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Author Topic: Java beans in coffee porter  (Read 4787 times)

Offline aschecte

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Re: Java beans in coffee porter
« Reply #15 on: April 23, 2013, 11:17:40 am »
I was thinking of using American Roast Java Superior beans for some cold-brewed coffee to put into a porter and can't find any info about acidity... though I probably don't need to worry too much about that since I'm cold-brewing it, right?  Has anyone here used those beans before?  Do you have any other recommendations?  I was going to start off with 1/2 lb coarsely ground beans and 32oz water for a 5 gal batch.
It's tannins you don't have to worry about with cold brewing, not acidity. But I don't think any coffee beans are acidic enough to affect beer in the concentrations we use them. I used 1/2lbs cold steeped in 5 gal and liked it - almost too strong.  Next time I'm going to add uncrushed beans directly to the beer for a few days and then rack it off to package.  I do worry about introducing oxygen with cold steeped coffee. The blogger Mad Fermentationist says the coffee flavor is more persistent this way too.

Just to add to what your saying if you do a hot extraction with the coffee beans you will also then extract the beans oils as well which will have a multitude of other negative effects with head retention among other associated problems. Bottom line cold extraction all the way when it comes to coffee. +1 to everything said above my post.
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Offline denny

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Re: Java beans in coffee porter
« Reply #16 on: April 23, 2013, 11:39:00 am »
Just to add to what your saying if you do a hot extraction with the coffee beans you will also then extract the beans oils as well which will have a multitude of other negative effects with head retention among other associated problems.

I've added hot brewed espresso to a batch and not had that problem.
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Offline aschecte

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Re: Java beans in coffee porter
« Reply #17 on: April 23, 2013, 11:44:36 am »
Just to add to what your saying if you do a hot extraction with the coffee beans you will also then extract the beans oils as well which will have a multitude of other negative effects with head retention among other associated problems.

I've added hot brewed espresso to a batch and not had that problem.

As they say YMMV..... Denny I would be the last person to ever disagree with your experience so their you have it if Denny says it's good on the hot side then so be it. Like my original post stated I have not done this personally my knowledge comes from either books, schooling, and I have made a lot of good friends that are commercial brewers that have all basically said cold extraction is the way to go. Is it possible that other factors would play into the equation like carapils or another grain that would counter balance the oils ? I don't think anyone will disagree that oils in general will effect retention.
don't worry I'll drink it !!

Offline denny

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Re: Java beans in coffee porter
« Reply #18 on: April 23, 2013, 01:26:24 pm »
As they say YMMV..... Denny I would be the last person to ever disagree with your experience so their you have it if Denny says it's good on the hot side then so be it. Like my original post stated I have not done this personally my knowledge comes from either books, schooling, and I have made a lot of good friends that are commercial brewers that have all basically said cold extraction is the way to go. Is it possible that other factors would play into the equation like carapils or another grain that would counter balance the oils ? I don't think anyone will disagree that oils in general will effect retention.

It could very well be that in a 5 gal. batch you don't get enough oil from the amount of coffee you use to be a problem.
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Offline kramerog

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Re: Java beans in coffee porter
« Reply #19 on: April 23, 2013, 02:00:48 pm »
I added coffee made in a French press to a porter in secondary and the resulting porter had little head even though it was carbonated sufficiently.  IIRC, I added 16 cups of coffee to 5 gallons of porter.

Offline Joe Sr.

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Re: Java beans in coffee porter
« Reply #20 on: April 24, 2013, 07:31:16 am »
The first coffee beers I made back in the early 90s used, IIRC, a pound of beans steeped with the specialty grains.  We never had head retention with that beer that I can recall, and we made it several times.

I haven't had any problems with head retention using coffee more recently, nor have I had problems using chocolate which is also supposed to have oils that would cause a problem.  I haven't used carapils in years.

There may be an effect that I am missing, but in my experience it's not a concern I would worry too much about.
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