Looking for advice on a Mocha Porter
"Mocha Porter 20Lt 6.2% EBU 44
5Kg English Maris Otter
240g Chocolate Malt
240g Black Malt
240g Crystal 225 EBC
60g Fuggles @60 min
120g of Costa Rican Coffee added at flameout (20 min steep)
Safale s-04"
I'm looking to add cocoa nibs but I'm not sure how much or when to add, I also have some lactose hanging around and wondering should I add some ?
I made a coffee porter before. Also added cocoa into the secondary, it didn't really have the desired effect to be honest. A few lads at the time on here suggested the nibs alright and had had good success. Others soaked them in rum. Sounds nice
Btw, it's better to cold brew the coffee and add to secondary. Apparently the beer doesn't turn out as well with hot coffee added
Quote from: auralabuse on October 04, 2015, 01:53:26 PM
Btw, it's better to cold brew the coffee and add to secondary. Apparently the beer doesn't turn out as well with hot coffee added
Is cold brewed coffee coffee that was brewed hot and allowed to cool, or is it coffee that was actually infused in cold water?? I've always wondered...
It's infused in cold water, cover and leave overnight for best results
Thanks auralabuse, never tried it so it seemed like it wouldn't really work but there ya go!
I'll have to try it some time
For the cacao nibs I've found it best to make a tincture.
1. Steep some of the nibs in the vodka for 3-5 days (depending on how much bitterness you want), add a little vanilla if you want a smoother taste.
2. Strain out the nibs.
3. Pop in a narrow container and freeze for 24 hours.
4. Remove the hardened fat layer
5. Add tincture to beer before bottling (you won't need loads)
Thanks for the tips Robot, just wondering where to get the nibs though.
What quality etc.
I'm hoping to brew this Saturday (17th)
A health food shop id probably your best bet. Somewhere like Holland & Barrett.
You can get them in Sainsburys. I got a big bag of them from Amazon though.
Quote from: auralabuse on October 12, 2015, 10:34:51 PM
It's infused in cold water, cover and leave overnight for best results
Hot brewed coffee is quite acidic - it can be as low as 4 pH for espresso.
Cold brewed gets around this - pH more around 5.5-6.
Could matter, depending on your volumes...
Quote from: SlugTrap on October 23, 2015, 01:30:06 PM
Quote from: auralabuse on October 12, 2015, 10:34:51 PM
It's infused in cold water, cover and leave overnight for best results
Hot brewed coffee is quite acidic - it can be as low as 4 pH for espresso.
Cold brewed gets around this - pH more around 5.5-6.
Could matter, depending on your volumes...
Excellent, I knew cold brewed was desirable but didn't know why
Randy Mosher has a bit in Radical Brewing about adding coffee. Pretty sure he recommends cold brewed as well. In saying that, Dungarvan's Coffee and Oatmeal Stout is made with cups of espresso and it's a nice beer, so both methods can definitely work.
I always thought cold brewed coffee was preferred because it extracted less of the oils that affect head retention.
The main reason for cold brewed coffee is more desirable is it extracts less bitterness and more flavour from the beans. Very similar to dry hopping Vs 60min boil
I wonder how much caffeine is extracted with a cold brew
It depends on a few factors, higher temperatures more dissolve into solution than at cold temperatures, but with cold brew you tend to have double the amount of coffee to water, and then have a higher concentration of caffeine to water ratio.
Yea not sure myself but I would be leaning towards the colder the temp the less caffeine extracted.
Grounds from an espresso machine are good fertiliser but caffeine kills plants, so at high temps all the caffeine is extracted. (i know there is a pressure variable)
So I would go with there is some but not a lot + for really good flavour you should go with whole beans and not crush them so less surface area.
Nibs and cold brewed is the way to go then? How much of each for a 1 gallon brew do yis reckon?
A figure I've seen for adding nibs is 4oz per 5 gallons, I'm presuming that's american gallons so that works out at around 35g for a uk gallon. As for coffee I'm not sure I've only added ground beans to the fermenter, one thing you could do to avoid caffeine is use decaf beans, but make sure it's swiss water decaf, and not the chemically treated decaf.
Nice one, thanks!
So I was doing some reading into this today and discovered a method of using cocoa bean husks in the mash. They use the husks for tea aa well so there's a few methods you could use them, I'm going to contact the chocolate makers I got my nibs from and see if they can source some husks for me.