WTK: Adding Coffee & Cacao to Recipe Options

[ultravista]

I am planning an imperial coffee porter with cacao.

The large batch recipe calls for 3 pounds of coffee and 2 pounds of cacao per barrel. If my math is correct, the multiplier for 5.5 gallons is 0.1774 (3*(5.5/31)*16).

For 5.5 gallons, I plan on:
8.5 ounces of coffee
5.7 ounces of cacao nibs

First, does that seem excessive for a 5.5 gallon batch?

Second, what is the best way to add the coffee and cacao nibs? I’ve read about cold pressing the coffee and vodka soaking the nibs and looking for opinions on which is the best way to extract flavor without astringency. Others put both into the primary, secondary, or keg. I’ve also read about a brewer soaking the cacao in vodka and hitting it with a blender/processor to emulsify the batch.

Normally my batch size is 5.5 gallons to net 5 gallons in the keg; however, with the introduction of coffee and cacao, I may need to adjust the batch size to account for the extra volume or potential loss due to absorption.

When cold pressing coffee, is there a ratio of water to crushed coffee? Do you use all of the liquid or condense it down to a slurry?

The same goes for the cacao.

Is there a disadvantage to adding the coffee and cacao slurry to the chilled fermenter or is it best to do it post-fermentation.

Looking for your best practices – please chime in.

[pilsenhammer]

I am planning an imperial coffee porter with cacao.

The large batch recipe calls for 3 pounds of coffee and 2 pounds of cacao per barrel. If my math is correct, the multiplier for 5.5 gallons is 0.1774 (3*(5.5/31)*16).

For 5.5 gallons, I plan on:
8.5 ounces of coffee
5.7 ounces of cacao nibs

First, does that seem excessive for a 5.5 gallon batch?

Second, what is the best way to add the coffee and cacao nibs? I’ve read about cold pressing the coffee and vodka soaking the nibs and looking for opinions on which is the best way to extract flavor without astringency. Others put both into the primary, secondary, or keg. I’ve also read about a brewer soaking the cacao in vodka and hitting it with a blender/processor to emulsify the batch.

Normally my batch size is 5.5 gallons to net 5 gallons in the keg; however, with the introduction of coffee and cacao, I may need to adjust the batch size to account for the extra volume or potential loss due to absorption.

When cold pressing coffee, is there a ratio of water to crushed coffee? Do you use all of the liquid or condense it down to a slurry?

The same goes for the cacao.

Is there a disadvantage to adding the coffee and cacao slurry to the chilled fermenter or is it best to do it post-fermentation.

Looking for your best practices – please chime in.

I am also looking to add some coffee to my barrel aged Imperial Stout. I researched a few recipes and sources and found that you should never add coffee to the boil. Cold steeped is best. In my case with the beer sitting post fermentation, I will add a fine mesh bag with about 5-6 oz of fresh ground coffee to the keg for a couple days. Regarding cacao nibs, you can add in the boil or secondary or do a vodka extract to add to the beer. HTH.

[Thorhale]

I had read about this topic, and came upon an account of tasting an aged coffee beer, and the coffee doesn't seem to age well.

Today, a barista told me that there is a coffee that is processed through elephants digestive tracts, that resist oxidation. I would get a randal or something of the sorts and get fresh coffee flavor just before service, or perhaps you would cold steep some beans for a day, think Ethiopia, whole.

another idea, use a french press. you could bloom you coffee and just barely extract, and then hit it with beer, press, drink.

I have tried a beer that was spiked with espresso, awesome fresh flavor, suggest a strong beer to stand up to the treatment.

This post has been edited by Thorhale: May 13 2013, 05:24 AM

[MastaMash]

Not sure if you've already brewed your coffee/chocolate porter or not, but here's what I've done in the past:

For coffee, I've done the cold press, like you talked about. Definitely the way to go. I grind the beans coarsely, perhaps like you would for a french press. Then put a few cups of water over them and put them in the fridge for 24-48 hours. Then I dump it all through a strainer into either the keg or the bottling pale. The finer grounds will go through the strainer, but I don't worry about it too much. I've used between 6 and 8 ounces of beans, depending on how much coffee I want in there. I like a lot of coffee so you might start with more like 4 or 6 ounces. Pilsenhammer's approach might be a pretty good one because you can periodically taste it to see how much coffee is in there and take out the bag of grounds when you hit your desired taste.

For chocolate, I believe I used about 12 ounces of cacao nibs in secondary. Which is a lot more than you're talking about using, but my stout was pretty big and roasty and I didn't want the chocolate to get buried behind the other flavors. I think I had the cacao nibs in secondary for about 10 days, but that might be more than is necessary.