Looking For Brewing Wisdom

[slowlearner]

EVEING ALL.

What with all the warm weather and all, I'm thinking an ale next... :icon_cheers:
I have fond memories of a CASCADE choc mahog porter that I re-visit every so often and would like to brew it again but with more choc flavour. I have read elsewhere on this site that I should be using high cocoa content gear like the Lindt 85% gear. What I am wondering is how to go about it. Grate it and boil it with the malt and dex??, grate it and straight into the wort?? Any other suggestions?? Any other suggestions for ingredients?? Not honey, will try that another time.

Another brew that I have been pondering for a while is a coffee ale, similar to a MEANTIME Coffee Porter. I posted a thread a while ago looking for ideas but come back with sweet F.A.
What I've come up with is this.
-COOPERS Real Ale as a cheap base kit.
-Liquid pale malt extract.
-approx 250gr dex.
-approx 250gr cracked coffee beans in 0.5ltr water boiled for 20 mins, for the coffee flavour.
-fuggles @ 5 odd mins.
-safale s-04.
-final vol 21ltrs.
Any ideas/suggestions? More/less coffee?? Other hops ideas to enhance/add to other flavours??

Thanx in advance to all who respond, much appreciated.

 

[tcraig20]

EVEING ALL.

What with all the warm weather and all, I'm thinking an ale next... :icon_cheers:
I have fond memories of a CASCADE choc mahog porter that I re-visit every so often and would like to brew it again but with more choc flavour. I have read elsewhere on this site that I should be using high cocoa content gear like the Lindt 85% gear. What I am wondering is how to go about it. Grate it and boil it with the malt and dex??, grate it and straight into the wort?? Any other suggestions?? Any other suggestions for ingredients?? Not honey, will try that another time.

Another brew that I have been pondering for a while is a coffee ale, similar to a MEANTIME Coffee Porter. I posted a thread a while ago looking for ideas but come back with sweet F.A.
What I've come up with is this.
-COOPERS Real Ale as a cheap base kit.
-Liquid pale malt extract.
-approx 250gr dex.
-approx 250gr cracked coffee beans in 0.5ltr water boiled for 20 mins, for the coffee flavour.
-fuggles @ 5 odd mins.
-safale s-04.
-final vol 21ltrs.
Any ideas/suggestions? More/less coffee?? Other hops ideas to enhance/add to other flavours??

Thanx in advance to all who respond, much appreciated.

Im not sure on volume, but I wouldnt boil the coffee. If you do you'll end up with something that tastes like, well, boiled coffee. I'd make the coffee up in a plunger or percolator then dump it in.

 

[brendo]

you could look at steeping some grains. A choc malt works well in this style. While not typical for a porter - more for stouts - a bit of smart barley in the queer would give you some coffee flavours.

 

[WarmBeer]

a bit of smart barley in the queer would give you some coffee flavours.

Brendo, have you been posting before your morning coffee? That makes no sense at all!

 

[petesbrew]

Haven't tried coffee yet but it sounds interesting.

The real ale + LME sounds like a good idea for a base.
Dunno if you'll need the dextrose... save it for priming.
Yeah I'd do the coffee in a plunger too. Make sure the beans are actually ground, not cracked, actually 250g is a full bag... is that too much?
As brendo said, choc malt would go well with the coffee. Probably 150-200g worth. IMO
Maybe about 20g of fuggles. (10g steeped for 10min, 10g dry hopped).

My 2cents (which doesn't go far these days!)

edit: found a thread for you
link

 

[brettprevans]

in last Vic xmas in july caseswap there were 2 coffee porters/stouts. Check those out in the recipe thread for some idea.

yes there has been a lot of disc of use of choc in beer. you'd have to do a search. 'lindt' would give you some search results. the issue is with the choc oil not being soluable in water. it is soluable in milk so maybe disolve a little bit of lactose powder?

choc grain gives great results. 150g-200g. steeped.

if you do a search under 'choc mahog porter' and my name i have a few recipe suggestions for this particular style/kit

 

[brendo]

Brendo, have you been posting before your morning coffee? That makes no sense at all!

I was on my phone *damn predictative text on small screen* - it should of course been roast barley...

You will also be pleased to know that I have just finished a large coffee, so I am now good to go.

Thanks Warmbeer...

Cheers,

Brendo

Edit purely for spelling - seems that coffee hasn't quite kicked in - will be a long day I think...

 

[Bribie G]

Currently working through a batch of Coopers Real Ale I did as a demo for a buddy just starting off, and I didn't put any extra hops in. I'm surprised at how bitter it is, and glad I didn't hop. Unless you like an exceptionally bitter beer or are going to put lots of malt extracts and sugars in, be careful with adding bittering to a CRA - the fuggles used as aroma / dry hopping sound about right.

 

[0M39A]

Currently working through a batch of Coopers Real Ale I did as a demo for a buddy just starting off, and I didn't put any extra hops in. I'm surprised at how bitter it is, and glad I didn't hop. Unless you like an exceptionally bitter beer or are going to put lots of malt extracts and sugars in, be careful with adding bittering to a CRA - the fuggles used as aroma / dry hopping sound about right.

also be careful dry hopping with fuggles, as it can taste a bit "grassy"

a little goes a long way with this hop when dry hopping.

