How/when to add coffee to my porter recipe?

[Nkliph]

Hi

I haven't brewed for a few years, just getting back into it. I decided to start with an extract recipe from my supply shop - a basic porter.

However, I'd like to get a coffee flavor going (most of my family likes coffee, I've loved any porter or stout with coffee flavor I've ever tried). So, I am hoping that I can post the recipe, then have a suggestion on how, when and how much coffee to add into the recipe.

Recipe:

SPECIALTY GRAINS:
1 lb Munich Dark
0.75 lbs Crystal 40
0.6 lbs Chocolate Malt
0.4 lbs Roasted barley

FERMENTABLES
- 5 lbs briess golden dry malt extract

HOPS
- 1 oz EK Goldings

YEAST
- Safale US-05

Any recommendations on the coffee appreciated!

Bonus Questions:
-Didn't think about it until after I left - but I have dry yeast. Do the liquid cultures (I remember opting for these previously) tend to give better results?)

- The owner of the brew shop says he didn't recommend a carboy and/or secondary fermentation. He said he felt it was an old technique that offered more room to degrade the beer (light, oxygen) than improve it. Is this the general consensus?

Thanks again

 

[Hoppity]

Coffee additions take place twice when I want to add the flavor:
1. Last 5 minutes of boil to flame-out. 8 oz per 5 gallon batch.
2. Post-fermentation: Dissolve priming sugar in a cup of coffee and place in bottom of bottling bucket , then bottle.
3. I usually keg and use step 2 to carb the keg at cellar temps. Check online calculators for proper sugar levels to style.

Dry yeast strains are great now. Go to their website and follow instructions there rather than packet instructions.

A large number of members of this forum agree with your local homebrew store: a single vessel fermentation saves the effort of secondary transfer and reduces deleterious chance of oxygenation of batch.

 

[Transamguy77]

I add a strong brew of cold brewed coffee at bottling or kegging for the best flavor. I use 8oz of grinds (by weight) in 5 gallons of beer.

 

[Calder]

The 'Best' flavor I have had is from adding 2 ozs whole beans to the fermenter (5 gallons) for 7 days.

 

[Sailingeric]

If you have a Trader Joe's near by, their coffee concentrate is good to use. I used 1/4 cup to 5 gallons for a hint of coffee flavor to a stout I did.

 

[Nkliph]

The 'Best' flavor I have had is from adding 2 ozs whole beans to the fermenter (5 gallons) for 7 days.

So, the last 7 days before you go from fermenter to rack? Or the first 7 days, then remove? (I'm not using a secondary for this batch).

 

[Calder]

So, the last 7 days before you go from fermenter to rack? Or the first 7 days, then remove? (I'm not using a secondary for this batch).

The last 7 days. Using whole beans makes it easy to keep them out of bottles.

 

[olotti]

I just used 5oz of beans. I coarse crushed 2oz with a rolling pin and used 3 oz whole, soaked in vodka for a couple of days, wrapped the beans in cheese cloth to make a steeping bag and I put them in my primary during the last four days of my usual 14 day primary cycle. Really nice rounded coffee flavor none of the astringency I encountered when I steeped the grounds at flame out. I also hear the cold brewed add at bottling is a good way to go too.

 

[tacks]

I cold brew with 2oz then add to long primary at the beginning, 21 days later if it needs a bit more add a pinch of instant coffee at bottling.

 

[antony]

+1 for cold brewed coffee after primary

 

[Ale_Jail]

I recently made a coffee stout....I used cold press coffee at bottling. I used 59 ounces of cold press for about 5.25 gallons of beer. I racked the beer on top of the coffee and my priming sugar solution. It turned out great!

 

[JonW]

I use fresh brewed espresso shots. I put a 2 oz (double shot) per gallon directly into the serving keg.

 

[Mexibilly]

I recently made a coffee stout....I used cold press coffee at bottling. I used 59 ounces of cold press for about 5.25 gallons of beer. I racked the beer on top of the coffee and my priming sugar solution. It turned out great!

Did I read that right, nearly half a gallon?
I'm gonna add coffee to a stout in about 2 months. That seems like a lot of volume

 

[Ale_Jail]

It tasted fantastic.....everyone else really seemed to like it as well.....I am considering lowering the amount but only by a few ounces

 

[Nkliph]

I cold brew with 2oz then add to long primary at the beginning, 21 days later if it needs a bit more add a pinch of instant coffee at bottling.

Thanks. Just to clarify - are you saying you cold brew 2 oz of coffee grounds, and if so, how much total coffee do you make? Or, are you saying you just add 2 oz total of cold brew coffee?

 

[tacks]

Thanks. Just to clarify - are you saying you cold brew 2 oz of coffee grounds, and if so, how much total coffee do you make? Or, are you saying you just add 2 oz total of cold brew coffee?

I sanitize a pticher, fill it up about halfway with cold water, (16oz/.5L) and toss in the 2 oz of grounds. Then I let it sit overnight in the fridge. The next day I dump it into the fermenter, grounds and all. I don't know that the amount of time you leave the beans in the water before adding to your fermenter matters that much, but the first time I did it I prepared the coffee at night and figured I'd just leave it until the next day. It turned out great so that's how I've done it ever since.

 

[geoffey]

There is an interesting difference here in the amount of coffee people are using: 2oz-59oz. Although the reference to 59oz was liquid coffee as opposed to amount of coffee grounds used. Ale_Jail, how many oz of grounds would you say you used? (Also, are you affiliated with the store in St. Paul by any chance?)

 

[Ale_Jail]

Nope....I didn't brew the coffee.....I bought it from Dunn Brothers (I cheated) haha.