carbonated cold brew

[theDREWery]

I was thinking of bottle carbing some cold brew coffee, and maybe adding in some maltodextrin for body. Lactose is also a possibility. Was going to use champagne yeast of some kind for simplicity/reliability. Anyone try this before, or see any potential problems?

I've never kept cold brew beyond a few days, would I need to pasturize?

 

[theDREWery]

Looking at stout recipes, it looks like 1/2 lb maltodextrin and 1 lb lactose for a 5 gal batch would be about the upper limit for what I'd want out of a low gravity, dry stout. I'm going to up the maltodextrin to 1 lb per 5 gal, since the cold brew won't have any body from malts.

Going to steep about a half pound coffee in a gallon of hot tap water overnight, straining in the morning. Just to be sure there are no spoilage microbes, I'll bring the whole mess to a boil with the priming sugar, maltodextrin, and lactose, then chill, pitch rehydrated champagne yeast, and bottle.

I think I'm going to start with a 1 gal batch since I'm swinging blind. I'm hoping I end up with something with the look/feel/flavor of stout, but I can drink mornings, at work, etc.

 

[steveoatley]

sounds like a plan

please let us know how it turns out

S

 

[theDREWery]

I ended up brewing this on 15-16th. Steeped 1/2 lb coffee (just the cheap stuff) in 1 gal 1 pt hot tap water overnight (~12 hrs). Siphoned to stockpot, added 90 g maltodextrin, 90 g lactose, and 1/2 oz table sugar to prime. Brought to a boil for 5 minutes, and chilled. Added some rehydrated Red Star Champagne yeast, and bottled. Yield was 10x 12 oz bottles, and a little bit for tasting.

Taste wasn't too bad, a little harsh for a cold brew. I don't know if that was the cheapness of the coffee, or bringing it to a boil. Body and sweetness were still very low, I don't know yet if carbonation will help, but my guess is that I'll be doubling the maltodextrin and lactose in the next batch.

If nothing else, I'm sure this will make a very nice ice cream float.

 

[steveoatley]

Taste wasn't too bad, a little harsh for a cold brew. I don't know if that was the cheapness of the coffee, or bringing it to a boil.

From what i read - it was the Boil that makes Coffee 'bitter' or harsh
the acids come out in the boil.

just my 2 cents

How soon do you think it will be ready - CO2 ?

S

 

[theDREWery]

I'll probably crack one this weekend to check carb levels, I've never carbed with champagne yeast before so I'm not sure how fast it will go, but I imagine fairly quick.

I'm also going to try a smoother coffee next time, maybe with a longer, lower temp for pasteurization.

 

[steveoatley]

I just tasted my first Cold Brew Coffee experiment

Cold Water - 5 cups - 40 oz
6 oz of Ground coffee - kinda fancy chocolate coffee - probbaly too much at this point
2 tblsps Ghiradelli Sweet Ground Chocolate

came out WAY too Strong on the Coffee side - very bitter
cut it in half with water & Cream, and then the Chocolate shows up in flavor
= so it ended up like 1/3 coffee 1/3 water 1/3 creamer

It can be saved, but not what i was hoping for....

My next experiment I am going to duplicate some of your idea

make up my water before hand - double my volume = 80 oz
Add Lactose - to get my milk flavor - heated just to disolve
Add Maltodextrin - to get malty flavor - heated just to disolve
Add Chocolate flavor here - needs hotter water i think to mix in
And - Sugar to sweeten some ( not for priming like you )

Boil this up - let cool, and use this mixture as the water to Steep the Coffee grounds in.
( no boil of Coffee "liqueur" )

I am not looking to bottle carbonate- yet - just looking for flavor right now


Watch out for Bottle Bombs, I hear that Champagne yeast goes fast !

Steve

 

[theDREWery]

I've also been thinking about chocolate malt for flavoring, but that would be adding sugars, and then alcohol, to something I wanted non-alcoholic. Maybe I just need to brew a chocolate coffee milk stout.

 

[steveoatley]

I've also been thinking about chocolate malt for flavoring, but that would be adding sugars, and then alcohol, to something I wanted non-alcoholic. Maybe I just need to brew a chocolate coffee milk stout.

But the "adding Alcohol" is how you can also get Carbonation in the bottle :rockin:

Kumbacha brewers = they bottle carbonate because the brew is bottle fermenting..... adding only .5% is what most of them say.....

S

 

[Aristotelian]

Missed this thread the first time. I agree, you don't need to boil, unless you are planning to keep this stuff in the fridge for months. The big thing is getting it back into the fridge before you have bottle bombs. I have been looking into making yeast-carbonated soda using the same technique. I would bottle at least one sample in a plastic bottle to observe the carb level.

 

[Aristotelian]

I've also been thinking about chocolate malt for flavoring, but that would be adding sugars, and then alcohol, to something I wanted non-alcoholic. Maybe I just need to brew a chocolate coffee milk stout.

Just get it into the fridge as soon as you have the carb level you want (probably 24-48 hours). Then you can have as much sugars in your soda as you want.

 

[theDREWery]

Tried some of this yesterday, not quite carbed yet. The acrid flavors I noticed at bottling are definitely just the coffee, not that it was boiled. Very low body, I think I need to significantly increase both maltodextrin and lactose next batch, but we'll see how it behaves when fully carbed.

 

[theDREWery]

Tried some more of this yesterday, needs more dextrin, lactose, and priming sugar. Also needs better coffee than the cheap stuff. I think I may be chasing this for quite awhile...

 

[steveoatley]

how is the experiment going ?

I finally have a recipe i like the flavor of - willing to make/drink 3 gal of
so i am thinking about bottling as well.

S

 

[theDREWery]

They're not too bad, I think I'm going to double lactose, maltodextrin, and priming sugar for the next batch. The acrid flavors have mellowed significantly, but I'm going to switch to a better quality coffee as well.

If this keeps going well, I may end up blending a very light roast coffee with about 10% extremly dark roast. The end goal of course being a drinkable beverage, but I'd really like something that looks like stout that I can drink at work.

 

[BSquaredBrewing]

Interested! Had a cold brew on nitro at Bow Truss Coffee in Chicago, IL. It was very good! Been cold brewing coffee at home for a year or so, would be neat to have a carbonated version on tap.