 

[petesbrew]

I just did a real ale + amber DME brew, hopped with Willamette & fuggles (about 15g each), and it's turned out pretty good.

Slowlearner, Thinking about it, and seeing that thread, I'd be inclined to probably make up a plunger... maybe for 2-6 cups of coffee.
250g is a frickin' lot. That'd probably be like having a single or double espresso shot in your ale.
Anyone agree/disagree? Again, I haven't done a coffee beer myself... yet...

 

[Katherine]

Slowlearner, Thinking about it, and seeing that thread, I'd be inclined to probably make up a plunger... maybe for 2-6 cups of coffee.
250g is a frickin' lot. That'd probably be like having a single or double espresso shot in your ale.
Anyone agree/disagree? Again, I haven't done a coffee beer myself... yet...

Pete Im thinking your right... I have a friend that puts 500grams in.... and its nothing like beer! though he is a little strange and pours a cup straight out of his fermenter for his morning coffee!

 

[petesbrew]

Pete Im thinking your right... I have a friend that puts 500grams in.... and its nothing like beer! though he is a little strange and pours a cup straight out of his fermenter for his morning coffee!

Geez, I could go that instead of the work espresso machine, especially on days like today!

 

[PostModern]

Pete Im thinking your right... I have a friend that puts 500grams in.... and its nothing like beer! though he is a little strange and pours a cup straight out of his fermenter for his morning coffee!

Your friend has issues other than the amount of caffeine in his porter recipe, I think.

 

[brettprevans]

250 grams is way way too much. as i said look at the vic case swap recipe from July this year. I think there was about 6 cups worth of coffee from a plunger and that was heaps. make sure you strain it well. it ruined the experiance drinking the coffee stout and getting all the coffee grounds as well (big girls blouse i know)

 

[Katherine]

Your friend has issues other than the amount of caffeine in his porter recipe, I think.

He sure does... but that is another story.... He certainly does not brew for the same reasons as most people on here! :icon_cheers:

 

[Jase71]

- a bit of smart barley in the queer would give you some coffee flavours.

:huh: Seek consent first though. This must be something like Kopi Luwak... ...

Predictive text is great. Keep using it to post here, please. :icon_cheers:

 

[slowlearner]

EVENING ALL....again.
sorry i haven't responded so far, (friggin dept of war&finance), thanx for all the help so far, I need all the help i can get....
I was thinkin the COOPERS real ale as a fairly neutral base to start from, will most likely go the choc malt extract instead of the pale malt extract, the 250gr dex to get the ALC% up, fuggles is just what I came up with quickly and from inexperience ( the NORTHERN BREWER looks good, thanx for the link petesbrew),
now that the LHBS has MUNTONS GOLD YEAST I'll go that instead for a maltier taste, with final vol down to 15-16ltrs to keep it from being too watery.

Onto the coffee.....
The MEANTIME site (http://www.meantimebrewing.com/coffee.html) reckons there's a cup of coffee in each 330ml bottle. I gots no idea what 250gr of coffee will do cups wise, just having a stab.... again thanx to petesbrew and JamesCraig for the ground coffee and the plunger suggestions.
I'm inclined to gets me a plunger and do up a batch of coffee to see what 250gr will do cups wise then have a crack at this, modifying the amount of coffee I add to the wort at bottling stage. Start off with say 4 cups, bottle a few litres, add a cup, bottle a few litres, add a cup etc etc, stopping at 7-8 (approx) cups??? That way I have a mixture of bottles with varying amounts of coffee in them to see what they do. Ideas/comments/suggestions?????

Thanx again all. nighty night.

 

[Tony]

I just made a batch of coffee porter..... was 27 liter batch and i used 200g of mildly roasted beans and its not to strong at all. Actually its very much a background character. I now wish i had used either more beans of some stronger beans

Read all about it here

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/blog/tony/index.php?

go down a few enteries ans you will see the pix.

cheers

 

[Fermented]

Sounds like it was a success! Congratulations!!

I guess to get more of the coffee flavour and aroma from the beans, it may be better to crack / crush / grind so that there's more surface area available for extraction. I've tooled around with the thermostat on my espresso machine and found that around >80C to <90C gets the best flavour and all. However, the downside from brewing is oil extraction as well. Under 80C, the flavour is rather poor. This is with everything from cheapo Robert Timms from the supermarket to quality roasts from Forsyths and Campos (Yirgacheffe, Harrah, Guatelama Antigua, etc).

You were right to choose a milder roast as the oils aren't quite as heavily present on the surface of the bean. Check out a coffee supply joint with beans on display - you will see the dark Italo-style roasts shining with lots of oil on the surface. The oil may be a problem in the brew, but the bitterness of a darker roast (stronger bean as you put it) would possibly fight against the rest of the style you're striving for. Maybe something a 'French Roast' would be a better match, albeit in larger quantities.

Lotsa luck with the next batch!

Cheers - Fermented.

 

[Tony]

Ahhhh over 80 deg hey. I ran 150g of them through the grain mill with the specialty grain and mashed it.

Maybe next time i should steep them at 85 deg and add this to the boil after straining off the beans.

I used 150g in the mash from memmory and they were a mix of chocolate fudge and vanilla something.

The bitterness of the beer is probably spot on now that i think about it. THey have added an edge to the beer and the flavour is there, probably perfect seeing as its noticable without mashing the base beer.

cheers