Adding Coffee to Stout Kit?

My recommendation is to add between 1/2 ounce and 1 ounce per gallon, whole beans, to the fermenter about 24-36 hours before bottling. You don't need a bag or anything, just dump the beans in. Then bottle as normal. No need for a secondary, this can be done in primary. At the lower end of that range (1/2 ounce per gallon), the coffee will be noticeable. At the higher end of that range, it will be quite strong.

 

I would cold steep the coffee overnight and add at bottling/kegging. That's what I've been doing lately with outstanding results compared to adding into a stand at flameout or as a dry hop style. I go with around 4 ounces of medium roast beans, coarsely ground and have had great success. Doing that for a White Stout right now.

 

I would "dry bean".. No sense in going with much work, for the same results.

Whole beans, or lightly crack them coarsely, and add them within 24 hours of bottling.

 

I would cold steep fresh ground coffee as well.

 

A hopped LME stout from a can deserves the finest coffee available.

 

I recently did a coffee stout. Made cold brew coffee a quart and a half water 6 oz ground Sumatra. Added that into a little less than 5 gallons of stout when I put it in the keg. Everyone loves it.

 

+1 to the cold brewed coffee. Have only had great results with this method. I have came to the conclusion that the best mix is 4 oz by weight ground coffee in a quart mason jar and then filling it up with boiled/cooled water to the top and letting it sit over night at room temperature lends a great flavor! I really like Guatemalan coffee in my stouts FWIW. Cheers!

 

I've done espresso shots, and it worked well actually (although I didn't add enough). I have tastes another person's homebrew who used cold-steep (n=1), and although it had a good coffee aroma, the flavour was a bit flat.

 

For anyone that's dry beaned, is there a max amount of time you would leave the beer on the beans? I want to get a hearty coffee aroma but don't want any off flavors if it sits too long.

 

I've had beans in a keg for weeks with no off flavors. Granted it was a high abv Stout with vanilla, ancho chilis, cinnamon, and cocoa nibs also.

 

I did this a few months back with a stout, with great success. I'll echo what was said earlier: I did a 2 gallon batch, soaked 2 oz of coffee beans overnight in whiskey, left them in for about 3-4 days, then bottled. The amount of coffee aroma and flavor was perfect.

 

I think it's more a matter of coffee flavor/aroma intensity than a matter of off flavors. The longer the beans are in your beer, the stronger the flavor/aroma. You can sample and taste to see how it's coming along.

 

Do you do anything to sanitize coffee beans with the dry bean method or just put them in there?

 

I just put them in there. I think the risk of infection is pretty low.

 

Cold steeped coffee works great in stouts. Only problem is it fades over time. When I first bottled, my stout tasted like pure coffee. 4+ months in the bottle, and the coffee flavor is hardly even there anymore.