Too much wort

[SteveHeff]

I brewed up a large grain bill for a stout that I intend to age for the next 6-12 months. I ran my grain through my barley crusher and absolutely pulverized it, accidentally. I'll adjust the mill when I have a few minutes.

I ended up with a horrible stuck sparge. 23# of grain in my 10 gallon mash tun was a bit too much, especially given how fine the crush was. It took 3 hours to lauter 8 gallons. But due to my uncertainty of obtaining enough wort, I added a wee bit much sparge water.

After boiling, with 2 different pots, I ended up with 8 gallons of 1.102 wort. 6 went into one bucket and 2 went into the other. Since I didn't want to dump the remaining 2 gallons, I made a quick 1.036 one gallon wort and diluted the remaining 2 gallons with 1 gallon wort and 1 gallon of bottled water. My gravity on the small bucket is at 1.047.

So now I have 6 gallons of 1.102, which I will age, and 4 gallons of 1.047. I intend on roasting/adding 4oz of coffee to the small beer. I don't know exactly what to expect other than I will have a beer that I have never made before. I'm looking forward to see how this little experiment works out.

If anybody has ever added coffee to this size beer, please let me know. Is 4 oz enough or will it be too strong? My neighbor roasts coffee for me and can control the roast flavor very well. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[GoeHaarden]

I've done a few coffee stouts and I like 4-6oz to 5 gallon batches (usually ~1.050), which will turn out a nice coffee flavor without being too strong. IMO. I usually cold steep in a french press to try to minimize bitterness in the coffee a few days before, and add to secondary. Pretty cool that your neighbor will roast coffee for you, I wonder if freshness will play a role in how much flavor you can pull from it...

 

[SteveHeff]

After chatting with my roast master neighbor, we've come up with a plan. He's going to fresh roast 4 oz coffee for me over the weekend and then I'll pass it through the burr grinder for a coarse crush. I'll dry hop it for 24 hours and see where it is.

 

[Calder]

There really is no reason to crush the beans. Coffee beans readily give up their flavor. Grinding just allows the quick extraction of flavor.

Leaving beans whole makes it a lot easier to filter the coffee beans out.

I usually go 2 to 4 oxs beans to 5 gallons ....... usually go 4 ozs .... I like the flavor, and leave the beans in for about 5 days I don't know if I get any additional flavor after the first day or not.