French Pressing/Infusing Beer

So I planted Cascade hops up against the sunny side of the house earlier this year. Both plants came up and are doing well. Not a homebrewer, but a gardener who loves beer. Had no idea what I would do with the hops when it matured. Now I have an option. All I need is a french press.

 

Sour in the Rye + Kumquats + French Press

 

Interesting idea. I may have to give this a shot in the near future. Adding vanilla or coffee to a stout could be a nice little addition/experiment.

 

Been to some tastings where KBS was French pressed with vanilla beans, and coconut. Or Black Tuesday with Geisha Coffee. Only kept in there for about 10 minutes. Both were fantastic. KBS on its own is a great beer, which I have enjoyed many times, so I was very open to the experiment, and also like the infused ingredients, so it's worth trying in a large tasting group setting. The beer can and does go flat in the press, and we off set that with pouring more of the base beer from the bottle into our tasting glasses. Great stuff. I can see this gaining popularity at tastings quite frankly, and in some groups it's already a standard.

 

BCBS + vanilla bean + french press = "homemade" BCBVS. Don't knock it 'til you try it

 

Are you guys grinding the coffee beans like you would if you were actually making coffee? Just curious since some people said to use whole leaf hops, not sure if it mattered with the coffee.

 

French press a tangerine in some Great Lakes burning River and then talk to me! It s really no different than when Breweries tap some sorta cask ale and infuse it with random ingredients. It's just a fun way to change up a beer with either similar profiles as the add on or see how it tastes with something different!

 

It's not a grinder, its a press. There is a compartment in it where you can place either hops or fruit or whatever. From there you can press down slowly and it infuses the two!

 

Why on earth would someone not own a French press?

 

I think beer cocktails are ridiculous too but who am I to judge what others do with their beers?

In fact, I'd love to randalize some beer. I have access to the fresh hops so why not?

 

Toasted coconut + stout = awesome.

 

I wouldn't compare a beer cocktail, that would include other alchol beverages from champagne, gin, rum, whiskey & various juices and mixers to a frech press beer infusion. As others have said, breweries often have casks with infused ingredients, or randalls on tap with various ingredients. The french press is sort of the poor mans version of the same concept.

Also like to add, that some of these breweriers infusions, later become bottled beers, Like Chocolate Rain, Kopi Luak Speedway stout or many others.

 

Thank You!

 

What I'm trying to say is that what you do with the beer after you open the package is your choice.

 

Exactly. That's why I swim in a hot tub of Black Tuesday like scrooge McDuck.

 

I think maybe he meant are you adding ground coffee or whole beans to the French press.

 

I''ve done whole coffee beans and vanilla beans with stouts and porters. Usually, I steep them in bourbon as well.

 

A friend and I recently did 2012 Bourbon County steeped with Intelligentsia Black Cat Espresso beans for about an hour and a half. It was excellent and because we used the same beans that Goose Island used in 2010, really was like Bourbon County Coffee. We then tried Bourbon County with raspberries, which too was pretty good and very, very jammy. I believe we did 6oz of raspberries. We then tried 3oz of blackberries and 3oz of raspberries with Blackout Stout and it was a berry bomb. I later tried Blackout with the Intelligentsia beans for only an hour and the coffee dominated the stout. Coffee beans will kill any head or carbonation due to the oils.

I recently bought a Randall Jr. from Dogfish Head's website so I can do treatments side by side and will try hop infusions in the future. I also think I may try mango, apricot, and peach with some IPAs.


2012 Bourbon County Treatments

 

Dont worry, I see what you did there