Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Preferred coffee roast level, etc

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

  • Preferred coffee roast level, etc

    Based on other threads, it seems cold toddy is the preferred method for making coffee beers. I have recently had some very nice coffee beers made by adding beans directly to the fermenter. We'd like to try the latter, so my questions are:

    1. How long do you leave the beer on the beans (fermenter method)?
    2. What roast level do you prefer on your beans (either method)?
    3. How many pounds per barrel do you use (either method)?

    Thanks,
    Matt

  • #2
    Matt,

    I have only ever done the Cold Tody method of making coffee beers. Here's the bit of information I can give you.

    Roast level - It depends on the beer I'm brewing. The darker and more flavorful the base beer the darker the roast (But this is something I like to play with). I've done a lot of individual casks with different roasts and roasters to determine what I like. Generally for a porter or stout I go for a dark roast. A brown or scottish gets a lighter roast.

    For individual casts (Firkins or about 10 gallons) I use 4 oz of coarse ground coffee soaked in about 64 oz of cold water overnight - filter out the grounds, add to the firkin, top with beer, wait for carbonation and serve.

    Recently I did a partial batch adding coffee directly to the brite (after having packaged most of the original batch) On this I did 4 lbs of coffee in mesh bags in 2 corny kegs of water (so 2 lbs of coffee per 5 gal) and added that to 7 bbl of beer. The finished porter has noticeable coffee notes. I do think it could have used more though. Next time I'll probably get another couple lbs of coffee and see what I can cram into the corny.
    Manuel

    Comment


    • #3
      Concern should not only be about the method of infusing the coffee into your beer and the level of roast, but also the variety of the blend of coffee beans that have been roasted for you. For example, there is a distinct difference between all Espresso Blends.

      Here is a reference.... http://sweetmarias.com/blending.php

      Look at the description for the Classic Italian Blend of Espresso.

      Comment


      • #4
        I've done both and vastly prefer the "dry beaning" method. Much easier and superior results in my experience. Cold toddy is only the preferred method because thats what a lot of brewers learned to do and inertia has a lot of power in this industry.

        I use about 1# per BBL for beans, added 24-36 hours before you plan to rack to the bright tank. Do NOT leave beer on coffee beans longer than 48 hours or you risk extracting vegetal, green pepper flavors that you do not want. By necessity this is always done at cold crash temp, which is 35F for us. This extracts flavor very nicely despite the cold temp. Put the beans in some sort of hop sack, much easier to get them out and prevent them from clogging up your fermenter plumbing that way.

        As for roast, bean variety etc.. thats really up to you and depends on the beer and what you are looking for. I tend to like espresso and other dark roasts, but hate french roast. Bean variety makes a huge difference as well, Sidamo and yirgacheffe have nice fruity notes that come out nicely in less heavily roasty beers, the louder your base beer the more you want a robust, dark roasted bean.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by nickfl View Post
          I've done both and vastly prefer the "dry beaning" method. Much easier and superior results in my experience. Cold toddy is only the preferred method because thats what a lot of brewers learned to do and inertia has a lot of power in this industry.

          I use about 1# per BBL for beans, added 24-36 hours before you plan to rack to the bright tank. Do NOT leave beer on coffee beans longer than 48 hours or you risk extracting vegetal, green pepper flavors that you do not want. By necessity this is always done at cold crash temp, which is 35F for us. This extracts flavor very nicely despite the cold temp. Put the beans in some sort of hop sack, much easier to get them out and prevent them from clogging up your fermenter plumbing that way.

          As for roast, bean variety etc.. thats really up to you and depends on the beer and what you are looking for. I tend to like espresso and other dark roasts, but hate french roast. Bean variety makes a huge difference as well, Sidamo and yirgacheffe have nice fruity notes that come out nicely in less heavily roasty beers, the louder your base beer the more you want a robust, dark roasted bean.
          Thanks for the insight, Nick. We were considering a heavier dose of beans... possibly 2-3 lbs/bbl. This will be a 10%+ imperial stout. I was expecting a much longer rest on the beans, so we'll be sure to taste it a couple times a day.

          Comment


          • #6
            Personally we have had better experience (in bottled beers) with darker roast levels. Lighter roast levels (over time) lead to vegital flavors (roasted jalapeno/green bell pepper).

            Comment


            • #7
              Beans method

              So you guys use straight up beans? No grind? That sounds clean and easy. I like it.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Oly-brew View Post
                So you guys use straight up beans? No grind? That sounds clean and easy. I like it.
                Coarse grind right before adding them. We usually add either to barrels or to BBT (usually in bags) before racking...48hrs max contact time.

                Comment


                • #9
                  I am in the process of adding coffee to a 5 bbl batch. Using a sanke select with a 4" opening, I put 6 lbs of crushed beans in bags and into the keg, added an imperial oatmeal stout to the keg, letting it sit for 48 hours, then pumping it back into the fermenter through the sprayball. Then I will transfer to bright after a few more days of aging the beer on a small amount of cocoa nibs and vanilla beans that have been soaking in vodka. Then I'll age some of it in bourbon barrels till next year.

                  We used a proprietary blend from a local coffee house. I hand crush them with basically a mortar and pestle kind of setup so they are crushed, but not so fine that they slip through the mesh bag. Sure, there might be a better way, but this worked great for us in the past.
                  Last edited by mikeyrb1; 09-30-2015, 12:50 PM.

                  Comment

                  Working...
                  X