Barrel Beans

[Yob]

Ive got a Suspicious Stout in a barrel and I want to do some roasted coffee beans in it.. never used them before... so question is..

whole or smashed up? I would have thought whole as little bits will be annoying and clog up the siphon probably...

Yes no?

Chuck em in?

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

I crushed mine and cold brewed them for a couple of days. The coffee was soft and coffeeish but not roasty. I'm thinking of doing a mix of cold and hot brewed coffee next time.

 

[Moad]

I believe the heat brings out bitterness and roast, cold steeping gives you what you want

 

[donald_trub]

I second the cold brew approach. 1 bag of beans, 1.5 litres of water, coarse ground. Chuck it in a big glass bowl and leave it in the fridge (or on the bench - lots of debate on this point). Filter it 24 hours later and keep it in a bottle.

Remember, it's cold brew CONCENTRATE, so you don't need too much to dose your batch. I worked the ratio out with a few test glasses and then scaled up.

This approach means you'll end up with no bits of coffee in your beer. Also means you'll have half a bottle of cold brew in the fridge. It's really good stuff - makes great iced coffee but also makes great normal coffee. No acidic harshness to it.

 

[Yob]

these will be going in the top of that barrel and will be there for the duration.. that said, its 90L of stout so....

certainly cold steeped, I'll just have no way to remove them... Im tipping the last keg will be a corker and dnak AF

 

[madpierre06]

Based on results...26g of coarse ground light/medium roast QUALITY beans in 250ml water cold steeped for up to 18 hours, then strained through a clean chux and resultant cold brew coffee added to FV just prior to bottling. I'd see no harm in that sitting in barrel for the duration. This quantity was for a 11L batch, so just extrapolate. I found that this added a lovely smooth creamy coffee flavour, whereas the eother half of said batch had whole beans added for 18 hrs to FV prior to bottling. You don't want to leave whole beans in any more than 24 hrs, I understand that it won't end well. The batch with the whole beans gave it more of a 'brewed' coffee flavour, almost tea-like.

 

[sp0rk]

I'll barrel your beans...

 

[Fraser's BRB]

Based on results...26g of coarse ground light/medium roast QUALITY beans in 250ml water cold steeped for up to 18 hours, then strained through a clean chux and resultant cold brew coffee added to FV just prior to bottling. I'd see no harm in that sitting in barrel for the duration. This quantity was for a 11L batch, so just extrapolate. I found that this added a lovely smooth creamy coffee flavour, whereas the eother half of said batch had whole beans added for 18 hrs to FV prior to bottling. You don't want to leave whole beans in any more than 24 hrs, I understand that it won't end well. The batch with the whole beans gave it more of a 'brewed' coffee flavour, almost tea-like.

Have to disagree on the 24 hours quoted above. I put 100g of quality whole roasted beans (23L batch) into my FV for 3 days in a milk stout prior to bottling and it worked out great. First time I used a hop sock and pulled them back out, second time I just threw them in and bottled after 3 days, no noticeable difference.

The coffee flavour was massive when the beer was young, but after 6 weeks or so in the bottle it settled down nicely and really complements the beer.

 

[Yob]

so general consensus Im reading is dont throw them in the top? Id be talking contact time of months minimum...

 

[madpierre06]

Have to disagree on the 24 hours quoted above. I put 100g of quality whole roasted beans (23L batch) into my FV for 3 days in a milk stout prior to bottling and it worked out great. First time I used a hop sock and pulled them back out, second time I just threw them in and bottled after 3 days, no noticeable difference.

The coffee flavour was massive when the beer was young, but after 6 weeks or so in the bottle it settled down nicely and really complements the beer.

Ok, I won't argue with that. My figure was based on reading elsewhere so wasn't willing to stretch it.

 

[donald_trub]

I'd be worried about just chucking the beans in there for months... I have no experience but they might break down into something not too pleasant. If you're after a coffee stout you should probably dose it fresh, when it's ready to drink/package. Fresh cold brew in aged stout would be the way to go.

 

[Yob]

Hmmm, point noted.

Could always bean dry hop a mini keg and see what happens...

Cheers

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

I did my cold brew inna 1.25L bottle about 1/3 bottle as coffee, left for 3 days.

Madpierre06's tried the beer, he can give an opinion on the coffee level and flavour in a basic stout like porter.