The problem I have with cold-brewing at home (aside from the time and the clean-up) is the "
dead, dull" flavor it has. There are no delicate aromas or interesting tasting notes. It is just one note. It seems to lose some of the subtle nuances vs. a really good cup of 195-205 F hot brewed coffee.
The excess muddy flavor contributed by the residue at the very bottom of homebrewed cold brew is also quite nasty, and will be very noticeable if you don't have a very good burr grinder. This can cause too many fines to build up, sneak past the filter, and become over-extracted/muddy in flavor.
The easiest way to make cold brew coffee at home is to start with a large cylindrical container that can hold up to 3 qts or more.
1. Line the container with a paint strainer bag. -- 5 gallon paint strainer bags can be found at any hardware store.
2. Using a burr grinder, coarse grind 6 oz. dark roast beans, ensuring evenness and proper thickness. Some units thickest grind setting is still too fine. The coffee should be the consistency of coarse sea salt.
3. Pour the fresh ground beans into the paint strainer bag.
4. Pour about four to five 16.9 fl. oz. bottles of filtered water over the beans.
5. Let steep 12-24 hours with a lid at room temperature.
6. Lift the paint strainer bag out of the water and gently squeeze the excess liquid from the sack. Don't squeeze every last drop, just enough to stop the steady stream of dripping.
7. Clean the bag to reuse in the future. I imagine you could reuse the spent beans once more, but I never have.
8. Refrigerate the strained cold brew coffee. When cooled, pour off the top 9/10's of the cold brew into a new container, discarding the muddy residue at the bottom. I find that there is still a good amount of residue even if you do this 2-3 more times.
My suggestion is to use the
Japanese Iced Coffee Method instead. It is simply coffee brewed with hot water, directly onto ice. More on that here:
https://handground.com/grind/complete-guide-to-japanese-iced-coffee
