How Should I Roast Coffee Beans for Porter?

[CWEBBrew]

How's it going fellas, my first time posting here.

I've only brewed 2 extract kits and I'm now preparing to brew the Power Pack Porter from Midwest Supplies this week. I bought some organic fair trade Peruvian coffee beans to add to the secondary, problem is these beans are green and unroasted which I need to take care of. From what I understand roasting coffee beans is a science in itself. Any advice on how to roast these bad boys correctly without buying a coffee roaster? I believe you can roast them in the oven, stovetop in a covered pan, or in a popcorn maker. Whats the best method?

Thanks a lot!

CWEBBrew

 

[CWEBBrew]

Also, once roasted I plan to cold steep 4-8oz. for 12 hrs in the secondary. I've never read anything about sterility when adding coffee to the secondary. Any steps need to be taken to make sure the coffee beans aren't going to infect my brew?

 

[Wynne-R]

http://www.sweetmarias.com/instructions.php

You need a lot of heat, something like 500F. Also, you probably want to do this outside because of the smoke.

 

[runningweird]

i do mine in a popcorn maker, search online there are instructions galore!

 

[CWEBBrew]

Great so Popcorn maker is the way to go.

As far as keeping things clean do you have to clean the popcorn maker with a certain solution at all? How do you ensure the coffee beans are clean prior to grinding them and adding them to the beer?

 

[CWEBBrew]

I've only brewed 2 extract kits and I'm now preparing to brew the Power Pack Porter from Midwest Supplies this week. I bought some organic fair trade Peruvian coffee beans to add to the secondary, problem is these beans are green and unroasted which I need to take care of. From what I understand roasting coffee beans is a science in itself. Any advice on how to roast these bad boys correctly without buying a coffee roaster? Also, how do I ensure the roasted coffee beans are clean/sterile prior to cold steeping them in the secondary? I dont want to infect my beer.

Thanks a lot for any help!

CWEBBrew

 

[Yuri_Rage]

No microbes will survive the roasting process -- that one was an easy answer.

However, I wouldn't risk 5 gallons of beer with my first attempt at roasting coffee. Since I've never roasted coffee, I can't help much more than to say that I'd avoid doing what you suggest.

 

[CWEBBrew]

After roasting the beans they will come into contact with other unclean surfaces though such as the coffee grinder. Will dipping the crushed coffee into a starsan solution prior to cold steeping suffice or is that unneccesary?

 

[dyqik]

Your popcorn maker will smell of coffee if you do several dark roasts in it. One or two light roasts aren't an issue.

The cheapest suitable popcorn maker I've found is the Sunbeam one that Target often sells for around $20. A popcorn maker will only do about 2oz of green beans at a time though. You can also use a whirly-pop type stove top pan with a whisk, or if you have a decent range hood, just a skillet and a lot of stirring. Another option if you have the kit is a DIY type hot air gun and s/s bowl.

Roasting coffee produces huge amount of smoke, particularly if you go into 2nd crack. As for cleaning/sterility, don't bother, you're going to heat the beans to 450F or so, and as you do so, the papery "chaff" skin of the beans will come off. Leave to cool then store in a sanitized container, wait 48 hours, then grind them. If you are really worried, then hot brew the beans to make a concentrate in 200F water rather than cold steeping, as that should help sanitize them.

 

[RmikeVT]

Have you thought about literally making coffee and then adding it in. That way you sanitize through the coffee making process and you can also taste it to see if it is good enough to add to beer.

What did the instructions recommend?

EDIT: Another option would be to sanitize the coffee grinder. Maybe you could swab down with Alcohol and wait for it to dry then grind the beans.

 

[CWEBBrew]

No instructions with my power pack porter kit. Im choosing the add a little more coffee flavor and aroma to the the recipe is all. And yeah I've thought about brewing the coffee normally for sterility purposes but from what I've read cold steeping for 12-24 hours is the way to go. I think I might sanitize the popcorn machine and coffee grinder as much as I can and just put the crushed beans in a sterile container when im done.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

Coffee Malt

 

[Desvio]

After roasting and grinding, personally I don't think you would have a problem with contamination. I have been racking to secondary over a miriad of stuff (coffee, smoked chipotle, cinnamon, etc), as long as the equipment you are using has been properly cleaned you're good to go. I hate starsan for all kinds of reasons and if I was to pour anything over a product going into my beer, I tend to use a 3% citric acid solution (I also use it to clean my equipment), but again I have never even bothered.

A friend of mine roasts coffee on big baking sheets in the oven, time and temp are key. http://www.breworganic.com/coffee/howtoroast.htm

 

[flars]

No instructions with my power pack porter kit. Im choosing the add a little more coffee flavor and aroma to the the recipe is all. And yeah I've thought about brewing the coffee normally for sterility purposes but from what I've read cold steeping for 12-24 hours is the way to go. I think I might sanitize the popcorn machine and coffee grinder as much as I can and just put the crushed beans in a sterile container when im done.

