I plan on brewing an Imperial Porter that calls for a 50/50 mix of Indian and Peruvian Coffee.
Can someone recommend common Indian and Peruvian coffees that would be suitable for a porter/stout?
Monsooned Malabar is a tasty Indian coffee. Can’t help with the Peruvian though.
Monsooned Malabar is probably the best known coffee from India and the easiest to find. I would guess your recipe is calling for Malabar, especially blended with a Peruvian coffee. Malabar is chocolate-y while many other Indian coffees are woody or spice-forward. They are good but probably not what you are after.
Good quality Peruvian coffees can be tough to find. A lot of the Peruvian coffee is sold away into generic South American blends. There are very good small organic farms grown at high altitude producing some exceptional coffee. Pretty much all of the high elevation coffee is organic while most of the lower elevation is not. So an easy way to figure out what to buy is just to look for anything organic from Peru. These coffees are low acidity with a smooth chocolate flavor.
If you’re finding Malabar you’re probably finding an organic Peruvian. If you can’t find a decent Peruvian then your next best option would be a high quality Nicaraguan coffee.
Thank you gentlemen! This is a coffee monster with ~ 4.5 ounces each of Indian and Peruvian cracked and steeped cold post fermentation.
The step is to find it in Las Vegas, NV.
If that’s for a 5gal batch, that’s a ton of coffee.
Yes, for a 5.5 gallon batch. This is a recipe for Pizza Port’s Coffee Monster (no longer produced). As the name implies, it’s a monster.
3 lb. coffee/barrel
- 3 / 31 = 0.09677419354
0.09677419354 * 16 = 1.548 or 1.55 oz. per gallon
1.55 * 5.5 = 8.525 or 8.5 oz. per 5.5 gallons
4.25 oz. each of Indian and Peruvian
Is my math correct?
I Monsooned Malabar. and Peruvian for sake of discussion, that unique of a coffee that it will be discernible from another coffee in such a complex beer?
If I were you I’d drop the Indian/Peruvian coffee idea. Indian coffee is mostly cheap robusta AFAIK, and even if you find Malabar, it’s probably going to be stale. I’d suggest you go to the best hipster coffee roaster/bar in town, taste their best and freshest coffee, and pick what you think might go well in a beer. I personally wouldn’t pick the darker espresso roasts, but rather the lighter filter roast.
+1 on everything but the roast. I use espresso roasts to make a cold brew that I add to the beer.
I read somewhere that you have to add Brewtan with a shovel to fight the oxidation caused by cold brews…
I don’t care who you are – that’s funny.
“If I were you I’d drop the Indian/Peruvian coffee idea. Indian coffee is mostly cheap robusta AFAIK, and even if you find Malabar, it’s probably going to be stale. I’d suggest you go to the best hipster coffee roaster/bar in town, taste their best and freshest coffee, and pick what you think might go well in a beer. I personally wouldn’t pick the darker espresso roasts, but rather the lighter filter roast.”
Thanks for the feedback.
The brewers notes say:
Can be anything you like. Just stay away from earthy and astringent varieties/roasts.
• Peruvian - 50% of total
• Indian - 50% of total
For those that have made a coffee porter/stout, what did you use?
I definitely don’t want astringency therefore I will ‘dry bean’ cold in the keg.
A good Central American coffee is usually a safe bet. They tend to have low acidity and bitterness with prominent chocolate and nut flavors but minimal earthiness. A higher end Mexican or Colombian would be the same. I’d shy away from South American unless it’s Peruvian or a specific Colombian you’ve tasted and liked. Many South American coffees are good but may not give you a standout flavor you want.
Personally my choice for a coffee stout/porter would be a good quality Guatemalan, Panamanian, Nicaraguan, or Mexican coffee. Guatemalans are pretty easy to find.
I’ve used Brazil Bob-o-link with good results as well as Ethiopian. I agree that Mexican / Central American coffees would be a good choice as well. Freshness of the coffee is key. I would highly suggest buying it from a coffee shop that roasts their own.