# Carbed cold brew coffee



## Topher (9/6/15)

I love cold brew, and i know a few purveyors and roasters who serve from a keg. But they do it on nitro to lessen/elimainate carbonation. 

I cant afford a nitro rig (unfortunately. ....) but was thinking about putting a small keg of fizzy bean juice on. Has anyone tried or heard of this? Might be fun for cocktail contruction and blending into other beers.......


----------



## MHB (9/6/15)

I just bet you have a beard and a fixie

M


----------



## Danscraftbeer (9/6/15)

Chilled carbonated coffee? unless I'm confused.
Have dont the Ice tea thing. I can squeeze an 11lt keg in and use it as non alcohol fizzy drinks.
Is this like home brew Coca Cola? :unsure:


----------



## Pogierob (9/6/15)

buy a carbonation cap and do small batches to work out if it's the goods or shite.

something like this.

http://www.fullpint.com.au/carbonation-line-cleaning-counter-pressure-cap/


----------



## Tex083 (10/6/15)

Have you looked into a cream charger? You know the tool all the chefs use on TV to make foams, whipped cream in 2 seconds. They use No2 might be able to gas up a cold brew. 
I had one @ Proud Mary in Collingwood and it was great! Report back on a carbonated version.


----------



## Topher (10/6/15)

MHB said:


> I just bet you have a beard and a fixie
> 
> M


No beard or fixie.....and i do not own a vintage Polaroid camera nor do i have any tattoos. 

I do have a penchant for single fin surfboards though......


----------



## MHB (10/6/15)

Well in that case Ok then, I suspect that unless you add quite a lot of sugar it wont taste too good. The change in pH from the carbonation will probably conflict with the coffee flavour and mask it considerably.
I'm not all that big a fan of cold extracted coffee, more of a strong very hot espresso type of drinker, but each to their own...
Mark


----------



## AntonW (10/6/15)

I've seen it done and it's good. Go for it.


----------



## Dave70 (10/6/15)

Look at it this way. If it doesn't work out, you can always huff the nitrous.


----------



## Tex083 (16/6/15)

I was looking at a few coffee related things on the net and found this: http://www.bruer.co/blogs/news/15116357-cold-bruer-experiments-with-carbonation it was a good article, have a read. I would love to give it a try.


----------



## Topher (17/6/15)

MHB said:


> Well in that case Ok then, I suspect that unless you add quite a lot of sugar it wont taste too good. The change in pH from the carbonation will probably conflict with the coffee flavour and mask it considerably.
> I'm not all that big a fan of cold extracted coffee, more of a strong very hot espresso type of drinker, but each to their own...
> Mark


If you need sugar in your coffee....find a better barista.

Certainly no need for sugar MHB, a good cold brew is well rounded with almost none of the bitter oils or acidic tastes. In effect it is much sweeter.


----------



## Spiesy (17/6/15)

Topher said:


> If you need sugar in your coffee....find a better barista.
> 
> Certainly no need for sugar MHB, a good cold brew is well rounded with almost none of the bitter oils or acidic tastes. In effect it is much sweeter.


Agreed. And I don't have sugar in my espresso either. 

I made a super strong cold steep coffee on the weekend, 100g of freshly ground beans into a cup of water. Cold steeped in the fridge for 24-hrs and hen filtered. There was zero bitterness in it. It was then added to an oatmeal stout I'm messing about with.


----------



## GalBrew (17/6/15)

Not sure I can wait 24hr for my morning coffee I'll stick with sugar!!


----------



## MastersBrewery (17/6/15)

Coffee on tap!?! I can see the advantages, and the down sides...... I'd never sleep again.


----------



## mje1980 (17/6/15)

Spiesy said:


> Agreed. And I don't have sugar in my espresso either.
> I made a super strong cold steep coffee on the weekend, 100g of freshly ground beans into a cup of water. Cold steeped in the fridge for 24-hrs and hen filtered. There was zero bitterness in it. It was then added to an oatmeal stout I'm messing about with.


