Coffee in beer

[madisonmasher]

Hey peeps. I've been reading up on adding coffee in beer. From course ground and the end of whirlpool, course ground during fermentation to adding cold brew just before carbonating. What are your thoughts on getting the best results. Thanks!

 

[sillbeer]

I have brewed two beers with coffee and I will do it again sometime. Both beers I used Starbucks Espresso beans. First beer I added a course grind to the secondary on a Murphy's Stout and it ended up being a little too much coffee taste for my liking. My neighbor is a home brewer also and said he liked it. Second beer I used whole beans in secondary and it turned out much better in my opinion. That beer was a Prairie Bomb and I followed a recipe I found on here. In the future, I will use whole beans again and I will use decaf.

 

[mongoose33]

I make a dark lager that's really good. A friend of mine brews the same recipe (gets the same results) and experimented with adding roasted coffee beans following fermentation. He was adding something like 5 ounces of roasted beans in 5 gallons IIRC. He used Starbucks Pikes Place beans.

It was tremendous. I like coffee, and this, in conjunction w/ the dark lager, was IMO better than something like Founders Sumatra Brown Ale. Yeah, it's a brown ale not a dark lager, but it's really sweet compared to what my friend did.

If I were to do coffee in a beer, I'd be looking at directly adding the beans, given how my friend's beer turned out.

 

[madisonmasher]

I make a dark lager that's really good. A friend of mine brews the same recipe (gets the same results) and experimented with adding roasted coffee beans following fermentation. He was adding something like 5 ounces of roasted beans in 5 gallons IIRC. He used Starbucks Pikes Place beans.

It was tremendous. I like coffee, and this, in conjunction w/ the dark lager, was IMO better than something like Founders Sumatra Brown Ale. Yeah, it's a brown ale not a dark lager, but it's really sweet compared to what my friend did.

If I were to do coffee in a beer, I'd be looking at directly adding the beans, given how my friend's beer turned out.

So he the coffee post fermentation and before secondary/crash?

 

[mongoose33]

So he the coffee post fermentation and before secondary/crash?

No secondary. Primary, after fermentation.