Coffee Stout Qs

[dibby33]

Made this before a couple of times 7 years ago. Going to up the ante on it I want a double shot in each stubby. Not a session beer obviously!




Coffee Shot (g)

7

Number of shots per bottle

2

Bottle Size

375

Batch Size

23000

Number of Bottles :

61.33333

Total Coffee :

858.6667



so, about 900g of good fresh coffee, ground, brought to a simmer, left to cool overnight, then filtered.

My questions :
1) This is a lot of coffee and contains oils. With this effect the carbonation? ...flat head?
2) Do I need to add it to the boil (no? as long as I am full of MrClean)
3) Can I make it up in advance and freeze it (in 2x1.5l blocks). Use that to chill instead of ice (yes that is subjective - no comments required!)


Using my normal partial mash recipe (with a boil of course!) for my house stout.

 

[brewtas]

That's a massive amount of coffee! Most coffee beers I've seen would be using somewhere between 30-100g in a batch. 900g might be overwhelming but I'd be interested to taste it.

What you're suggesting wouldn't the same as adding 2 shots of coffee though. Espresso isn't just about the amount of coffee but the extraction under pressure. Espresso would give a different flavour to the beer as would other extraction methods. Also, these days a shot of coffee is much more likely to use 14-23g rather than 7g.

Generally with coffee my preference is to extract it the way I'd like to drink it. Espresso, plunger, cold steep or aeropress are all good options. Don't ever boil the coffee, either in the wort or to extract it, it'll be nasty. The safest way to go is to ferment the beer and then add enough coffee to taste into the fermenter just before you bottle/keg.

Finally, get the best coffee you can find. In Hobart I'd say that's a choice between Yellow Bernard, Pilgrim and Villino. Buy and use it fresh.

 

[dibby33]

Nice to see you know a lot about coffee My normal order is 1kilo of Costa Rican Beans from Coffee Plus in CentrePoint. I just don't fancy having to make 120 espressos! I have a manual machine (Lelit) at home and it would take a long time.

I have an aeropress (love it - use it at work) - I suppose that could work. Might be able to get 4 shots out of it at once...

The boil would have been on the extract (i.e. not including the coffee grains).

Yes, it is a lot of coffee. The last lot I did was 250g, steeped overnight and added to the primary. ..what is better than coffee - MORE COFFEEE!!!!

Lightbulb moment - I have some stout in the bottle already. Only a few weeks old, but I will crack one and add a double shot to it. Will try that tonight (early!)

:icon_cheers:

 

[dibby33]

oh, and a shot is about 7g, the machines normally have a double basket in the group head. 14g for a double shot.

 

[brewtas]

I have an aeropress (love it - use it at work) - I suppose that could work. Might be able to get 4 shots out of it at once...

The boil would have been on the extract (i.e. not including the coffee grains).

Yes, it is a lot of coffee. The last lot I did was 250g, steeped overnight and added to the primary. ..what is better than coffee - MORE COFFEEE!!!!

Lightbulb moment - I have some stout in the bottle already. Only a few weeks old, but I will crack one and add a double shot to it. Will try that tonight (early!)

:icon_cheers:

Good idea on the stout! It's hard to argue with more coffee.

The aeropress works really well for this because it can make such a clean, delicate cup of coffee. I used 3 or 4 presses of a single origin Kenyan in a batch a while back and it was brilliant.

oh, and a shot is about 7g, the machines normally have a double basket in the group head. 14g for a double shot.

That's a definition that's fallen by the wayside a bit. I'm talking about normal commercial practice though. The 14g baskets are usually loaded with more like 18g and there are 21g and 23g baskets. Places like Villino and YB tend to pull ristrettos for every cup so it's normally something like 21g/shot. Just like modern IPAs really, turn it up to 11.

 

[black_labb]

I visited the Renaissance/ 8 Wired brewery in Blenheim NZ 1.5 years ago and asked about 8wired's coffee brown ale. The description I got was that there was 2 espresso shots worth of coffee per litre. They had cold steeped the coffee though I can't remember if it was cold steeped in the fermenting wort or if it was in water and added later. I think the concern would be mainly how do you avoid carrying coffee grains over into the finished product.

