French Pressing/Infusing Beer

You will lose a fair bit of carbonation and be ready for some foaming out the top when you add stuff to carbed beer.

 

Ive never actually used a stir plate, if I did it would barely be moving, just enough so that the ground nuts didnt compact

How/what would oxidize? the oils/fats? - they are removed in the process

to be honest it never crossed my mind, and while I cannot discount this happening, practically speaking Ive had these extracts in a bottle for >2yrs (same extract) and it still tastes great. In the method I outlined you remove the fats/oils and are only left with things that are soluble in the alcohol

 

I just figured that the bourbon, or any other liquor for that matter, would become oxidized from the stirring process. If you shake a beer up and let it sit out on your counter for a couple of weeks it will taste like cardboard. If you open a bottle of wine and put the cork back in when it's half full, (rare occasion, I know), and let it sit on your counter for a month it will taste oxidized.

I'm wondering how well booze holds up against oxidation here, as I've never made a tincture. It's reassuring to hear that a few years later they still taste good.

 

Well you do bring up a good point, once I open a nice bottle of rum/scotch it definitely changes as it is exposed to O2, but not in a way that I find it terrible like oxidation of wine/beer,

when Ive made my infusions I generally use grain alcohol, and not bourbon/etc, so who knows how it would be a few years on if you used something oak aged

 

Thanks guys, the infusing worked better than I expected. Ended up making a coconut, vanilla bean, pb cup, thin mint, raspberry marshmellow, mexican cake, and a maple bacon variant.

 

had some founders breakfast stout randal'd with bourbon soaked vanilla bean and cacao nibs. it sucked.

 

Just blended Founders Breakfast and Rubaeus as someone previously suggested, absolutely genius.

The FBS bitterness is cut from the Rubaeus sweetness.
The FBS lighter body is complimented by the Rubaeus carbonation and syrupy mouthfeel.
For some reason, "tartness" of raspberries comes out that is absent from Rubaeus.

The all turns into a lightly roasted black coffee with muddled fresh raspberries. Slightly reminds me of a boozy chocolate cherry.

 

Saw your reply just now. I haven't used the Clever Coffee Dripper, but it looks pretty awesome. Definitely seems like a nice mix between the pour over and full immersion.

I'm planning on trying out the V60 this weekend so I'll let you know how it works out. Will probably use a few different styles of beer through the coffee so hopefully it will turn out alright.

 

Do this once and you'll never wonder which is the best BCBS again. Do this once and you never have the need to give up WAY to much great beer for a GI Prop/Coconut. Toast some dried unsweetened coconut to medium toast and put into a DFH Randall Jr. like I did, or a press. Leave in the fridge for at least an hour... two if possible. The longer the better. It's so delicious, PERFECT/RIGHT/UNPARALLELED! Do this... you will not regret it!

 

My next experiment is gonna involve GI BCBS and GI BCBBW infused with vanilla bean/toasted coconut/maple syrup/bourbon soaked oak chips!!! The latter will be shaken, soaked, and stirred for a month or more before being infused with the two GI brews.

 

Aeropress or ceramic dripper for me. The coffee is just as good if not better and none of that residue or grounds make it into your cup. I do have a press, but only use it for cold steeping for iced coffee.

I've thought about using it for beer, but have concerns about coffee flavor getting into everything as I'm not down with the coffee IPA thing at all. Have people had any coffee flavor seep in when not using it or does a thorough cleaning seem to do the job?

 

For using them in finished beer? I would imagine it has to take at least a few days for any kind of bacterial thing to ruin the beer, but by then it would be flat anyway, so it wouldn't really matter. I would just press and drink in no less than an hour if I were doing any of these experiments.

 

I steeped Samuel smith imperial stout with jalapeño and coffee for 10 minutes and it was waaay too long - next time steeping for about 5 minutes -

A bigger bottle is the best way to do it in my opinion- that way you can blend in some leftover stuff cause it will get flat no matter what-


*edit - another tip is don't grind coffee as it will keep you up for hours at night lol!

 

Completely agree that aeropress is the way to go!
I aeropressed some Westvleteren 12 w some Ethiopian yirgachef, was pretty damn good! I'd recommend using only 6g or so of coffee as opposed to the regular 16-18g.

 

I plan to try this tonight, but using apricots to make my own Fou' Foune. Any advice on how many apricots I should use for a 375 ml bottle, and how long to steep?

 

Done this many times with my french press. Last winter I was 'bourbon barrelling' the Temptress myself. I soaked oak chips in Maker's 46 for 1 month, then put some soaked chips in the bottom of the press, poured the Temptress into it, let it sit in the fridge for 30 mins, voila, bourbon barrel Temptress.

 

I threw some some fresh white peaches in the vitamix for a few seconds and poured some sour in the rye over it in the French press. I now realize that peach pulp completely blocks the filter, I was not able to press it down more than a quarter inch, it required straining. It came out yummy though.
Also did some blackberry pulp and that was able to be pressed fairly well but the last bit needed to be strained.
One more thing I've learned is to pour as gently as possible, anything of an aggressive pour totally kills the carb.

 

Blasphemy!

 

Kubeaus is a pretty big hit in these parts right now KBS and Rubeaus mix

 

I like to get 2 bottles of the same beer and put one in my Randall Jr. and do a side by side tasting. So far it has been pretty interesting. Went for the Randall over a coffee press for obvious Delaware pride.