French Pressing/Infusing Beer

I had the same thought a while back, and took to the internet to see if anyone else had tried it. Of course they had!

I still haven't done it myself, but the two scenarios you listed (adding hops, or coffee + stout) seem to be the most popular options. I obviously can't speak first hand about results, so I won't offer any advice on the topic. But if you decide to go for it, let us know how it turns out!

 

Are you talking about devices like Randall the Enamel Animal? It's a way to infuse beer with other flavors. Other than people bashing it for being gimmicky or a way to improve shitty beer, I think it's a cool idea. It allows the drinker to have some fun with their beer. After all, it is your beer. I have experimented a few times by infusing a shitty barrel aged stout with raspberries and blueberries.

 

I have "dry hopped" beer on several occasions by this method and found it somewhat interesting and successful. Leaving it sitting for a while to get a noticeable effect resulted in a pretty flat beer, however. FWIW, this works better with fresh hops where the lupulin "falls off/washes off" the cones. Hop pellets tend to foam up the beer and the lupulin doesn't "extract" as well.

 

I have used the coffee press at a beer event of mine! Its was a hit and it was a fun way to experement with beer. The hit of the night was when i infused Great Lakes Dortmunder gold with a fruit called Buddah's Hand! I say its def worth having one. Just a heads up, if you are going to use hops, use leafs not pellets!!!

 

I received a Randall Jr as a birthday gift just recently. I enjoy the experimenting so far.

I realized I had a 4 month old Dreadnaught in the back of the fridge so last night I drank about 10 oz of it and poured the remaining 12 oz over half of a fresh Jalepeno and let it soak for 10 minutes in the Randall. It was great!

 

I don't get it. If the beer is good, then why not drink it in it's packaged state? If the beer is undrinkable, why not just pour it? I know there are a few camps of thought out there, but french pressing beer seems a bit silly to me.

 

In my case, I was trying to jazz up some lackluster beers in an attempt to avoid what would have been drainpours.

 

I put mint lime and coconut in a la fin du monde the other day and it was awesome

 

be sure to get a coffee press that goes all the way down though. mine doesnt, and has about a half inch left at the bottom, so it didnt do jack with the hops.

 

I have not French Pressed beer yet, but I plan too. Kinda like why did you climb the mountain? Because it was there!

 

Why do we try new things at all? It's experimenting and having fun with beer. Why do brewers add peppercorns, coffee beans, etc? Maybe the brewer doesn't like Cinnamon in his stouts but someone else does? Why not try it and create a new experience. It's a cheap way to try new flavors.

 

That would have to be one heavy beer (magnum?) in order to get any kind of good workout.

 

The Bull & Bush in Denver gives you the option to "hop infuse" any of their beers using a French press and your choice of hops from a farm near Grand Junction. I believe they have cascade, centennial, crystal, fuggles, goldings, and a couple others.
I don't necessarily think it makes anything universally better, but it's a neat way to get a little bit of dry hop character and pinpoint flavors that come as a result. The crystal in particular seems to be a pretty good hop for this.

 

I'd say coffee is a good idea for this new coffee ipa craze (which is legitimate imo), you could use several different beans in a side by side and see what changes between offerings.

 

Because it could be fun.

 

Does anyone know if the DFH Randall Jr. causes the same loss of carbonation as doing this in a French press? I can't imagine how they would stop the carbonation from escaping when things are added to the beer, but it would pretty cool if they found a way.

If they did, I'm certainly buying one. If not, why not just use a French press and save the $20?

 

Perhaps someone without a French Press could use one?

 

I haven't had any problem with loss of carbonation when using mine. I make sure that I am quick to put the cap on right after the pour to try and trap it all inside. I also don't leave it in there for more than 15 minutes depending on what I'm infusing with.

 

I've played around with this a couple of times. I'd recommend using high quality coffee/ingredients when doing so. Black Tuesday + fresh ground coffee was fantastic. I think I used about 1/4 cup for the 750 mL bottle. Heads up, there is a good amount of caffeine buzz.

We actually did a tasting a couple weeks ago centered on different French press variations. Bcbs + vanilla beans, speedway + coconut + vanilla beans, stone IRS + toasted walnuts (I think), and then, the best of all, eclipse + cinnamon toast crunch. The last one tasted shockingly similar to BA abraxas, although after more than 15 minutes in the French press, the remaining beer got too sweet.

I've tried French pressing 3f oude geuze as well, once with peaches and once with apricots. I liked the peaches variation more but both were pretty tasty. Also tried beatification + raspberries to make a poor man's ffac batch one, which I really enjoyed.