Looking for some thoughts on a couple questions in regard to doing a coffee stout/porter.
1.) I have three yeasts that I could use - all Wyeast - which would you recommend? Scottish Ale, 1469(Yorkshire), or 1968(ESB).
2.) In regard to the coffee - I was thinking about using flavored Hazelnut coffee beans. Is there any reason to avoid using flavored beans? Should I stick only with roasted beans that are not flavored?
I would vote for the Scottish Yeast and regular beans. I’ve never used flavored beans, but being artificially flavored…I would use the beans coarse ground in secondary for 3 or 4 days. I use 5oz per 5 gallon batch. Just my opinion
I also only used non-flavored beans (Starbucks) for the coffee stouts I’ve made. I used the beans we had at the time: Sumatra, Verona, Yukon…and very course grind and all make great java-stout. I soaked mine in vodka during primary and then added the vodka/bean mix to secondary. I used 6oz beans and 6oz vodka.
cheers
Is the vodka for sanitation purposes? Does it lend any “flavor” to the beer at all?
It adds no flavor to the beer. Plus it does sanitize the beans. Big plus is it is supposed to pull flavor from the beans. so, you adding bean-flavored vodka plus beans to the secondary. Also works well with cacao nibs (course ground) for making a chocolate stout. Or combine the two for a mocha stout.
:cheers:
Do you guys find that adding coarsely ground beans to the secondary adds a lot of flavor or just mostly aroma?
This is my first attempt at using coffee… so, I don’t really know what to expect. Thanks for the info. on the Vodka soaking - I will probably go that route.
I didn’t notice any aroma, flavor only.
:cheers:
I only use high quality non-flavored beans and cold press. Works great for me.
