I love brewing coffee stouts. The main reason is because you are able to capture such an awesome flavor of coffee in the beer. For some mysterious reason, when you cold steep coffee, you retain that wonderful fresh coffee flavor that you smell when you sniff a bag of fresh coffee. When coffee is brewed hot, it loses a lot of its nuances and really doesn't taste like it smells. In beer however, if done correctly, it does! Why Oatmeal Stout as the base beer? It is slightly sweet and already has a soft "coffee with cream" mouthfeel and flavor. I believe these flavors will play naturally with the already coffee like character of a stout and the fresh coffee extraction we will get from fresh ground roast coffee.
Honestly you could use any coffee. But like any cooking, fresh ingredients are best. We are ordering 100% Kona Coffee online straight from the islands of Hawaii. The coffee is "cold steeped" overnight in sterile water then filtered and added to the beer at bottling time. This method extracts the best and most fresh flavors. In the past I have tried using hot espresso and even adding beans directly into the bottle before sending to competition. Both have yielded excellent results, including gold medals, but the cold extraction is just that much more superior.The fermentation in this batch is somewhat experimental. I tried harvesting my own yeast from the Malt Monster. After racking out the beer for bottling, I added some cooled sterile de-oxygenated water and swirled up the yeast cake. Keeping everything as sterile as possible I then transferred it to another small glass vessel to settle in the fridge and separate into three layers of beer, yeast, and trub. Then I poured the yeast and beer into two mason jars and kept in the fridge until now. With a small starter I will be able to rouse the yeast and smell and taste it for any signs of infection. If successful, this will prove to be a way to re-use yeast and save money as well as improve my beer. Brewers say that the 3rd-5th generation of yeast harvested produces the "best" beers. Wish me luck, lest hope I can make it to batch 5 without infection ;)
100% Kona Coffee Aloha Stout
13-C Oatmeal Stout
Size: 6.0 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 191.53 per 12.0 fl oz
Original Gravity: 1.057 (1.048 - 1.065)
Terminal Gravity: 1.014 (1.010 - 1.018)
Color: 25.9 (22.0 - 40.0)
Alcohol: 5.66% (4.2% - 5.9%)
Bitterness: 37.45 (25.0 - 40.0)
Ingredients:
11.0 lbs Standard 2-Row
1.0 lbs Quick Oats
0.75 lbs Chocolate Malt
0.5 lbs Crystal Malt 80°L
0.5 lbs Roasted Barley
4.0 oz Special B - Caramel malt
1.0 oz Chinook (12.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
1 ea WYeast 1728 Scottish Ale
0.5 lbs 100% Kona Coffee (grounds) - cold extraction added at bottling time
Brewmaster Notes:
Toast Oats in oven @ 300F until the slightly brown to enhance flavor. Strike 14 lb grist in 17 quarts 50% RO water @ 171F = single infusion rest @ 155 60-90 min. May need full 90 min to convert oats. 4 oz special B used instead of a 0.75 lb addition of Victory Malt (noted in brewing classic styles). Scottish Ale yeast est 1/4-1/2 cup "thick" slurry from harvest of Scottish Malt Monster on Jan 12th. Yeast was washed with sterile water and placed into 2 mason jars in fridge since harvest. Yeast partially decanted, swirled then added to a small starter to rouse yeast and smell/taste for any signs of infection/problems. Ferment beer at current room temp est 16C. When complete and clear, 1/2lb fresh imported 100% Kona Coffee imported from Hawaii online, to be "cold steeped" in about 1 quart of sterile water in the fridge overnight. Coffee then strained in french press or filter and added to beer @ bottling time. Carbonate 2-2.5 CO2 volumes with dextrose.
