Caffeine Amount in Coffee Beers(?)

I've taken a liking to stouts and don't have a problem with them except for one, Brooklyn black choc stout. I really like the beer but if I have one after 8pm I am guaranteed to wake up around 2am and toss and turn for several hours. I didn't realize it at first but it happens/happened every time with one.

 

Isn't this why its called breakfast stout? Drink that before you go to work, not to sleep. Duh.

 

Had a 4 oz sample of Lagunitas Cappucino Stout at about 4-5 pm one day and had trouble going to sleep that night. I'm quite sensitive to caffeine, it's getting worse the older I get, and avoid it except in the morning.

 

I drank it around noon and was still awake at 3am . Women process caffeine differently (slower) than men, so there you have it.

 

Pffffft, excuses excuses. Since college I have been a coffee freak. A bomber of espresso oak yeti puts me to sleep. My wife says its because I don't get enough sleep as it is.

 

Actually, many brewers now use dry hop "socks" filled with whole beans into secondary, so you are wrong, they are aged on coffee beans. Coffee is never added to the boil, but liquid coffee made with cold water (to avoid the oiliness) can be added any time after the boil right up to kegging/bottling.

 

Not every coffee beer is the same, obviously. Struise Mocha Bomb for example, is aged on whole beans.

 

If I drink a cup of coffee any time after midday, I am awake all night and would be lucky to get an hour of sleep at 5AM! But I have never been kept up from a coffee beer, so I can't imagine that there is all that much caffeine in them.

 

Unreal beer. One of my favorite stouts for sure.

 

I was wondering this after I had a 22oz. bottle of Pinstripe Coffee Stout and could feel the caffeine or maybe it was the alcohol. Made me wonder if the FDA would eventually make beer makers list the amount of caffeine in a beer. Any thoughts?

 

Good question. Had some Coffee Bender recently and could feel the caffeine coursing through my veins. Maybe the placebo effect? Not sure.

 

Been a bit curious about this myself. I don't drink much coffee so I have a low tolerance level to get a bit jittery. Having said that, I didn't suspect too much by my reaction, or lack thereof, Coffee Bender.

 

Is there some reason to care?
Perhaps I'm overthinking this.

 

Just brewed a coffee stout, used a total of 4 oz of espresso roast for 5.5 gallons. You can do the math from there since you are concerned, I just know it tastes fanfreakingtastic.

 

While I have no answers, I've been wondering about that myself. Particularly since Rhonda Kallman's (early investor in the boston beer co.) caffeinated beer "moonshot" was banned by the feds along with four loko. BTW how is Pinstripe? That's one i have access to here in TN but isn't terribly highly rated on BA so I've yet to try it.

 

I don't think there is a way to answer this question accurately. The caffeine content varies from bottle to bottle, even for the same beer from the same brewery for the same batch - for e.g., Stone Espresso IRS. Having said that, there are some beers that are generally more coffee-forward than others. From experience, I can say that any of the Speedway variants from Alesmith, and Victory at Sea from Ballast Point tend to be at the higher end while Stone Espresso is at the lower end. You may use that as a somewhat arbitrary guideline...HTH

 

I recently did an espresso stout homebrew, too, and also used 4oz for the batch. Let's say it is 150 mg of caffeine per oz of ground espresso beans * 4 oz = 600 mg of caffeine. 600 mg / ~50 twelve oz bottles = 12 mg per bottle. Compare this to somewhere around 60 to 150 mg for your average serving of coffee. So my guess is not too much, but of course it depends on the beer.

 

"none" wink-wink. The FDA has basically banned alcoholic beverages that are caffeinated. But technically what the FDA has done is said that caffeine, when added to malt alcoholic beverages, is an unsafe food additive. This is slightly different than saying that all alcoholic beverages containing caffeine are illegal. So currently coffee stouts are in a gray area. Brewers can contend that they meet GRAS standards until the FDA challenges this. In which case they would still have time to stop brewing these beers before facing any punishment. So, brewers are not going to test how much, or tell anyone how much caffeine are in these, and they will remain in the grey area unless kids start chugging them and going ape shit and the FDA decides they are unsafe.

