[quattlebaum]

suggestions on process and kind of coffee to add to a clone of Surly Bender (brown)

[HoosierBrew]

Lots of ways of doing it. My favorite way is to coarsely crack good coffee beans, try 1/2 lb to start, and put them into a fine mesh bag, into the keg and then pull the bag when the flavor gets just where I want it. No guesswork.

EDIT - I like to use Sumatra , French roast, or espresso beans best normally, depending on what I'm looking for. Fun to experiment though.

[denny]

I find dry beaning gets me a lot of aroma but not a lot of flavor.  I add strong brewed espresso to taste at packaging.  By doing it that way you don't have to guess at how much to use.  I've also found I like to cut back the hopping a bit to compensate for the bitterness of the coffee.

[Stevie]

Cold brew half pound of coffee in my 50oz french press. I like darker roasts.

[Steve Ruch]

suggestions on process and kind of coffee to add to a clone of Surly Bender (brown)

Use coffee that you like to drink.
When I brew a coffee beer I cold steep a strong cup and add to taste at bottling.

[fmader]

I use ground coffee in my Good Morning Stout. I use 2 oz of Sumatra at 0 minutes. Then I'll rack it onto 2 oz of Kona in the secondary.

[Lazy Ant Brewing]

to fmader'

Are the quantities you've given for a 5-gal batch? And do you use a grain bag for the part that goes into your secondary?

Thanks

[fmader]

to fmader'

Are the quantities you've given for a 5-gal batch? And do you use a grain bag for the part that goes into your secondary?

Thanks

Yes for a five gallon batch. This might be the best beer that I brew. We just tapped a keg of it last week. Delicious. I don't use a bag for the coffee, but I don't bag dry hops either. 99% of the coffee will stay on the bottom of the carboy. I filter through a nylon stocking that is zip tied to the hose going into the keg (or bottling bucket).

[mabrungard]

I was just passing through Jacksonville FL yesterday and there were Busch Coffee Lager billboards all along the interstate. This is a city that is dominated by my former client, AB. So they must be conducting a test marketing trial. This brings up the question: can you impart good coffee flavor in a pale beer?  I know that here in Indy, Sun King did a special version of their Cream Ale with a lightly roasted etheopean coffee infusion that was outstanding. Tasty coffee notes can be incorporated. I know they cold infused the beer. I wonder what enhances the process.

[Black Sands Brewery & Supply]

Many ways to do coffee beers. I find whole or corse ground work best. Medium or dark roasts are also lend to the "coffee" flavor. Light roasts are too acidic. Using the whole beans in secondary gives me the most true flavor. Contact Time, amount of coffee, type of coffee, and temp will all affect extraction and flavor. I use 1/2 lb of medium roast blend whole beans in secondary at 65 degrees for 2 days and it was a pronounced coffee aroma and flavor. Coffee tends to fade a bit after packaging too so factor that in.

When I made a commercial coffee porter we would use whole beans in bags with cold finished beer aged for specific amount of time less than 24 hours. Then blend the "coffee" porter back with regular porter. Excellent results but all those factors mentioned above play in. We cracked the flavor code of that coffee for that beer. It will take time and experiments to nail it down on your own recipe.

My advice is to not brew coffee and add it to the beer.

[reverseapachemaster]

This brings up the question: can you impart good coffee flavor in a pale beer?  I know that here in Indy, Sun King did a special version of their Cream Ale with a lightly roasted etheopean coffee infusion that was outstanding. Tasty coffee notes can be incorporated. I know they cold infused the beer. I wonder what enhances the process.

There are a few blonde or pale coffee beers around the country. I've had a couple and they are pretty good. You get lots of smooth coffee flavor without much of the roast. Of the two I have tried I know one is just adding beans post-fermentation and I believe that is the process on the other.

[coolman26]

I like to use course cracked beans in secondary.  I use 4oz course cracked beans and prefer the darker roasted beans.  When I've used any type of heated coffee it tends to kill the head retention.  The beans settle out and are easy to rack off of.  I didn't see any of that from SunKing.  In a lighter style sounds nice.   

[Statsmats]

Wish I would have read this thread before my FBS clone attempt...used ground coffee for both boil and secondary...and don't keg so normally don't filter. FYI...coffee does NOT sink...or float...sort of stays in suspension.    I used a scrubbie on the end of my auto-siphon to keep the big stuff out and bottled the stuff tonight. The bottling bucket walls were flecked with little coffee particles...this will be interesting to see what happens in the bottles after a few weeks.  They might clear up and drop the coffee into the bottom...or might be like grandma's coffee where you strain the beer through your teeth...we'll see.

In the future, if I use coffee I will either crack whole beans or use a fine mesh bag.

[ffdfireman]

I started with a coffee stout kit, then did some reading and experimenting.  I found that the best way (for me) to get good coffee flavor without the added "coffee bitterness" is to cold brew coarsely ground beans, filter the grounds and put in secondary fermenter.

[toby]

Just seeing this with the new responses.  I have brewed a coffee stout once or twice a year for almost 20 years now.  My personal favorite method at this point is adding the grounds at flameout (basically like a whirlpool addition) using a fine mesh nylon hop bag.  I find it gives the best balance of coffee flavor and flavor stability and longevity.  I really like the granularity of using a cold-brewed concentrate (with my Toddy setup), but I've found that the coffee character fades a lot faster using this method.  If I were brewing a batch for a festival where it was going to be consumed quickly, I'd probably go with that, but for around the house, flameout is the way to go for me.

As far as what type of coffee, you need to ask yourself that.  What type of coffee do you like to drink?