Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Best process using coffee

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Best process using coffee

    I've brewed pilot batches with coffee beans in cask and keg. I've added brewed coffee hot and cold to beer on packaging. I've also added beans in primary and secondary, but I'm wondering about adding cracked beans to the kettle at knock out or the hop back during transfer. Basically we'd like to brew a beer with coffee on our system, but I've concerns about being able to give sufficient contact time in fermenter, the quantity required if the contact time has to be short, getting the beer out of the tanks while they are in there loose, getting the beans out of the tank if they are bagged and an inconsistent variable contact time if added to cask and keg for customers. I can't really brew coffee on the scale required to add it to tanks or on packaging. What works for people here?

    I'm guessing if it is added to the kettle I'm basically brewing coffee, but with a really long contact time that isn't going to favour aromatics. If I add it to the hop back, then I'm basically brewing coffee again, but with crappy extract due to it having to be left in larger pieces. I feel 'dry hopping' with it would be the way to go, but don't know if it'll pack down and clog ports lose, and not sure how to haul a wet heavy bag out from atop a ladder if bagged. Also doubt we can spare more than 4-5 days.

  • #2
    You've got a couple options actually. You can "dry hop" it, I've had good results with a couple muslin bags packed with cracked beans and hung them on the thermowell in a freshly cleaned, sanitized and purging brite tank. I've also used cold brew coffee from a supplier and just dosed as if it was an extract. And lastly I've used a modified keg, to cycle beer through the beans after from a brite tank.

    Comment


    • #3
      If I 'dry hop' I'm just trying to determine the correct amount for the duration. My previous experiments would lead me towards using 3.5-4g/L for 4 days, but this hasn't specifically been tested. When we transfer we run off as much yeast/trub/dry hop as possible and then do so with a 500 micron filter in line which usually handles up to 5kg of hop pellets before clogging. I can't see that cracked coffee beans would be that much of an issue left loose as we've 2" ports. Less of an issue than bagging it maybe? Has anybody felt that way and then heavily regretted leaving things loose? Also did you sanitise? Previously with small amounts I've poured boiling water over them or rinsed them with peracetic.

      Comment


      • #4
        I use 1 lb of whole bean per barrel of finished beer in a bag in a converted keg that has been sanitized/purged and flushed back and refilled everyday for 4 days. It turns great results. Good luck.


        Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

        Comment


        • #5
          I dry hop whole beans at 2g/L for the whole fermentation. It's a little more effort to clean afterwards but no blockages as yet

          Sent from my SM-G928I using Tapatalk

          Comment


          • #6
            I would strongly recommend that you do a coarse grind of the beans. You`ll get a lot more extraction that way and a better more rounded flavor. My favorite approach to making coffee beers is adding from 3-5 g/l ground coffee in a cheese-cloth style bag right before the end of fermentation and letting it steep for 3-4 days. I prefer using a light roast Kenyan or Ethiopian coffee for the bright acidity and fruity flavor.
            Marius Graff,
            Head Brewer, Graff Brygghus
            Tromsø, Norway

            Comment


            • #7
              I've found that cold brewing the coffee works best for us. I can do about 4 gallons in a bucket. Coffee in a large filter, and cold water for 18-24 hrs. Then just pour the coffee into the fermenter. 4 lbs of coffee =4.5 gallons for a 5 bbl batch. You could use multiple buckets for bigger batches. Cold brewed coffee is a lot smoother and less acidic than brewed coffee. I also used to put the coffee in a kegs and fill it with the beer for 24 hrs then transfer it back into the ferm but found this to be a little more harsh of a flavor.

              Comment


              • #8
                The brewery where I used to work (sales, not production) basically dry-hooped with locally roasted and ground coffee, in muslin bags, after crashing pulling yeast, and a few days conditioning at crash temps (38-40F, maybe?) for a mere 18-24 hours. They would then rack off the bagged grounds into the brite, carb it up, and bottle pretty quickly thereafter. Only blockage came once when they did a double strength batch as an anniversary beer; I wasn't there but I understand it was a nightmare trying to rack into the brite.

                I don't know quantities but the numbers tossed around in his thread (around a pound a barrel?) seem ballpark. I would theorize (as a sales not a production guy) that the use of ground rather than just cracked beans sped up the extraction? In any event it was delicious, a medal winner in many competitions.

                Basically like making a cold-brewed pot of coffee.

                (I was under the impression this was a pretty common way of doing this, but working the tents at festivals etc I would spin it as unique. "It's never boiled! So all the volatile aromatics are still IN THERE! 'till you crack open the bottle. Here, take a deep whiff of this. You see? Do know what we mean by "volatile"?" etc, etc .....Imagine the ensuing pseudo-scientific explanation from a liberal arts major who barely passed freshman chemistry and never darkened the door of a sciences lecture hall again)

                Comment


                • #9
                  Coffee or beer with coffee?

                  If you want to have the beer ready to drink in a couple weeks to a few months, do a cold brew and dump it in a bright before filling. If you have time to condition say 12-24 months you can put about a 1 1/2 - 2cups of fresh ground per barrel at flame out or in the whirlpool. In doing this method you get a coffee that a trucker would be happy to drink, but as a beer not quite yet: this is where the waiting begins. I have done brewed both ways (cold brewed and the steep /boil method) the nice thing about the steep method is you use less coffee, but you have to wait. As with adding any flavor to beer you have to either add a lot of flavor to get it to packaging in a timely manor or have time to let the flavors work.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by stz View Post
                    If I 'dry hop' I'm just trying to determine the correct amount for the duration. My previous experiments would lead me towards using 3.5-4g/L for 4 days, but this hasn't specifically been tested. When we transfer we run off as much yeast/trub/dry hop as possible and then do so with a 500 micron filter in line which usually handles up to 5kg of hop pellets before clogging. I can't see that cracked coffee beans would be that much of an issue left loose as we've 2" ports. Less of an issue than bagging it maybe? Has anybody felt that way and then heavily regretted leaving things loose? Also did you sanitise? Previously with small amounts I've poured boiling water over them or rinsed them with peracetic.
                    Dosing is it up to you, different roast levels, bean types, grind, can affect it. Talk to you roaster. If I remember correctly I used 2lb/7bbls. I used a fine grind, and a muslin bag, waited 12 hours and kegged it up. Tasted great, very little residue made it through the bags and I experienced no clogging. I didn't sanitize the coffee as PAA would oxidize the coffee and beer and boiling water would steal from my extraction. Just had the supplier grind up the beans, stuck them in a muslin bag and filled up the tank.
                    Last edited by BroadWay411; 05-26-2017, 11:08 AM.

                    Comment

                    Working...
                    X