What Kind of Coffee is Best

For commercial brewers, it’s important not to choose a coffee with limited availability, even if it would make a wonderful coffee beer.  It’s difficult to replicate an award-winning beer when you can’t get the coffee any longer.  For homebrewers, this is not usually a problem.  There are a vast array of artisanal coffees available to the homebrewer.  And for even more control, try roasting your own single-source beans. (Here is the roaster I use )  As far as what kind of coffee beans to use, most brewers agree that Arabica beans are a must. 

Using a stronger coffee roast such as an espresso or French roast will give your beer a more robust coffee presence.  A lighter roast such as Sumatra or Guatemala Antigua will bring out more of the subtle notes these blends are famous for.  Darker roasts, such as a French roast, will come with added oils which give the beer extra mouthfeel.  Don’t worry too much about head retention if you are kegging your homebrew because the oils will float to the top of the keg.  If you are planning to bottle your coffee beer made with a very dark roast, you might want to start with a beer that already has a good head, like a stout or porter.  Just keep in mind that the head may dissipate quickly.

Darker roasts are also more bitter.  This will affect the perceived hop bitterness in your beer.  If you want to keep the same bitterness level when using a dark roast in your recipe, decrease the IBU’s slightly, by 5 to 10 IBU’s, to compensate for the added bitterness from the coffee. 

Most coffee profiles are well known and available online.  Choosing a coffee with low acidity will give your beers a more mellow coffee character.  You may find it easier to adjust the roasted flavors and bitterness with your malts and hops instead of worrying so much about the characteristics of the coffee.  In the end, experimentation, or imitation is a good way to go when choosing a coffee for your coffee beer recipe.

Image:Chris Monroe/CNET

The Cold-Brew or “Cold Toddy” Method of Brewing Your Coffee

If you want to use brewed coffee in your coffee beer recipe, the overall consensus from brewers on the best brewing method is the “Cold Toddy” or Cold Brewed method.  This method produces a coffee with much less acid, about 67% less according to Toddy Simpson.  What you get with this method is coffee that tastes like hot brewed coffee smells.  That’s one of the big problems with hot brewed coffee, it just doesn’t taste like it smells.  If you are smelling the aromatics, then they are leaving the coffee and won’t be available in your beer.  Check out the article and video on how to make cold-brewed coffee  at home from CNET. com.

There are some people who think the Cold Toddy method produces a bland lifeless cup of coffee.  If you are one of these people, try hot brewing your coffee onto ice.  You will have to account for the dilution of the ice, but cooling it instantly preserves the volatile notes that come out as vapor when the coffee is brewed hot.  Hot brewing on ice also preserves many soluble compounds that a cold brewed coffee can never have since these compounds will only solubilize at higher temperatures.  This is the way the Japanese make their iced coffee and many believe it makes the best cold coffee.  Sounds like some testing is in order.

Another method is to add the coffee to your beer during cold conditioning phase, at around 32В° F (0В° C).  You get all the benefits of the Cold Toddy method with some added complexity that can only come from using beer instead of water. 

Conclusion

Coffee beers have been on the market since about 1994 when New Glarus brewed the first commercial version.  Since then, brewers all over the world have followed suit.  The methods are as varied as the individual beers themselves.  The days of only adding coffee to stouts and porters are over.  Have you tried a coffee-infused IPA?  Think about the possibilities.

 

References. Information for this article was sourced from “Roast Masters: Exploring the Art of Brewing Beer with Coffee " in All About Beer Magazine - Volume 35, Issue 2, June 16, 2014 By John Holl, "Coffee + Beer = Coffee Beer and it tastes amazing ", blog entry for Portola Coffee Lab, Portola Coffee Roasters, September 10, 2011 by Jeff Duggan, “Brewing with Coffee ”, BYO Magazine, Author: Glenn BurnSilver Issue: December 2002, “Brewing With Coffee: Techniques” BYO Magazine, Author: Jon Stika, Issue: September 2007, “Adding Cold-Brewed Coffee to Your Beer ”,  Mad Alchemist-Pitching hop grenades at beer style guidelines since 2003, January 25, 2010, “Coffee: Health Benefits, Nutritional Information ”, in Medical News Today, Written by Joseph Nordqvist,  Last updated: Thu 7 April 2016, and “A Little Buzz with Your Beer-The Java Head’s Definitive Guide to Coffee Beer ” in GearPatrol. com Coffee Issue, by AJ Powell.

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