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Permalink Reply by Mitch Buckner - Bella Caffe on June 16, 2009 at 11:40am

I've got a local brewery in Memphis (Ghost River) has an Espresso Stout but its only in 1 local bar & I havent had a chance to try it but Im hoping to in a couple of weeks (been working out of town alot this last 2 months). Left Hand has a Milk Stout that if it isnt made with Espresso it sure taste like it. I used to find it around here all the time but now that I've been trying to find it to buy it, I havent been able to. I actually make my BarBQ sauce with beer & coffee. Makes an incredible sauce. I've also made chili this way using beer & coffee as the liquid base for the chili. I actually use coffee or beer in most things I cook..I just love both coffee & beer & I love eating & cooking so its a natural to combine all! If you've never had a BBQ Balogna sandwich with a nice dark beer & dark coffee bbq sauce, you havent lived!

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Permalink Reply by Timothy Chappell on June 17, 2009 at 12:16am

To get a clean coffee flavor in your beer you should add HOT brewed coffee during the last few min of your boil. If it is cold or room temp you risk shocking the oils in your coffee and will end up with briny high notes in your beer. If you put grounds in the cloth, the coffee will get over extracted and leave behind grounds in the fermenter that will decay giving a pungent moldy "dirty sponge" aroma to your beer. Adding hot brewed coffee the last few minutes of your boil will allow the coffee flavor to remain neutral and the acids will diminish naturally before coming in contact with the yeast, lowering your chances of killing the yeast.

John Cunningham said:

The Dog Fish Head brewing guy advocates adding the coffee when you add your aroma hops just at the end of the boil. i would use a coarse grind and put it in a cheese cloth bag, probably let it steep for 3 or 4 minutes. any grounds that get into the beer should be left behind with the trub when you move to the secondary fermenter/carboy. i'm curious if you could add some coffee while doing dry hopping. if i try i'll post the results.

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Permalink Reply by Mitch Buckner - Bella Caffe on June 24, 2009 at 7:43am

Brewed my first batch of beer this week to give it a shot. Went with a simple bock kit just to try it. I'll give it a few more tries & then start figuring out how to add coffee to mine.

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Permalink Reply by Donny Raus on February 20, 2013 at 3:06pm

Hey Group, I have a local brewery looking to use my espresso to make an Espresso Porter. New to coffee porter world, they are unsure how to go about adding the coffee into the process. 

Does anyone have any experience with this? Is it added to the fermenter? Dry hop tank? Heating tank? Any input would be most helpful! Thanks!!!!

Best,
Donnuy

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Permalink Reply by Brady on February 20, 2013 at 5:22pm

Here's a reply to this same question on an unrelated thread. I ported it over for convenience.

Bryan Wray said:

The things mentioned in the thread on coffee beers is going to be the best advice anyone is going to be able to give you on this site.

Put your best offering for cold brew (something dynamic and fruity) into something equally dynamic, an IPA.  Put your "porter" into their porter, something like a darker dry process coffee or an Indo.  South American coffees taken to the 430F range make great browns.

The science behind brewing is going to have to be up to them, but shoot, you can gather about 10,000 coffee beer recipes just by typing it into a search engine.

Just make sure that you use cold brewed coffee as the main component and then add a small amount of hot coffee at the end if you want.  I believe when I've given coffee to brewers before they've always used it post fermentation.

-bry

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Permalink Reply by Brady on February 20, 2013 at 5:31pm

I have never tried to make a coffee beer, but I have consumed a few, have made both, and have seen others post their efforts.

There are several potential pitfalls. Contamination of the beer, screwing up the extraction, ruining the coffee flavor by adding (or holding too long at) the wrong temperature.

I've seen some guys pull dozens of espresso shots to add to the beer. Other mad-scientists try to do an infusion during the last portion of the boil. Maybe those guys will jump in here to regale us with tales of their experiments.

My worry with coldbrew is contamination. Wild yeasts on your grinder, coffee beans, or in the atmosphere will never encounter hostile conditions.

Whatever you try, good luck.

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Permalink Reply by Bj Davis on February 21, 2013 at 10:09am

Indianapolis = Coffee Beer Love!  We roast for several breweries in Indy, currently on at Triton Brewery Bjava Brown, next up at Fountain Square Brewery a coffee amber, returning soon Breakfast Magpie at New Day Meadery.  The last one is a black raspberry honey wine with coffee. We try to keep the beer world here caffeinated, and tasty!  Nothing available in bottles or cans yet.

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Permalink Reply by Keith on March 1, 2013 at 11:22am

Not going to find it anywhere because it was a limited run but 3beans from Sixpoint Brewery was incredible. They used cacao beans from Mast Bros Chocolate, coffee beans from Stumptown, and Romano Beans. This stuff was great and worth $14 for a 6 pack. 10% ABV packs a punch too.

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