Whole coffee beans vs. cold brew coffee

[timrox1212]

I know most people recommend using cold brewed coffee in a porter/stout. Why not use whole beans? Off flavors maybe? Kinda wanted to brew a porter and use a ton of whole bean coffee. Maybe 1/2-1 lb. am I crazy?

 

[Nightshade]

I cold steep then add the coffee during xfer to ferm tank.

You could use whole bean but you need to crack them at least, I would suggest a coarse grind though. You will want to monitor the amount of flavor extracted in order to pull them before it dominates the beer.

One of the downfalls to using whole bean direct into the beer is that you may have a difficult time removing them if you are using a hop bag into a carboy, but there are ways around this you will have to figure out (not impossible just a pain).

 

[timrox1212]

So just dumping a bag of whole bean coffee into my secondary will really do nothing. I would need to grind it at least a little bit then?

 

[eulipion2]

I did a coffee saison with an ounce of coarsely crushed beans added 24 hours before bottling. The only thing I'd do different is put them in a nylon hop bag to avoid getting them in the bottle.

 

[Nightshade]

So just dumping a bag of whole bean coffee into my secondary will really do nothing. I would need to grind it at least a little bit then?

It can be a super coarse grind or even put them into a sturdy bag and smack them with a hammer a few times (I have done this) which makes for a much coarser "grind" than a grinder will give. This unlocks the flavor inside the bean which is what you want.

There are some hardcore coffee junkies on here that do their own roasting that I am sure will chime in at some point.

 

[mscott5205]

So just dumping a bag of whole bean coffee into my secondary will really do nothing. I would need to grind it at least a little bit then?

This is not true at all. I use whole coffee beans in secondary all the time and get excellent flavor. I soak 1-3 oz of beans in whiskey or vodka and let it sit for a week. I then add to the beer and allow 1-3 weeks of ageing depending on the flavor I'm looking for.

 

[Dawgs47]

I don't understand why you would use the whole bean. You grind the coffee bean to to extract the flavor. I would never try to make coffee without grinding the beans. I would guess it would come out very bland and watery. So what are the possible advantages of not grinding?

 

[Nightshade]

I don't understand why you would use the whole bean. You grind the coffee bean to to extract the flavor. I would never try to make coffee without grinding the beans. I would guess it would come out very bland and watery. So what are the possible advantages of not grinding?

It will still extract but you could potentially leave the beans in secondary for a lot longer and add them without a bag and not risk as much or even any silt getting into the finished product.

 

[BigFloyd]

I cold brew 4oz course grind dark roast beans and add at kegging, but I've tasted a porter that one of our local club guys did where he simply added 1 pound of whole beans for a few days late in the primary. I would not have thought that you'd get much coffee flavor that way, but he did.

 

[Hex]

I've done many cold brew beer batches of coffee beer, but never tried steeping in secondary. Two of them have been scaled up for production, The Kenyan and The Sauce, very well received. Make a strong base beer 7-8% Alc/Vol and dilute with 16% cold brewed coffee at bottling time, blend in brite tank during carbonation.

 

[Hex]

Here's a vid from our roasting partner about the selection of coffee for cold brew infused beer…