I’ve decided to add some whole coffee beans to my Mild in a last ditch effort to make this batch more interesting before this weekend!
It seems that the advice on how much to use is all over the place (some even just adding cold brewed coffee right to the keg). I’d like to throw some in a muslin bag and add them to my keg for 12-24 hours. Any thoughts on the amount to use for a 5 gallon batch?
Cheers!
I coarsley crushed 4 ounces of Brazilian beans in 4 gallons of Imperial Porter and it came through well.
Did you use a bag or toss in keg?
I tossed them into a carboy loose, let it rest for 5 or 6 days, then syphoned to a keg.
Would using coffee beans in a lighter colored beer affect the color at all? I have seen a few recipes for a coffee blonde that sounds interesting.
Whole or coarsley crushed beans don’t add much color. Coppertail makes a coffee IPA that is delicious.
I used 2 oz in a porter and was very pleased. I could taste both the coffee and the porter. While carbonated alcoholic coffee is tasty as a novelty, if I have to drink a keg of it I want to taste beer and coffee.
I added whole coffee beans to the serving keg and kept it in there for 1 or 2 days. After a few weeks the coffee faded and left a weird aftertaste. I think I would have been better off using a smaller amount of coffee and leaving the coffee in the keg until the keg kicked.
similar to Jeffy. I took 3 gal of 10 of my RIS and put dried mission figs and coarsely crushed espresso beans in it, the beans at a rate of 1oz/gal for 4-5 days (figs were in for longer).
its definitely got coffee in the aroma, and I think I like this method of dry beaning much better than using brewed coffee or coffee added to the mash. then again, I usually huff on bags of coffee beans when I open them - opening a new bag is almost as good as exciting as a new bag of hops.
Edit: checked my notes - I did 3 days not 4-5.
1 oz/gal is usually the right volume for post-fermentation additions. 12-48 hours is enough and you should start tasting at twelve hours and every eight to twelve hours after and pull the coffee when you’re happy with the flavor. Leaving the coffee beans too long can result in at best an overpowering flavor and at worst an overcooked coffee flavor.
My local coffee guy says you’ll get everything the beans have to offer in 24 hours.
Make sure you use beans from a coffee that you enjoy. If you haven’t tried the beans yet, make a cup or two before committing them to 5 gallons of beer. I’ve made that mistake.
There is brewery in Orange County that has a beer with coffee and it is light. My guess is whole beans for a short time.
I read somewhere that you can get (or make) very lightly roasted coffee beans that add flavor and very little color.
You have to be careful with lighter roasts in cold applications. Depending on the bean, lighter roasts may have a fair amount of pyrazines that haven’t been burnt off. Those smell like green pepper, jalapeno, etc. Can be quite distracting.
The RIS stout I made, I put half the batch into shortie kegs, the other half into a regular keg. I gave one of the shorties to a friend - that one I only dry beaned for 30 hours. The one I kept for myself I dry beamed for 3 days. My friend texted me that the coffee is very subtle and he thinks it could have gone longer. Mine is definitely there - not exactly overpowering but if you don’t like espresso this might not be for you. Mostly it’s aroma not flavor.
Just thought I’d share that tidbit.
Several people at our last club meeting tasted bell peppers in my coffee Imperial Porter. Thanks for the article.
In my experience, the best way to add coffee to beer is to make cold brewed coffee at home and add it to the keg. To cold brew: french press regular ground coffee overnight at room temperature with twice the normal amount of coffee, then press it and pour it through a coffee filter. IME, one 20 oz French press’s worth of concentrated cold brew is good for a keg, but I’d bet you could use half as much and still taste it.
Mike Tonsmeire and the Modern Times team presented on coffee and beer at the last NHC. The audio and PPT are online here. They suggest whole beans @ 2-5 oz / 5 gallons for 24-48 hours right before packaging.
I tried this on a small scale by adding a couple grams of whole beans directly to a bottle of Boulevard’s - The Sixth Glass, recapping, and storing for 24 hours. It was delicious. I’m also thinking of making a mild with some coffee added just before kegging.
Online here where? Have a link?
Try here:Homebrew Con Seminars | American Homebrewers Association
Look in the 2015 presentations for: Brewing with Coffee: Approaches & Techniques from Dry-Beaning to Home Roasting by Jacob McKean, Amy Krone & Michael Tonsmeire
Note: You have to be an AHA member to access past presentations.
I just listened to a podcast where they talked about adding coarse ground coffee beans to the mash. Says that it adds a much smoother flavor. Not sure of the amount, but I may give this a try on the next batch of coffee stout.