Author: Phil Rusher

While the most zealous of craft beer enthusiasts might disagree, coffee and beer work really well together, and the fact most breweries produce at least one coffee beer suggests the masses agree. There are numerous methods to impart coffee flavor to beer, many involving the addition of real coffee at some point in the brewing process, though there’s some debate about what the best point is.

One common approach brewers take is to add ground coffee beans to the boiling wort, usually toward the end of the boil, which some view as being similar to the typical coffee brewing process. However, others believe this method leads to the extraction of compounds that lead to a harsh bitterness, preferring rather to add their coffee on the cold side, similar to the way dry hop additions are made.

I definitely drink more than my fair share of coffee and happen to be among those who think it compliments many beer styles. Having brewed numerous batches of coffee beer using various methods, I was curious whether adding coffee to the boiling wort would lead to a beer that was perceptibly different than one where the coffee was added toward the end of fermentation.

| PURPOSE |

To evaluate the differences between a beer made with coffee added during the boil and the same beer where the coffee was added to the fermented beer.

| METHODS |

Darker styles tend to be the natural choice for coffee beers, but I went with a straightforward Cream Ale for this xBmt in hopes of emphasizing any impact of the variable. This recipe was largely inspired by Regular Coffee from New Jersey’s Carton Brewing, an old favorite.

Irregular Coffee

Recipe Details Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV 5.5 gal 60 min 21.5 IBUs 3.1 SRM 1.060 1.014 6.1 % Actuals 1.06 1.024 4.8 % Fermentables Name Amount % BEST Pilsen Malt (BESTMALZ) 10 lbs 83.33 Maize, Flaked (Briess) 1.5 lbs 12.5 Milk Sugar (Lactose) 8 oz 4.17 Hops Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha % Warrior 10 g 60 min Boil Pellet 12 Perle 15 g 30 min Boil Pellet 8.2 Miscs Name Amount Time Use Type Dark Roast Coffee 3.00 oz 3 min Boil Flavor Yeast Name Lab Attenuation Temperature Joystick (A18) Imperial Yeast 75% 60°F - 70°F Notes Water Profile: Ca 64 | Mg 0 | Na 8 | SO4 75 | Cl 61 Download Download this recipe's BeerXML file

I made a yeast start of Imperial Yeast A18 Joystick a couple days ahead of time.

I started my brew day by turning on the elements to heat the strike water I’d previously collected before weighing out and milling 2 identical sets of grain.

I added the same amount of minerals to each batch while the water was heating up then added the grains when strike temperature was reached.

Both batches were mashed at 152°F/67°C for 60 minutes, after which the grains were removed and I completed the sparge step.

With the worts heating up to boil, I prepared coffee for the kettle addition batch by coarsely grinding 3 oz/85 grams.

At 3 minutes left in the boil, I added the ground coffee to one batch. Once the 60 minute boils were complete, the worts were chilled and transferred to sanitized fermentation vessels.

Refractometer readings showed the worts reached the same OG, indicating the coffee addition had no impact.

Both batches were placed in my fermentation chamber controlled to 62°F/17°C, at which point I pitched equal amounts of the yeast starter into each wort. After 2 weeks of fermentation, the beers had reached a similar FG.

I turned the temperature in the chamber down to 40°F/4°C and left them alone for 24 hours before returning to add the same 3 oz/85 gram addition of coarsely ground coffee to the batch that had no coffee added during the boil. After 12 more hours, I proceeded with packaging.

The filled kegs were placed in my keezer where they were burst carbonated over 48 hours then left at serving pressure to condition for 2 weeks before they were ready to serve.

| RESULTS |

A total of 28 people of varying levels of experience participated in this xBmt. Each participant was served 2 samples of the beer made with coffee added during the boil and 1 sample of the beer with the coffee added at the end of fermentation in different colored opaque cups then asked to identify the unique sample. While 15 tasters (p<0.05) would have had to identify the unique sample in order to reach statistical significance, a total of 17 (p=0.003) did, indicating participants in this xBmt could reliably distinguish a Cream Ale made with coffee grounds added during the boil from one where the coffee was added toward the end of fermentation.

The 17 participants who made the accurate selection on the triangle test were instructed to complete a brief preference survey comparing only the beers that were different. A total of 7 tasters reported preferring the beer coffee added to the boil, 8 liked the beer made coffee added to the beer when fermentation was complete, and 2 people had no preference despite noticing a difference.

My Impressions: In initial side-by-side samplings, I perceived the beer with coffee added to the boil as having a much harsher bitterness and less overall coffee character, whereas the version with coffee added to the fermentation vessel had a perceptibly rich coffee flavor and aroma with a much smoother bitterness. Out of 4 blind triangle test attempts, I identified the unique sample every time, which was likely influenced in part by my awareness of the variable.

| DISCUSSION |

Similar to the way it is with those obsessed with brewing beer, serious coffee nerds hold some pretty strong opinions about the best methods for making a cup of joe– percolate, French press, vacuum, pour over. The options are vast, though one method that’s grown in popularity recently is cold brew, which is said to lead to a smoother flavor with less bitterness compared to common hot extraction methods.

If it’s true that temperature impacts coffee character, it stands to reason this would carryover into brewing coffee beers as well, namely that coffee additions on the hot-side will produce a noticeably different character than additions occurring on the cold-side. Indeed, tasters in this xBmt were able to consistently distinguish beers with coffee added either to the boil or toward the end of fermentation, providing support for this notion.

In follow-up conversations with tasters following completion of the triangle test, a few mentioned tasting a slight pepper-like flavor in the boil addition batch, and nearly everyone I spoke with described it as being more bitter. This certainly aligns with my experience, and seeing as I preferred the smoothness I perceived in the beer where the coffee was added at the end of fermentation, that’s the method I’ll be sticking with. That said, preference is entirely subjective, as the split preference data from this xBmt proves, and hence I would suggest brewers of coffee beers give various methods a go in order to determine what works best.

If you have any thoughts about this xBmt, please do not hesitate to share in the comments section below!

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