King Ruddager Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 I picked up a can of Thomas Coopers Irish Stout last time I was at a brew store because ... well it was there and I kinda got it on an impulse. I've not seen that range in stores like Big W before and my local store doesn't stock Coopers ... anyway, I digress. The recipe on the can calls for 500g of light dry malt and 300g of dextrose which is easy enough - even I can manage that by now! I'm just wondering what else I can do to it, especially to bring out the promised coffee flavours. In fact, I don't mind doing something completely different with it either, which is why I am here asking for ideas. So, ideas? Go nuts! [happy] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty A Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 If you haven't brewed it before I would probably make it to the recomended recipe and then tweek it as you see fit. But if it was my can I would use the TC Irish Stout and a can of Dark Malt Extract and nothing else. Last time I made that it had wonderful head retention and was full bodied just how a stout is supposed to be. If I were to make that again I would probably steep around 300g of chocolate malt and add it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllanG3 Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 I have steeped flaked oats and added that, also boiled some vanilla beans and coffee beans and added that to the mix. Turned out real smooth with great head retention. I only used 1 carb drop per long neck bottle though, so that might have accounted for some of the smoothness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Ruddager Posted July 23, 2012 Author Share Posted July 23, 2012 Boiling coffee beans - I like that idea! How much and for how long? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllanG3 Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 I threw about 10 beans in to the boil with about 15 minutes to go. I may do more next time or longer boil but I would start off with that or lower until you find how strong of a coffee taste you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamH1525226084 Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 This was a recipe of the month a few months back. I might try one tonight now that you've reminded me. They've been a bit too green the other samples I've tried. It's 4 months in the bottle now. Will report back later... [happy] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Ruddager Posted July 23, 2012 Author Share Posted July 23, 2012 Hmmm, I think I'd like a dry one better anyway, but that's a good suggestion. Where does Cooper's stout sit on the dry vs. sweet scale? I'm not good at these things ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Ruddager Posted July 24, 2012 Author Share Posted July 24, 2012 A thought occurs - would it be possible to simply make some black coffee and pour that in, or would I be much more likely to introduce an infection that way? Perhaps make it, boil it and then add it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamH1525226084 Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 I think one of the yoda's mentioned he made an espresso and added that. My stout needs much more time. It's better than last time i tried it though. Minimum 6 months I've heard people say, but it might be one for next winter - I've got 12 flip-top glass bottles stored away [biggrin] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Ruddager Posted July 24, 2012 Author Share Posted July 24, 2012 Right, so, I've been doing some reading and it seems like a cold extraction is the way to go so as to avoid adding any unwanted nasty flavours. Also, it sounds like there's some oils involved which will affect the head, and this brings me to my next question: how to remove the oil? Apparently a paper coffee filter will do the trick, but will that also need to be sanitised somehow? If so, how? Also, I'm thinking of doing this with about 150g of ground coffee in 250mL of water ... sound about right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamB8 Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Whilst I dont want to discourage your coffee experiment simply steeping chocolate malt and/or some black malt would give you coffee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Ruddager Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 I still don't even know what "steeping" means to be honest. Or "sparging" for that matter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Steeping is simply heating water up and soaking malts in it suited to this method and/or hops for a period of time to extract sugars/flavour/aroma. Below is the method I use, 300g crystal malt being the ingredient steeped: I usually just grab a small pot, add a litre of water and heat the water on the stove to about 70C, turn off the flame/element then dump the crystal in, stir it around a bit and put the lid on and forget about it for 30 mins. I usually leave the pot where it is so it can get a bit of heat from the stove; it does hang around a bit even after turning off the gas flame. After 30 mins I strain this into my boil pot, then heat another litre of water to around 70C and tip that over the grains in the strainer (into the pot also) to get the last bit of sugars out. It's probably not necessary but I like to anyway. Then off you go with your normal boil procedure. I generally use a litre of water to steep 200-300g, if I had more like 400-500g I would use 1.5-2L water. I could be wrong on this but I believe the part where I rinse off the grains to get the last sugars out is called sparging. Cheers, Kelsey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Ruddager Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 Oh also, does anyone have hops recommendations for a stout? I've only used them once and so don't know the differences between them yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamH1525226084 Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Fuggles or East Kent Goldings usually used Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Ruddager Posted August 2, 2012 Author Share Posted August 2, 2012 Righto, everything's finally ready to go on this bad boy. I've been waiting for a thermostat to arrive but I can't leave it any longer or I run the risk of running out of beer in a few months, SO ... East Kent Golding hops hey? Story checks out. What's the best way to add them? I've only done a hop addition once - boiled fuggles pellets for half an hour and strained them into the jigger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamH1525226084 Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 15-20 minute boil will give you the flavour from them - I guess the malt would overpower any aroma you got from the hops. I love this chart... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Ruddager Posted August 2, 2012 Author Share Posted August 2, 2012 Hmm, yeah 15 to 20 like you said. If I'm adding coffee - and I am - I really don't need it to get any more bitter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamH1525226084 Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 that depends how you get the coffee flavour. If you use too much water with the coffee then you extract the bitterness out (it's a bit like the tannins in the specialty grains). A good coffee should be sweet from the beans, not overly bitter - if it's bitter, too much water was used. Don't use German coffee, it's terrible!!! [lol] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Ruddager Posted August 2, 2012 Author Share Posted August 2, 2012 Ugh, really? I'm going by the directions I found here: http://www.thebrewsite.com/coffee-beer-week-coffee-in-homebrewing/ Actually, it's surprising how much other stuff I'm learning through this exercise! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamH1525226084 Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Maybe this info will help? http://www.luxist.com/2010/10/29/how-to-make-perfect-espresso-at-home/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Ruddager Posted August 3, 2012 Author Share Posted August 3, 2012 Ok, finally done. Didn't get much coffee extract in the end (the grounds soaked most of the water up) but I definitely think it added to the flavour. Had to add a bit of extra dextrose too as the gravity was only 1.033. Brought it up to 1.041, but probably went from 300g to nearly 700g. 23L was too much water I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Ruddager Posted August 3, 2012 Author Share Posted August 3, 2012 Another thought - there was virtually no foam when mixing this one, so I'm guessing something in the coffee stopped that. I suppose this means it'll probably have little to no head retention when finished. Oh well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamH1525226084 Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 just have to wait and see - i got a massive amount of krausen after a day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Another thought - there was virtually no foam when mixing this one' date=' so I'm guessing something in the coffee stopped that. I suppose this means it'll probably have little to no head retention when finished. Oh well.[/quote'] There is no correlation between the size of the krausen and head retention [rightful] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.