Coffee and Vanilla Imperial Stout

Sounds like a good plan. Not that it really matters, but FBS/KBS uses chocolate instead of vanilla. They also steep their coffee in hot wort before transferring to the kettle at flame out. Nothing wrong with cold steeping coffee, especially for the beans you chose.

Temperature control and pitching plenty of healthy yeast is essential for big beers like this. Hopefully, you are using more than one pack of s-05.

 

340 billion cells are recommended. Two packs rehydated would cover that. Two packs not rehydrated would be half as much as recommended, but it still might work fine.

 

I was planning on making a 2 gallon experiment of an imperial stout. I thought about steeping the specialty grain and adding the coffee the last 5-10 minutes. I would imagine it to come out really nice.

 

I'm currently running a partial mash imperial stout experiment that is similar but instead of cold steeping coffee or adding at flame out. I am actually soaking cacoa nibs, 4 espresso beans, and some French oak spiral in 3 olives espresso flavored vodka. Plan on adding that into secondary for ten days or so. Guess I will taste test as days pass once added to see if it imparts any more flavor

 

I do almost these exact same methods for my RIS, except the base recipe leans more towards an Old Rasputin than a KBS or breakfast stout. I loved Intelligentsia and am thinking of using that on my next batch as well. I have cold steeped coffee in the past and added at bottling. Works well, but there are so many ways to infuse coffee into beer. Soaking in hot wort works well too. As for the oak, I let soak in bourbon for a few weeks, along with scraped vanilla beans. Run that mixture through a strainer and blend the oak/vanilla infused bourbon into the stout at bottling along with the coffee. Just be sure to stir it in a bit.

75 grams is not overdoing it IMO. I've used 5 oz coffee, soaked in around 16 oz cold water before. The coffee will be very strong in the beginning but don't worry. It'll take a back seat after a few months in the bottle and blend in nicely.

I'm sure there are other people that do it differently, and I'm sure their methods work just as well.. but I'm just telling you what I know.

 

The flavor of cold steeped coffee goes away pretty fast, month or less, from my experience. But adding it to the boil can lead to terrible astringency problems. I like to do a little of both...I'll add an ounce of course ground coffee at flameout for a 10-15 minute "beanstand" and then add around 3 oz or so of coffee cold steeped overnight at kegging. This seems to give a nice rounded coffee flavor and nose to the beer, that lingers longer than a month in the beer and doesnt provide extra astringency. I've been more than satisfied with how my last few coffee brews have turned out!

Not sure how this will turn out...sounds kinda jacked up IMO. The espresso wont be detected much in the beer as most booze added to a beer seems to disappear unless you add an absurd amount. I don't think that 4 espresso beans will be enough to be detected in a 5 gallon batch as well. The cacao nibs will start to stand out with the oak, but the coffee may not show up at all IMO. You may want to add more course ground coffee to your tincture if you're wanting the coffee to be in balance/on par with the nibs and oak.

 

I "dry beaned" 4 oz of slightly crushed medium roast coffee beans for 24 hours before bottling in a 5 gallon batch. I'm pleased with the results.

 

I see that Capt Quint put 4oz of slighty crushed into his 5 gal but, how much more would you suggest? I still have time to add more into the booze before adding into the batch. I appreciate the help, first time messing with the coffee addition and kinda pulled off a recipe on another forum

 

The answer to how much coffee to use depends on several variables:

1. intensity of the coffee bean
2. method of extraction
3. surface area of the coffee grind or bean
4. roast level of the base beer
5. personal taste preference

In other words, no one can tell you how much coffee to use or how to use it, unless they have the same taste as you.

Make a coffee beer. Take notes. Make adjustments. Eventually, you will find the answer....

 

@Brew_Betty said it well...it really is personal preference. I don't have as much experience with coffee tinctures, but I'd think about adding around the same amount as others do in a 5 gallon batch, between 2-5 oz, depending on the intensity you're looking for. Again, Betty points out the inconsistencies with various coffee beans, their roast, freshness and grind. I always like to sample, if possible, the various coffees before I make a decision (I buy beans from a local coffee shop that gives free samples) for each specific beer. I don't like a dark roast usually because it adds astringency many times, so I usually go for a medium roast/blend for most of the beers I brew.

 

Like many others have said, a lot of "how much to add" comes down to personal preferences. I'll add my recent 1st-time experiences with coffee & vanilla (shaped by much of the advice I found in some previous very good threads here).

I did a coffee-vanilla porter in December. Used a Kenyan medium roast blend. Added ~1/2 cup of coarsely-ground beans at flameout (I put the beans in a Ziploc and crushed them between two cutting boards) and 1 scraped vanilla bean at flameout.

I tasted the sample at the end of fermentation and thought it had decent coffee taste but needed more vanilla. I "dryhopped" the beer after transferring the keg with the same amount of coffee and put in 2 vanilla beans. I steeped it for 4 days, then took everything out. First week, was VERY coffee forward in both aroma and taste. Its now been in the keg for about 3 weeks...I think its still a little more coffee-forward than I'd like, but not by much, and the flavors have mellowed a bit and you can now taste/smell the vanilla a lot more. Of everyone that's tried it, all have really, really liked it, but the score looks something like:

"A bit too much coffee for me": 4
"Think its a perfect blend: 3

Cheers, good luck, & let us know how it turns out!

 

Are you planning on steeping the flaked oats? I've always read they shouldn't be steeped so I have never tried. Maybe someone else on here has had success with it and can clarify. I have heard it will add starches to the beer which can cause haziness, off flavors and possibly infection in the long term.

One other suggestion I have is replacing some of the DME with 3 LBs of Munich LME. It will help with the body/mouth feel and add a little more depth to the flavor. I brew my imperial stout with US-05 and when I used all golden light DME it would end up thin for my tastes.

 

My understanding is that they should be mashed. Here is a link that will explain it better then I can. It is an old article so opinions/practices may have changed since then.

http://byo.com/hops/item/2029-are-the-concerns-about-steeping-oats-and-flaked-barley-warranted

 

The only grains I have steeped are crystal/caramel, chocolate malts, roasted barley and midnight wheat. You should be able to find a list online of what grains shouldn't be steeped.

I heat 1/2 gallons of water per pound of grains to 160 and then pull it off the burner. Add the grains and let them sit for 20-30 minutes. I use these http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/brewing-equipment/stirring-straining/muslin-mesh-bag . 10 pack for $5. I have to use 3 of them for my stout since it has a lot more steeping grains but for other beers usually 1 is good enough.

The bag you got will work also but you can buy something similar for cheaper at hardware stores. Here's a link. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Trimaco-...6WF/202061360?keyword=5+gallon+paint+strainer