Hey guys. I'm playing with a recipe for a breakfast stout to brew for my buddy's wedding.

15 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (Thomas Fawcett) (3.0 SRM) Grain 2 78.9 %
2 lbs White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 3 10.5 %
1 lbs Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 4 5.3 %
8.0 oz Chocolate (Crisp) (630.0 SRM) Grain 5 2.6 %
8.0 oz Roasted Barley (Thomas Fawcett) (609.0 SRM) Grain 6 2.6 %
3.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - First Wort 60.0 min Hop 7 43.0 IBUs
2.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 8 18.0 IBUs
2.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 9 20.0 IBUs
5.50 oz Coffee Beans (Boil 0.0 mins)
2.00 oz Cacao Nibs (Secondary 0.0 mins)
Est Original Gravity: 1.098 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.017 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 10.8 %
Bitterness: 81.0 IBUs Calories: 341.7 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 36.9 SRM

Thoughts? Comments?

I'm mainly interested in how much coffee to use and how to go about getting it in the beer. Same for Cacao nibs... And which yeast would you guys go with?

Thanks in advance!

Unfortunately, I can only speak to the coffee aspect, as I have researched, but not tested any of this information.

One brewer uses 10 gallons of coffee in his 7 bbl fermentor. That equates to .23gal of coffee for 5 gal OR 29.5oz. (sorry, I do not remember who had this, but it was good enough for me to make a note of)

Black & brew by Sam Adams uses 1.5 lbs of coffee (beans?) per bbl. That is equal to .25lbs per 5 gal. I thought this beer was great, and took that information off the label and did some calculations. I do not know where in the process this is added...

Once again, I have only gathered this information, and not tried, just the beers that commercial breweries have made and thought they were good.

Also, I have heard that 'cold pressing' the coffee, rather than brewing it, has a better flavor impact (think of gas station coffee sitting on the burner for 6+ hours, that is kinda like brewing it, then pouring it into the boil) maybe try to put it in secondary?

Hope that helps and does not add more confusion!

If you listen to the Wake N' Bake CYBI with Terrapin, I believe he said they add 1lb/barrel of course ground coffee to a fermentor after the beer has finished fermenting and has been allowed a short aging time. They transfer it onto the coffee for 48 hours before moving it off.

I think that a clean fermenting ale yeast such as 001 would be a good choice, to allow the coffee and cacao to show through.

Adding ground coffee after fermentation is a popular way of adding coffee to beer. However, I think that a moderate amount of ground coffee added at flame out and allowed to steep for a few minutes or so adds a bit more complexity to the coffee character compared to cold steeping only. The amounts used all depend on how much coffee character you want, but I would suggest adding a couple ounces in a hop bag at flame out, allowing that to steep in the hot wort for four minutes and then removing it. After that, just continue with your usual process. After fermentation is complete, give it a taste and decided if you want more coffee character. If so, add some ground coffee beans. I suspect that 5.5oz total of coffee beans may be overpowering.

The nibs can be added after fermentation as well. I think a few weeks on the nibs is not unreasonable, but it's best to sample along the way and decide when you think it is ready. 2oz of nibs is probably a good starting point.

If you keg, you might want to dose the keg with coffee/espresso to taste. If you bottle, you could find a similar commercial example and dose it in a glass to find the right amount.

Also, putting coffee in near boiling water may come out more astringent than you would want.

The National Coffee Association USA recommends between 195-205 F for brewing coffee to drink, so letting your kettle sit a bit before adding grounds if you are doing it hot side may be advisable.

They have this dialed in based on their coffee, ground to a certain way, etc. You are probably going to get much more variable results on a homebrew scale--if you do not taste frequently, you can easily overdo it. For this reason, I recommend a cold toddy added to the keg/bottling bucket to taste. About 1/4 lb somewhat coarsely ground in 1 qt of water is about right for 5 gallons--I would make up a little more than that, and definitely add to taste.

When I did a Chocolate Coffee Porter, I did 4 oz of nibs in the primary after fermentation was complete. After 4 days I tasted daily, and when I had the chocolate level where I wanted, I kegged with the coffee as mentioned above. This worked out really well, with the main benefit being you can dial in the chocolate, and the coffee, to exactly the levels you want as opposed to guesswork. The key to these kinds of beers is balance--chocolate from malt, chocolate from nibs, coffee from malt, coffee from coffee all need to be in balance.

Oh, certainly. Also a brewery would not be able to easily go through and add a measured amount to each bottle, or add a cold steep and be able to thoroughly mix it into a 100 bbl batch, so the process I described is what works for the brewery on their system. We have it a bit easier in dialing it in as much as you want.