Adding adjuncts to a standard stout

I haven't added coffee to a beer yet but plan to in the future. From all the lurking and reading, I decided I will likely stick some coffee beans in a hop sack in my keg for a bit to get that coffee flavor. Sounds like a better solution to me than making coffee and pouring into the beer.

 

Again, haven't done it, but my plan is to use ~1.5 oz of whole beans for a couple days, check the beer and go a day or more as necessary.

 

2 oz of whole coffee beans for 2-3 days works very nice. I can't help you on the vanilla though. Your plan with the screen in keg is a good one.

 

I don't keg, but rough grind 2 to 4 oz per five gallons and dump into the secondary for a week. I use tinktures of vanilla , usually 5 beans in 8 oz of vodka and use 1 oz per 5 gallon or less. If using beans, split and add to keg in strainer for 1 week, or taste daily till level desired is reached.

 

I don't make imperial stouts. I've made a handful of 6-7% abv stouts and have always tried something with them.

My two favorites were: Chipotle and Raspberry stout, and a Star Anise stout.
I've also tried adding blueberries and blueberry pie spices. This one I also added more bready malt to resemble a full blueberry pie.
I have also added ancho chilis and a red spice mix.
I have also added coffee and vanilla (I did not like it. But it was more for my friends than myself)

If you like vanilla and coffee in your beers then your plan should work out for you. There isn't anything wrong with it. I just don't like either of those flavors in my beer for some reason.

 

I can't remember anything about the coffee and vanilla one... As I said I didn't care about it at all.

My peppers I add at the end of the boil and leave them in the fermenter for about 2-3 days before fishing them out. Same with the star anise.
The spice mix I boiled for 10 minutes and it did not go in the fermenter.
The fruit I've bought frozen, heated up to around 150-170 and mashed some up to extract juices and sanitize then dumped them in the secondary and left them there.
I believe that I added the coffee beans roughly ground to the secondary (carboy) as I was racking the beer in there and bottled about 4 days later.

 

Yep, you can do that, but consider sampling every other day after 4 days leaving the bag I place. As long as you have a sterilized sampler, all should go well.

@Roadkizzle did you add the star anise after boiling it or just raw?

 

I haven't done it like you're describing yet but I made a coffee porter that turned out wonderful using a different process. I combined 4oz of coarsely ground coffee with 1 qt of cold water in the fridge for 48 hours then strained it and put it into the keg. The finished beer was racked on top of it then carbed.
So maybe doing it your way 4 oz coffee to 5 gallons beer may be a good ratio.

 

I tossed the dry star anise in at the end of boiling the wort. Last 10 minutes or so. I'd suggest using fresher stars than I did this past time though... 5-6 years is to long to keep star anise... Although the beer did essentially finish off my big bag that I had bought back then...