Thought I might try a coffee stout this weekend...

[Cristal]

Hi everybody,

I'm thinking about a coffee stout this weekend. I'm in Berlin, so it's still pretty cold.

I'm brewing with a friend who is a barista and I kinda thought it might be cool to merge the two loves.

Any tips? Base malt suggestions? The range available is by no means as extensive as in Oz.

When is the coffee standardly introduced? The boil would be dangerous I'd suspect...maybe just 'dry-coffee'd'? Into the chilled wort as I pitch yeast?

Thanks for your help!

cristal

 

[Red Baron]

Try soaking the coffee in cold water overnight to give a smooth coffee flavour, not the harsh bitterness you can get with using coffee that has been brewed the regular way.
Doing it this way, I add it at the end of the boil, but you could also add it as you suggest as you pitch. If you go the dry-coffee'd route, make sure you check it regularly (there will already be coffee flavours from your dark/black malts) so it doesn't get overpowering.

Cheers,
RB

 

[marksy]

Red Baron - how much are we talking? Just checking in whole beans or ground?

Sounds nice Cristal.

 

[huez]

I have had a an american brown ale where whole coffee beans were added late into the fermentation, along with the dry hopping i presume. Was pretty tasty beer. I also listened to a podcast but can't remember the name of the american brewery, but they had done it this way as well and said it only took 3 days. I'd be checking it every day and getting the beer off the coffee when its where you want it to be.

I wouldn't be adding any to the boil or using ground coffee. Ground coffee goes rancid pretty quick, and your going to pull out some harsh flavours if you boil it. Good luck! It's something i have on my to do list!

 

[yeates_7]

My last coffee stout I put about 50-60g of ground coffee in cold water (boiled and cooled - about 500ml) in one of those coffee press doohickies (for a 19L batch). Left it overnight then added it to the fermenter a few days before putting it in the keg (I was adding other things as well so really you could add it just before bottling/kegging if you wanted given the extraction occurs in the press and not the fermenter). Turned out great if you ask me.

 

[Red Baron]

Red Baron - how much are we talking? Just checking in whole beans or ground?

Sounds nice Cristal.

I'll check my notes when I get home tomorrow. Whole beans.

Cheers,
RB

 

[TheWiggman]

Base malt for a stout - standard ale malt, pick your poison. I've used Joe White pale and Simpsons Marris Otter both to good effect, wouldn't prefer one over the other. If going for an English style though it would make sense to use an English malt.

Regarding coffee, I would personally produce espresso shots at a rate or 7.5g per shot in the order of 45-60g total (so 3-4 double shots). 30ml of coffee per shot so allow 180ml. A coffee fiend posted somwhere here that he used something like 2 litres worth and said it was overwhelming, but it was what he was after.

Check this post out. I do love my coffee but I don't think my heart could handle that. His comments later were it was like coffee with a hint of beer, no surprises.
On that note, if caffeine is a concern then you're better off doing espresso shots. More caffeine is extracted from coffee using a drip.

Ed: here's the post I was thinking about http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/78603-coffee-stout-qs/?p=1222034. 3.5 litres of espresso coffee, 1kg of beans. Ouch.

 

[Tex083]

Cold extracted would be my choice. A rate of 20g water to 1g of ground coffee. Freshly ground is best and something interesting, go to a Cafe/roaster tell them your doing and they will help you choose and probably grind the beans for you.
Add the coffee to a jar of cold filtered water and leave for 8-10 hours and filter through a cheese cloth/plunger/chmex.
Add to the end of the boil or to the cube if NC. You could add to ferment if you didn't want to heat it but carries the risk of infection.

 

[klangers]

I made a coffee porter using the cold extract method. I very coarsely ground the beans and left in cold water in the fridge overnight, then strained and added to the whirlpool. I think it was about 200g worth.

Another reason for cold extraction is you avoid pulling all the oils from the coffee, which would otherwise kill any head retention.

 

[Red Baron]

Marksy,
I used 100g of whole beans cold steeped overnight in the fridge, then the liquid was added at the end of the boil. I had almost 1kg of dark malt in the grist, so there was heaps of coffee flavour coming from the dark grains too.

Cheers,
RB

 

[pat_00]

I tried a red duck espresso ESB on the weekend, hands down the best coffee beer I've ever had. I'm keen to give it a try making something similar

 

[marksy]

Marksy,
I used 100g of whole beans cold steeped overnight in the fridge, then the liquid was added at the end of the boil. I had almost 1kg of dark malt in the grist, so there was heaps of coffee flavour coming from the dark grains too.

Cheers,
RB

Sweet. Thanks for that.

 

[takai]

Anyone want to hazard a guess on how much bean would be required if there wasnt any dark grain at all?

 

[TheWiggman]

What do you mean? If there wasn't any dark grain it wouldn't be a stout.