as top off liquid. I didn't do anything fancy with brewing the coffee just made it really strong. Made a very delicious beer. Turned out more of a black stout in characteristics and held a bit a caffeine kick for awhile. If I were to do it again I think I might try a nuttier coffee and only do one pot.

This is why I like adding it at bottling. Otherwise your kind of just shooting in the dark and hoping for the best.

 

[Topher79]

This gives you no control unless you want to open your fermenter and taste every single day. You also have to deal with the grounds and sediment when racking to the bottling bucket. By adding the coffee at bottling you can add a little at a time until you like where its at and filter it prior to adding so you dont get any sediment.

Did you read my earlier post where I explained my process? Not sure where you're getting the "sediment" from. The benefit of adding coffee in the secondary is the same benefit of dry hopping an IPA, and dry nibbling a chocolate porter/stout...you still get the flavor profile and aroma.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

I did but adding it at flameout or to the secondary doesn't really allow you to mix it in and gauge if you added too much.

 

[Topher79]

Ok. You just made it sound like I was suggesting dumping coffee grounds into the secondary or something of the sort. Your way is good, I just don't like the idea of adding that much unsanatized liquid to my bottling bucket.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Ok. You just made it sound like I was suggesting dumping coffee grounds into the secondary or something of the sort. Your way is good, I just don't like the idea of adding that much unsanatized liquid to my bottling bucket.

To be honest I did miss the part where you mentioned you filtered it. You can always use the cofffee as the liquid for your priming sugar to keep things sanitized.