I tried the 8 wired coffee brown ale a few days after speaking about the beer with Soren and was very impressed with it. It was a big brown ale at 8% with beautiful malt flavours mixing well with the prominent but not overpowering coffee. I wished I had asked more questions when I tried it, it was great.

I relally want to but I am hesitant to brew something similar as I don't tend to sleep well after caffeine late in the day. Maybe I'll have to split a batch at some point.

 

[dibby33]

I tried their choc stout (At Winstons up in North Hobart) - very very nice.
So, I am planning to triple the amount of coffee that they were using. What could possible go wrong! lol

It is a beer that can attack you. Drink it too late and you stay up later than you meant and increase the possibility of drinking all of your stocks. Drink it too early and it is a downward spiral from there!
My Stout is about 8.2% - should be able to handle the extra flavours.

If I use the aeropress there will be no grains (using paper filters). Might have to do this over several nights though! Lot of plunging

Just the one small issue though - my seal on my group head thingy is needing replaced. I might have to take a trip into town on the way home - need coffee anyway. Hope it is a standard part size!

 

[dibby33]

Just tried my stout with double espresso. wow, strong. I thought that the coffee taste would have been more diluted but it wasn't. Thinking about reducing it. Not happy!

 

[Tahoose]

I just started fermenting a coffee stout this morning, I roasted about 2kg of barley for about 6 hours until it was quite dark.

12ltr batch

2kg home roasted barley
1.5kg ale malt
1kg brown sugar

3 heaped tablespoons with 400ml of water in coffee plunger, coffee added when yeast pitched.

POR 60mins
Fuggels 30 mins

IBU 50

Target OG 1.112
OG Not sure (refractometer querie)

Pitched it onto a yeast cake of Nottingham Ale

Bit of an experiment, smelt funny out of the cube, but I think that was the fuggles

 

[dibby33]

I have settled on 1.5 espressos per stubby (375ml). I am not after subtle flavour here, but two was overpowering the taste of the beer.
This weekend I am going to make 92 shots!

Tahoose - let me know how it turns out

 

[Tahoose]

Will do, I'll see how this turns out I might do another stout soon but I'll buy some spec malt and do it properly

 

[dibby33]

Will do, I'll see how this turns out I might do another stout soon but I'll buy some spec malt and do it properly

...I was wondering why you did not do that in the first place!

 

[Tahoose]

Haha I got a little over enthusiastic reading DIY roasted barley threads....

 

[Grainer]

Agreed 900 is overkill

I just made a breakfast stout with chocolate and coffee


72g ground at end of boil Sumatran coffee

then secondary got 20g Sumatran and 55g Costarican espresso'd and cooled then added

 

[jakester1]

Went to the new Rocks Brewing Co brewery in Sydney yesterday and had an amazing coffee beer. It wasn't just subtle hints of coffee like normal beers with coffee flavour but it was like more coffee than beer! It had a brilliant creamy head that went perfectly with it. You couldn't drink much of it i guess but was a great beer for what it is. I can't even recall the name of it now but maybe Scott might post some ideas on here of what you can try. Id say go balls out like this beer did, don't hold back and reap the rewards!

 

[dibby33]

Well, I am currently 30 shots into my 90 750ml of goodness.

Turns out 11g per shot. Messy times!

 

[Tex083]

I would have cold steeped the coffee, have you ever had a cold drip coffee?
No bitter taste just the sweet/citrus/spicy notes from the coffee.
But I do like the commitment to extracting 90 shots and adding that to your brew. You will have your machine and grind well sorted out by the time your finished.

 

[dibby33]

Cold drip is fantastic. Def going to get one soon.
Just vacuum sealed the first 36 to go into the freezer. Was thinking that the temp of the coffee might be good for bacterias. Plus I will use it instead of some ice.

Taking a break at 46 shots. Only drank one and feel like I have had about six!

 

[dibby33]

Ended up making 70 shots. Used about 810g of coffee. It sure did smell good! Just pitched the yeast and having a few cleansing ales / stouts now. Four hours it took to make the partial mash. Long day. Also bottled an irish red so I reckon I have earned a beer.

 

[Tahoose]

Damn straight I reckon you deserve a beer after that effort...

Plus what would it all be for if you couldn't enjoy a few cold ones