Cold Brew in Carboy

[dakubica]

Has anyone here cold brewed coffee in a carboy? I am looking to do 5 gallons at once and keg it after the 24 hours of room temperature steeping. I still need to do the calculations on figuring how much I would need in grounds however I figured I would throw this out here to see if anyone else has done it. I have made a lot of small batches with a french press and Dunkin Donuts beans (i ground them myself).

Thoughts? Recommendations? Concerns?

-David

 

[The_Bishop]

Separating the grounds from the water may prove to be problematic.

 

[dakubica]

My thought was once siphon it out directly into the keg and filter it during that process. Letting a coffee filter do all the work.

 

[The_Bishop]

The coffee filter will plug up very quickly. Might be better served by a food grade bucket and a voile bag.

 

[dakubica]

The coffee filter will plug up very quickly. Might be better served by a food grade bucket and a voile bag.

Good point!!

 

[HarborTownBrewing]

5 Gallons - wow.

Siphon it and use cheesecloth, maybe? Again though, it may get clogged quick.

 

[amcclai7]

I agree with The Bishop. food grade bucket is the way to go. A narrow necked carboy would be a serious pain in the ass for a project like this.

 

[grathan]

A ball valve on the siphon tube to regulate flow into the coffee filter would work (or a clothespin to pinch it some). A cold crash should settle %99 of the grains, just siphon from above the trub.

2 days warm soak, 2 days cold crash.

 

[Hoosierbrewer]

Try a sheer curtain. They work very well auto siphon into a plastic bucket with the sheer curtain pulled over top to act as filter but should be lose enough to hang. Much of the grounds will fall out. I cold brew 1/2 gallon at a time in fridge

 

[dakubica]

I will report how it goes. Based on everyone's input, in a coupe of days I think I will try the carboy approach for 5 1/2 ~ 6 gallons. If I let the grounds settle (cold Crash) I should be able to siphon off 5 gallons with little grounds. The Siphon will be directed to a filter to catch anything that seeps through. I am also going to grind the beans a little finer as well so I get more flavor overall. Wish me luck.

 

[Hoosierbrewer]

I would just take 4 oz espresso beans, grind and put into sanitized container with water that was boiled and cooled. Put into fridge for 24 hours. I used about 8-12 oz of water. It will settle some. Pour through coffee filter and then add to taste. Easy way to do it and not have too much coffee flavor

 

[soccerdad]

look up 'commercial toddy' ... their system uses a paint strainer bag with a giant paper filter. In general, 5 pounds of coffee will yield 3G of cold brew and then coffee shops go 50/50 for iced coffee or straight for cold espresso,

 

[dakubica]

I finished up and it turned out awesome. I used cheesecloth to filter which made it go pretty fast. It is kegged and pouring fine. Loving a mixture of eggnog and coffee in the morning. Only thing I may change in the future is utilizing a 6 gallon bucket vice a carboy as suggested due to the ease of cleanup.

 

[billybong10]

How much coffee did you end up using?

 

[Hoosierbrewer]

I cold brewed about half a pound in about a quart of water. You need to let grounds settle and then add to taste

 

[Ike]

Cold-brewed coffee on tap.

This may be the most phenomenal idea I've ever heard.


Awesome.

 

[Scriv]

I finished up and it turned out awesome. I used cheesecloth to filter which made it go pretty fast. It is kegged and pouring fine. Loving a mixture of eggnog and coffee in the morning. Only thing I may change in the future is utilizing a 6 gallon bucket vice a carboy as suggested due to the ease of cleanup.

How many pounds of grounds to make 5 gallons of cold brew?