Since you've never roasted coffe beans before, and yes they do take special care, humidity, and temperature; I wouldn't do it. Many of the nuances of special beans will not be discernable in an ale.
I would brew a strong Folgers, Star Bucks, 8 O'Clock, etc., to what has a strong, but good drinkable flavor. On bottling day take a large sample of your beer and add an accurate measure(s) of coffee. When you achieve the coffee flavor you want, interpolate the amount of coffee volume needed for the volume you are bottling.
Then cut it back 20%. In a fully conditioned beer the coffe flavor will come forward stronger. Heat the coffee to 175°, with continuous stirring, for 10 minutes before adding to your bottling bucket.

 

[roastquake]

Professional roaster here, I could type it all out but... F that, here's some links to a few home roasting methods:

http://www.sweetmarias.com/airpop/airpopmethod.php

http://www.sweetmarias.com/stovepopmethod.php#skillet

http://www.sweetmarias.com/stovepopmethod.php

I've done all three but after my whirly-pop handle broke I just use the pot and a spoon and stir stir stir

 

[Desvio]

I've done all three but after my whirly-pop handle broke I just use the pot and a spoon and stir stir stir

Haha, your attitude is great, I might actually try this myself~

 

[roastquake]

btw, if you have an outdoor burner (not the big propane burner for full boils, a smaller one, maybe electric), roast outside. It will make your house stink for days

 

[C-Rider]

I always cold steeping for 12-24 hours. then add to the bottling bucket "TO TASTE".
I wouldn't try my own roast (first time) into my beer before knowing what the coffee would taste like.

 

[brick]

I've never tried it myself, but I've read of people using a heat gun and a steel bowl to roast small batches on the cheap...if they happened to already have a heat gun. I imagine the trick is to use a lot of heat and enough air volume to get the beans swirling around. Otherwise I'd go with the popcorn popper since that's tried and true.

Fair warning: if you drink any of that fresh roasted coffee, you're going to end up with a second beverage obsession.

 

[Cider123]

Here's a thread I started a while ago:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f19/dont-roast-your-own-coffee-beans-410393/

I love home roasted coffee and sweetmarias is a great supplier.

 

[Wynne-R]

I enjoyed the link. I use a #3 cast iron skillet with a Revereware lid.

I roasted this morning, Guatemalan Full City+. I didn’t even wait for the beans to cool, tossed them in the burr grinder at about 300F. They were a little soft, but five minutes later I was drinking some very fresh coffee.

I’ve never added coffee to beer, but I wouldn’t worry about any pathogens surviving the roast.

To me, a good day is when you can switch directly from coffee to beer.

 

[Natdavis777]

If you are looking to enhance the coffee flavor, take the roasted beans and crush, not grind them. I put them in a plastic bad and hit them with a hammer a few times. If you put them in whole, it wont extract alot of flavor out. If you brew a pot and pour in, you can add some asstringincy (sp?). You can cold brew to avoid the latter, but I do not prefer it. The crushing method has worked on several stouts and they all have turned out well.

 

[FatDragon]

If you're worried about sanitization:

If you cold-brew the coffee (a common selection), you could pasteurize it by putting it in a heat-safe jar, putting the jar in a pot full of water, and heating the water to 160F+. If you do crushed beans, you could soak in some vodka for a while and then pitch the beans with the vodka (to get any flavor that steeped into the vodka) into secondary.

I do agree with some that it's a bit much to put your first coffee roast into your third batch of beer, but I like the ballsiness of such a move, so I say rock on!

 

[Espresso]

I use a coffee roaster, but that's because coffee's a bigger obsession for me than beer.
A hot air popcorn popper should work for you. I'd seal the beans in a jar for a couple days before using as beans usually need a couple days of rest to taste their best, however that probably doesn't matter when using it as a beer ingredient.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Duplicate threads merged

 

[roastquake]

I enjoyed the link. I use a #3 cast iron skillet with a Revereware lid.

I roasted this morning, Guatemalan Full City+. I didn’t even wait for the beans to cool, tossed them in the burr grinder at about 300F. They were a little soft, but five minutes later I was drinking some very fresh coffee.

I’ve never added coffee to beer, but I wouldn’t worry about any pathogens surviving the roast.

To me, a good day is when you can switch directly from coffee to beer.

If you still have any more of that Guat, it's fully degassed and probably at it's peak of flavor today

 

[Toy4Rick]

I have brewed 6-8 porters and all of them have enough coffee flavor based on the grain bill. IMO adding coffee would turn it into an expresso with alcohol rather than a porter

Sometimes it's good to have a baseline first before tweaking. Might be worth considering brewing a batch without adding coffee then go from there, just my opinion

Toy4Rick

 

[CWEBBrew]

Thanks for the help fellas. Still haven't had a chance to brew just yet but when I do I'm going to push forward and add the extra coffee beans. I'll let you all know how things go

Sláinte!