OK, so I'm going to toot my own horn, but I have to say that the coffee porter finally is carbonated well and damn if it doesn't taste fine. It the best beer I've brewed to date, and I will definitely make this again. It should get even better in the coming months.
In the meantime, I think the next batch is going to be an all-grain saison. I brought back some culinary lavender from Washington state and might throw in a teaspoon or so.
Showing posts with label 07B03. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 07B03. Show all posts
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
Coffee Porter Bottled
This evening I bottled up the coffee porter. The final gravity was 1.013, and the coffee aroma to this one was fantastic! I got a full two cases out of this batch plus just a bit more. This so far was the best tasting of my homebrews at bottling time, so I hope that translates into the final carbonated product. I can't wait!
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Coffee Added to the Porter
We are fortunate in Indiana to have our own coffee roaster, TJ Fairchild, who owns and runs the Commonplace Coffeehouse ( or www.ipacoffee.com). The 'ipacoffee' is for Indiana, PA (not India Pale Ale - but it's certainly easy for me to remember!).
Anyway, TJ has been to a couple of beer-related events, including one of our Indiana Beer Club tastings and the Pittsburgh Microbrewers Festival. When I told him I was making a coffee porter for my latest batch, we got to brainstorming as to the best way to add some coffee to secondary. Most recipes that I've seen have you add some strongly brewed coffee to the secondary, rather than boil coffee with the wort. The downside, we both thought, is that a hot-brew method picks up a lot of tannic bitterness along with the good essential oils and might make for a more bitter contribution.
TJ came up with the Toddy Coffee press - basically a cold coffee extraction method that has you add cold water to ground coffee and sit overnight, then filter. So, this afternoon, I picked up a quart of cold-brewed Sumatran Mandheling coffee from TJ, brought it home, and (after a quick boil and cool) added it to the secondary fermenter.
I'm going to let that sit for 2 weeks and bottle it up. Can't wait to taste this one!
Anyway, TJ has been to a couple of beer-related events, including one of our Indiana Beer Club tastings and the Pittsburgh Microbrewers Festival. When I told him I was making a coffee porter for my latest batch, we got to brainstorming as to the best way to add some coffee to secondary. Most recipes that I've seen have you add some strongly brewed coffee to the secondary, rather than boil coffee with the wort. The downside, we both thought, is that a hot-brew method picks up a lot of tannic bitterness along with the good essential oils and might make for a more bitter contribution.
TJ came up with the Toddy Coffee press - basically a cold coffee extraction method that has you add cold water to ground coffee and sit overnight, then filter. So, this afternoon, I picked up a quart of cold-brewed Sumatran Mandheling coffee from TJ, brought it home, and (after a quick boil and cool) added it to the secondary fermenter.
I'm going to let that sit for 2 weeks and bottle it up. Can't wait to taste this one!
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Porter Moved to Secondary
Well, I was a bit late on this, but I don't think it will be a problem. I racked the porter to secondary tonight and the gravity was down to 1.011 ... much lower than the 1.022 that I was expecting, so perhaps I won't have as much body in this one. Regardless, it tasted phenomenal. Just the right amount of bitterness and there was definitely some good notes of chocolate and coffee in there.
This week, I hope to add a quart of cold-brewed coffee in there to give it an extra coffee kick. Meanwhile, the secondary sits happily in the basement, covered in aluminum foil.
This week, I hope to add a quart of cold-brewed coffee in there to give it an extra coffee kick. Meanwhile, the secondary sits happily in the basement, covered in aluminum foil.
Friday, June 01, 2007
All Grain Coffee Porter
After a two-month hiatus in brewing (didn't brew in March, April), I was able to squeeze in a batch of all grain coffee porter yesterday afternoon. It was only my second batch of all grain, so I was still running into unforeseen glitches, but nothing that corrupted the beer - just took up more time than I was hoping for.
Last time, I used a bucket with false bottom for sparging, and I had done the mash in the kettle - applying direct heat for the different temperature rests. Well, this time I decided to try a modified picnic cooler and do a two-step infusion mash; it worked out pretty well! Catches this time included not getting the second infusion temp high enough, so rather than add more water, I scooped out several quarts of thick mash and brought to a boil on the stove. Voila! (I guess that'd be a partial decoction mash??).
Even though I made a dipstick for the keg this time, I still misjudged the evap rate. I had to add in two quarts of filtered water to get the five+ gallons I needed. Other than that, everything seemed to work well. I'm waiting for the bubbling to start.
Last time, I used a bucket with false bottom for sparging, and I had done the mash in the kettle - applying direct heat for the different temperature rests. Well, this time I decided to try a modified picnic cooler and do a two-step infusion mash; it worked out pretty well! Catches this time included not getting the second infusion temp high enough, so rather than add more water, I scooped out several quarts of thick mash and brought to a boil on the stove. Voila! (I guess that'd be a partial decoction mash??).
Even though I made a dipstick for the keg this time, I still misjudged the evap rate. I had to add in two quarts of filtered water to get the five+ gallons I needed. Other than that, everything seemed to work well. I'm waiting for the bubbling to start.
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