Quick question in regards to the addition of the addition of the coffee grounds at flame out. Do you suggest adding the grounds directly to the wort, steeping them in a muslin bag (if so for how long) or I also hear that some make a cold brew and then add the liquid directly to the wort. Any suggestions you can provide are greatly appreciated.
I’ve read about great results from cold steeped then added, but not many people can agree on when to add it. I was doing a lot of research when I attempted a coffee porter.
I ended up using a little more roasted barley and got the coffee taste without the actual coffee
Modern Times (IIRC) does whole bean dark coffee in secondary for a day or two. I was very happy with the results when I did the same.
My favorite way of adding coffee is a 2 step process…dry bean for aroma and a little flavor, and then brewed coffee at packaging to taste for flavor. I try to avoid putting flavorings in the kettle and usually try to avoid the fermenter, too.
I have had very nice results adding cold brewed coffee to the keg at packaging. If you bottle, you can add it then. I like to make a nice robust cold brew with about 1 cup of coffee grounds to 4 cups of water steeped 24 hrs in the fridge. I usually add at least a cup of this to a keg, but not a full 5 gals…typically, 4 gals or so. I would think the coffee would get lost if added in the boil, and the character would be different. Dry bean in the fermenter or cold brew seem to be the most popular and efficient ways.
Care to expand on this a bit? I plan on adding coffee to a Stout I will be brewing this weekend. I really like the idea of Dry Bean for aroma (and a little flavor) but my question is, “how much do you add?”. I’m thinking of about 1.5oz of dry, whole beans into the fermenter (3 gallons), post fermentation for about a week. I realize this all completely subjective, but am I in the ballpark?
And if my Dry Beaning errs too far on the side of caution, I also plan to cold steep some beans as well, and add to taste at packaging. As a backup plan.
For dry beaning I use 4-5 oz. of coarsely cracked beans
5 gallon batch? 5.5 in fermenter??
Thanks.
Yep. I leave them in 2-3 days.
The best coffee beer I ever made used very strong cold brew coffee in the fermenter at the end of fermentation. The coffee was professionally made by a coffee shop but it seems like it would be easy to experiment with brewing your own cold brew. I had planned to add some “dry bean” coffee afterward but it simply didn’t need it.
I’ll add that I am not a fan of cold brew coffee (I’m an espresso snob) but that one turned out great. Too many coffee beers taste like spent coffee grounds to me … which I find revolting.
FYI, I was never a cold brew coffee fan until I realized that since the cold brew process strips so much of the acidity that I needed to start with a more acidic coffee to end up with a brew that was to my liking. Otherwise it is really monotone, chocolate and not much else. That might work with milk and sugar, but not black like I drink it.
A medium roast bean from East Africa is a good place to start.
So I have a dumb question about the “dry bean” method…do the coffee beans float or sink? I’ll be adding the dry beans in a few days and will leave them in for about a week. I’m wondering if I will have issues transferring to the keg (by gravity from the valve on my Speidel).
The times I have done it has been in a stainless conical! But I think they sink.
good note for coffee drinking. i used to try cold brew, but could never accept it, as it smelled like coffee but tasted like black water to me.
That’s the same way I feel about cold steeping dark malts or adding them at sparge.
For what it’s worth, I ended up “dry beaning” with 2oz of locally sourced, medium roast, whole beans. The beans went into 3 gallons of beer in the fermenter for one week. When I first tapped the keg, I thought I overdid it, the coffee was a touch too strong in aroma for sure, and the taste was too much coffee and roast, what with the roasted barley and all. It came across as a bit harsh. But after 3 weeks in the keg, the coffee has mellowed considerably to the point that it’s more of a supporting actor. The beer is now a Stout first, with a nice coffee aroma. The taste could still use something to balance the added coffee however.
I think if I were to make this again, I would back off on the % of roasted barley and maybe sub in a touch of crystal…maybe even C120…as a way to tone down the roast and bitterness and give it another dimension. (Idea stolen from Schalfly’s Coffee Stout).
Still, a pretty good first try.
The other thing I discovered about coffee beers is that I wanted to cut the hops back a bit to account for the bitterness in the coffee. I dry bean for aroma, but add brewed coffee to taste for flavor.