Is that all you need to do to make cold brewed coffee?. Hmmmm.

I do have a beard and I ride a twin keeled fish ( when my knee allows  )


----------



## Tex083 (19/6/15)

I'm keen as to hear how the oatmeal Stout turns out. Keep us posted, or I should just join the brew club!


----------



## Spiesy (19/6/15)

mje1980 said:


> Is that all you need to do to make cold brewed coffee?. Hmmmm.
> 
> I do have a beard and I ride a twin keeled fish ( when my knee allows  )


It's not cold drip coffee, just cold steeped. I did some reading online and it seems to work. The flavour was very coffee-ish, without any bitterness.


----------



## Spiesy (19/6/15)

Tex083 said:


> I'm keen as to hear how the oatmeal Stout turns out. Keep us posted, or I should just join the brew club!


Will do. 

I've been soaking a couple of vanilla beans in a shot of vodka for a week. Will also add this infused vodka when I get home today. 

The stout was pretty boring, so it's a good opportunity to experiment.


----------



## Screamadelica (19/6/15)

Veneziano coffee roaster have one in their coffee shops and have installed it in a few others. I personally didn't like it very much - brought out the roast massively, almost to the point where it tasted like an ashtray.

https://www.venezianocoffee.com.au/venezianos-first-nitro-coffee-installations/

go try one from them first and see how you like it.


----------



## sponge (19/6/15)

Dave70 said:


> Look at it this way. If it doesn't work out, you can always huff the nitrous.


Even if it does work out.. giggles had by all.



mje1980 said:


> I do have a beard and I ride a twin keeled fish ( when my knee allows  )


Is that fluff considered a beard now? :lol:


----------



## mje1980 (19/6/15)

Haha I'm actually clean shaven now, first time this year I think.


----------



## Topher (19/6/15)

And any real hipster wouldnt be caught dead on a board like your JD. Non vintage. You definately pass the no hipster test.



mje1980 said:


> Haha I'm actually clean shaven now, first time this year I think.


----------



## Chookers (20/12/15)

I know its a bit OT, but I just want to clear up something.. you can make well rounded hot espresso without bitterness. I do it all the time. its a lot to do with how fine you grind your beans.. if you grind them to powder you will have bitter hot coffee.. grind to the size of coarse sand or just a bit bigger than grains of sugar, don't have your heat too fierce (medium low is good), coffee doesn't like being rushed.

and use something like this http://www.coffeacoffee.com.au/bialetti-venus
preferably Stainless Steel, those aluminium ones suck.. Oh and do not wash them out with soap, use only hot water.. they kind of get seasoned.


----------



## Kodos (20/12/15)

Topher said:


> If you need sugar in your coffee....find a better barista.
> 
> Certainly no need for sugar MHB, a good cold brew is well rounded with almost none of the bitter oils or acidic tastes. In effect it is much sweeter.



I think the point being made that carbonating the naturally sweet coffee will lower the pH (with carbonic acid) and disturb the balance the coffee had before carbonation. Adding sugar at that stage would be to try and restore that balance.

Just think of how carbonating water makes it taste sharper.

The current world champion barista Sasa Setic was playing around with kegs and CO2 when planning his signature brew for the Nationals. He wasn't enjoying the astringency the CO2 gave it so I loaned him a beer engine. The agitation and aeration worked well (really smoothed it out), but the volumes required to prime the engine made it unsuitable for competition.

Other beans/roasts etc may work better for CO2 carbonation, but it might take a bit of trial and error.

As was previously suggested, try it out with a PET bottle and carb cap first.

Good luck!


----------



## KillerRx4 (20/12/15)

I have recently made some carbonated cold steeped coffee.
Very simple & as suggested carbonated in a PET bottle with a home made carbonator cap type arrangement. I really like the character cold & carbonated. 

From memory I worked ~ 300g coffee per litre, steeped cold for a day or so.


----------



## Maheel (20/12/15)

.


----------

