Chocolate coffee porter, a bit of an acidic undertone. why?

[jason91notch]

I did my first All grain batch, a chocolate coffee porter.
Here is my recipe-
8.5lbs Pale malt
.75lbs wheat
.75 chocolate
.5 carafoam
.5 Crystal 120
Mashed @156 for 1 hr,
90min boil,
added .5oz Galena @60 min
.5oz cascade @30 min
.5oz Tettananger @5min
added 14oz french pressed Kona coffee @flameout.
WLP005 yeast.
Had 78% efficiency.

I left in the primary for 16 days, then bottled. Its been 2 months since bottling. Its delicious, but is also a bit 'acidy'. Did I add too much coffee?

 

[jason91notch]

Anyone?

 

[GeorgiaTiger]

I wouldnt know, but damn, it sounds yummy! :rockin:

 

[unionrdr]

I think it's the chocolate malt. Those kind of malts get acidy when steeped or mashed too long. Seems to me the guys in the video I posted yesterday spoke of it. See "beer brewing myths" in the general discussion forum I posted.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

Next time try steeping the chocolate malt instead of mashing and see if the acidity goes away

 

[johnny5000]

Is that 14 fluid ounces of coffee, or was it 14 oz of coffee grounds?
If the former, how much ground coffee did you use?

 

[DrunkleJon]

I believe most often with coffee beers they use cold brewed rather than hot brewed coffee to reduce acidity. I don't know if that is the cause, but it may help mitigate the acidity.

 

[solbes]

Is that 14 fluid ounces of coffee, or was it 14 oz of coffee grounds?
If the former, how much ground coffee did you use?

I used under an oz of coarse ground Caribou coffee beans in secondary for 24 hours and I could taste it in the background. If 14 oz of coffee beans brewed hot (flameout), I think we have our winner for acidity.

 

[redhawknate]

I'm still new to the beer game, but I'm an old dog when it comes to coffee... I agree that if brewed coffee was used, your acidity could be coming from the coffee.

That said, different geographic locations of coffee tend to produce different levels of acidity/body/etc. I would describe Kona as a medium bodied coffee with very light sparkle, so it definitely has a stronger acidic component than say something grown in Indonesia or Asia. It should have less of an acidic flavor, however, than a Latin American coffee that tend to be very light bodied, but high in caffeine and acidity.

The other variable here would be how long it was roasted for... where did you get your coffee from? What color were the beans initially? Lighter roast = more acidity, darker roast = more bitter, earthiness and significantly lower acidity.

Just my $.02!
=Nate

 

[jason91notch]

I brewed the coffee with luke-warm water for about 4 hours before I added it. Ive read since then that some people let the coffee brew for as long as 24 hours before they brew.
The grain bill is similar to a black butte porter clone recipe I found, which is an incredibly smooth porter in my opinion. hm.

 

[jason91notch]

@Nate, it was from a farm in Kona, and it was a darker roast. Drinking the coffee on its own, its definitely a heavier, darker coffee.

 

[jason91notch]

Actually, I just remeasured my french press, and it looks like I was closer to 20oz. So the coffee was probably the culprit eh?