French Pressing/Infusing Beer

From a home brewer viewpoint I could see how it would interesting/useful in seeing how flavors play off one another on a very small scale.

 

Yeah, I can see how this would be fun and insightful before messing with 5+ gallons of homebrew.

 

Exactamundo

 

I've done this with fresh hops in a home brewed IPA, hop pellets in another IPA, and fresh ground coffee in a River Horse Oatmeal Milk Stout. The hop pellets were disappointing due to reasons given earlier. The other two were excellent!

 

Thank you for the insightful breakdown and comparison! You don't think using ground coffee in an Aeropress and pushing beer through it would extract any coffee flavors are all? Unless you were referring to using whole beans.

Have you tried either method for beer and if so do you have a preference? And which do you prefer for coffee in general. I'm just trying to get as much info to avoid any mistakes. Thanks for the help!

 

To answer your second question... I haven't actually tried any beer experiments like this. I was just transferring my experience of experimenting with several coffee brewing methods. So I apologize for speculating so much about this.

You are right, the aeropress would definitely work for getting coffee flavors into beer, although I think steep length and surface area (ie. grind size) would make a bigger difference than the container in which the steeping takes place. I shouldn't have said that the paper filter would "negate the purpose of the experiment," now that I think about it. The aeropress, with its paper filter, makes a good cup of coffee, so I don't see why it wouldn't make good coffee-infused beer. If I were trying to do a hop infusion I would probably stick to something with a metal screen filter (like a French press) so that those delicious hop oils make it into the glass.

 

Because they have an aeropress.

 

Okay folks, you have peaked my curiosity. What are some other Flavor combinations you have tried. Just off the top of my head i know I have to try an IPA with Tangerine, I saw the BCBS with Vanilla beans, I'm also thinking DarkLord with Coconut, and Black out with Vanilla and Black Cherries. This could be fun.

 

I've gone to restaurants where there is no salt or pepper shakers on the table. When I asked the server the reason for this, the reply was "the chef wants you to enjoy the dish the way it is made", which I respect. I translate this respect to bottled/draft beer, that is, I want to enjoy the beer the way it is brewed.

If I homebrewed however, this would definitely be something I would use.

 

Good point. I'll try it soon and update in the thread.

 

I used a French Press awhile back as a post for our beer blog in attempt to make shitty beer less shitty. Didnt turn out too bad but it makes the beer go flat.

 

lol at Jeremy Danner from Boulevard:

 

Then I'd go back to your steep time or maybe address the freshness of your hops. Randall's don't "press" the hops, when adding hops to the secondary one doesn't press the hops... jam in your hops with the beer, give a vigorous stir to agitate them, and let it sit a bit longer next time.

 

well played sir, well played... but I am equal opportunity and believe in having both + a chemex.

 

I'm kind of surprised at the general enthusiasm for this given the usual disdain for the ol' lemon/orange wedge on a wit or weizen.

 

Anyone ever ran an ipa/DIPA through grapefruit pulp, or maybe orange pulp/zest? Would this be best with a Randall or could you try and press it? I feel like experimenting with come citrus infusions.

 

You're welcome. I'm also a piss-poor teacher, as it's really just a tertiary hobby that I have more interest than time/attention to give it. But if you're interested there's a whole community and tons of great resources out there (TheBigEast just tossed out a few) if you want to go deeper.

 

Yeah. Now I kinda of want to fill a french press with citrus rings and top with hefeweizen.

 

This past Sunday our tasting group did:

Speedway Stout with shaved coconut, cacao nibs, and vanilla extract
Speedway Stout with Andes mints
Speedway Stout with Peanut Butter Toast Crunch cereal

We let each blend steep for 15 to 30 minutes to concentrate flavors. We would then blend a bit of one of these with the french pressed beer to get a final product:

2009 BA Speedway
2012 BA Speedway
2010 Speedway
Kopi Speedway
BA Kopi Speedway
BA Numbskull - just to experiment

Good times.

 

Seems like Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout would be a good beer for this. 4 pack at $7-9.

Maybe I'll have to buy a French press now and put coffee through the beer.