 

Don't give the kids any ideas! They'll get our fun taken away. They always do!

Ssshhhhh......

 

Finally somebody gets what I'm saying. I'm not complaining about caffeine one bit. My concern however is about the FDA getting involved. I appreciate your input and knowledge.

 

As a lover of coffee stouts, I'd love a straight answer to this question. My understanding is that there is a very small amount of caffeine present in the beer. Of course there is variance but this seems to be the general case. I know I've drank quite a few coffee beers in one session and felt little to no effects from caffeine (and I'm pretty sensitive to caffeine).

Founders has said that FBS has about 5-10% the caffeine of a cup of coffee.
https://twitter.com/foundersbrewing/status/256734600297054208

 

I love coffee stouts, but have never thought about it before. I think thats probably because I've never really felt the caffeine after drinking. NOW I WANT MORE FBS

 

What he's saying is that you should hush.
And then you turned around and shouted about it again.
Move on.

 

I read that the eclipse java coffee was 45% stout aged in elijah craig barrels, 45% stout and 10% coffee. So 10% of 22oz is 2.2oz?

 

I can tell u this, a growler of wake and bake won't get u buzzed but it will get u buzzed without giving away too much info. OP, don't waste ur cash or bourbon pinstripe, basically same beer with a shot of bourbon in it.

 

yes, but coffee is mostly water. quantity of caffeine is the question here.

 

i'm sure he has a reason to care or else he wouldnt have asked. youre probably underthinking this.
at any rate i'd like to know as well so i can better gauge how much beer to drink at 4:00 AM

 

Just shared a bottle Of Stone's Espresso Imperial Stout. I could feel the caffeine from the coffee. Kind of a weird combination with the high ABV. Very good beer. I also got this from Founder's Breakfast Stout. I felt more of the caffeine influence, rather the alcohol. Is this synonymous with all coffee stouts? What do you guys get after drinking a coffee stout? More caffeine effects, or more alcohol buzz?

 

Interesting! I've never had that same effect as far as I know. Haven't had many coffee stouts though.

 

I guess it just depends on how caffeine affects you. A cup of coffee does nothing for me, let alone a beer with some coffee in it.

 

The only people I know that pick up on the caffeine are those that are very sensitive to it. One cup of strong coffee will get me a little jittery, but I don't get any perceived effects when drinking a coffee beer. It's my friends who don't drink coffee at all (or at least past noon, because they won't be able to sleep) that notice the effects of caffeine from coffee beers.

 

I can't speak to any hard data, but I seem to remember reading that the level of caffeine present in "coffee stouts" is rather nominal and unlikely to have any physical effect.

 

I drink two cups of coffee in the morning and can feel the buzz. Perhaps some coffee stouts contain more caffeine than usual. Stone's Imperial Espresso gave me a coffee type buzz.

 

If you drink more alcohol than coffee I could see the caffeine having more affect on you. I drink coffee almost every day now and I don't really get any of the affects. Most coffee stouts don't even have that much caffeine, mostly because they don't even have that much coffee. One beer I do expect to have a lot of coffee in is Master of Disguise since it relies solely on cocoa and coffee beans for the stout-like flavor.

 

I've never felt a caffeine buzz from a coffee stout, and I don't drink coffee.

 

I've felt caffeine the most with Too Much Coffee Man Imperial Black Saison... Probably due to the full cup of Coava present

 

I think I have read before that most coffee containing beer has much less than 50mg caffeine (about the amount of 12-16 oz of green tea) which doesn't compare to dunkin donuts or starbucks 12 oz (150-300mg+). Although if you're really sensitive to caffeine as other posters said I suppose you may notice a jolt.

 

I personally have never felt any caffeine related effects but I drink a bit of coffee daily.

 

I don't notice anything. But are you a regular coffee drinker outside of the beer world? I normally drink 2-4 strong cups of coffee a day

 

That seems to me like counter intuitive reactions. Alcohol kinda makes me mellow out, relax and in some cases sleepy. Coffee and too much caffeine makes me jittery and uncomfortable.
I've had my fair share of coffee stouts and can honestly say I've never felt any caffeine buzz or related side affects.