Coffee Stout thoughts.....

Add the option of cold-pressing the beans and adding the subsequent "coffee concentrate" to secondary. With a cold press, the coffee has much less of the bitter, burnt taste you might want to avoid but retains the strong, dark coffee taste that goes so well with many dark beers. Also, adding to secondary allows you to add to taste.

 

Different addition types = different contributions to flavor and aroma. Find what works for your base beer or what type of flavors you desire in the final product.

My personal preference (I like bold coffee flavors that don't fade very much with time):
Dry beaning (Coarse ground coffee) @ 0.75-1 oz/gallon beer for 48 hours at 40 F. I used to dry bean for 24-48 hours at room temp, but the cold incubation just made the beer that much smoother.

 

For adding beans to the boil (or doing a cold press), how much does the grind affect the results? I'm looking to brew a coffee stout (KBS clone actually) that calls for coarsely ground beans, but I want to use the Terrapin Wake n Bake blend that's available online, and that is only available with a medium grind.

 

I just sampled my Maple Coffee Oatmeal Stout I did recently, and I couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out. I cold-pressed local organic coffee and added the concentrate at bottling. It is pretty coffee forward right now, but I love coffee and it will fade a bit over time.

I will be using this method to add coffee to all of my future coffee beers.

 

I've never found that the grind is a huge deal. Obviously an espresso grind would take a while to clear out, but I "dry bean", and whether it be coarse of drip ground, they drop out in time. I usually let it sit about a week, although I'm sure the coffee's flavor is pretty much extracted before that. I don't like adding coffee to the boil, since boiling coffee makes for a very bitter brew.

 

Let me preface by saying I don't like coffee unless it is in my beer. Trying not to hijack but get more information on the amount of coffee and water needed for cold steeping. barfdiggs mentioned .75 to 1.00# per gallon of ground dry coffee beans. Is that the normal amount? How much water do you steep those grounds in? Is there any magic to the process?

 

For the cold-steeping, I used 2.5oz of fresh, high-quality coffee beans (coarsely ground). I let them soak in cold water in my sanitized French Press overnight, then I poured the coffee concentrate in my bucket at bottling.

I really like coffee, so I wanted a coffee forward beer. That's what I got by using this method. I really like it. The best part about this method, in my opinion, is that you can add it to taste.

 

As I mentioned, since I am not a coffee guy, is a French Press necessary to do the cold steep or is there another method?

 

As far as amounts to add go, I have no personal experience, but the KBS clone I'll be brewing later this summer calls for 2oz of ground coffee added to the kettle at flameout, and a cold steep of another 2oz of ground coffee added when the beer's racked to secondary.

 

I believe I have read that some people have just cold steeped coffee in a container of some sort overnight, then poured it through a coffee filter (slowly!) the next day. You could always try that.

The good thing about coffee in beer is that it does fade over time. So if it's a little too strong a coffee flavor at first, you can just sit on the bottles and check them every so many weeks until it's where you like it.

 

definitely cold steeped, added to taste or into secondary. I just did my first coffee stout and it's pretty good, at least as far as the coffee addition is concerned. Added six ounces freshly ground beans to 1.5 qt spring water that was boiled, then cooled, then cold steeped in the fridge for two days, then added to a secondary fermentation just after racking.

I used a blend of three non-flavored coffee beans ranging from medium to dark. I didn't quite add all the coffee because I used a sanitized grain bag as a strainer, so there was a little left. It worked pretty good, the coffee taste is right where I wanted it.

I would suggest adding to taste as an even better way to gauge the coffee addition. I kind of shot in the dark, aiming low, and got lucky.

 

Thank you for your input! I'm looking to add some coffee to my secondary. How many ounces of coffee beans did you use and how many ounces of cold-pressed coffee did you make? Just curious how strong I should make it. Cheers!

 

Coffee should always be added post-boil. The reason is simply that coffee tends to taste like sh*t when it's boiled. Even Starbucks is not crude enough to do that! I cold steep 2 oz in a 32 oz French Press overnight in the fridge - 12 hours or so, but an exact time is probably not critical. I press the plunger, then pour it in the keg.

Yikes!!! Actually, he said "0.75-1 oz/gallon". My personal sweet spot is 2 oz per 5 gal batch. Obviously, YMMV.

 

Just had one of my coffee stouts last night. I used 2oz coarse ground espresso into the pot at flameout and 2oz coarse ground espresso cold steeped overnight in 1 qt of water and added at bottling with priming sugar. Huge coffee flavors, loved it. The last coffee stout I used 4oz at flameout, the coffee was there however it was way back in the background. So, if you want a subtle coffee flavor, flameout kettle addition is the way you want to go, if you want in your face coffee presence I would cold steep and add it to the bottling bucket or keg.

 

[quote="nlthompson2, post: 299605, member: 471370]
- making coffee in the coffee maker, adding it to the end of the boil
[/quote]
I actually plan on making a coffee stout tomorrow. I'm gonna coarsely grind the coffee and just let it steep in the boil for about 20 after flame-out. I've never done a coffee stout before, so I'm not sure what the best technique is. I'll report back my results though.

 

Not to sound like a coffee snob or anything, but 'espresso' is not a coffee. It's a process.
(hmmm... what I just did was the definition of a snob, so I guess my desire to not sound like one is kind of pointless )

 

The coffee I used was an espresso roast, so I describe it as it was described to me. The recipe called for kona and sumatra, however I am not a coffee snob and found that I enjoy the espresso from a local coffee shop and chose to use it instead. Tons of roast and chocolate flavors come through.
Edit: I do enjoy coffee, however I have not chose to delve into my coffee like I have with my beer. I probably should though as I drink far more coffee than I do beer.

 

Just make sure to go with a darker roast, I have used medium roast or lighter before and the resulting flavors end up tasting like green pepper in the beer.

 

LMK if you want some of that coffee. They are always selling at my WF market. It's a damn good coffee as is!

That said, OP, I like to use some coffee, coarse grind at flame out, but not AT flameout. More like a hopstand, I get it around 170 and let it ride.. 10 minutes of a whirlpool and then chill and whatnot.

Then I dry bean it for around 3-4 days, around 70*, with some rather coarse grind coffee. Remove and keg.