OnTap Magazine

It’s a common addition and can really enhance your brew, but there’s more to making a coffee beer than simply tossing some beans into the boil. Barista-turned-brewer Daniel Shields gives some tips on how to get the most from your chosen roast. A sk any brewer about their co ee stout and you can prepare yourself for a lot of beer-talk. You'll probably hear overwhelming amounts of information about specialty malts, hop varieties, yeast strains and even water pro les. But, when it comes to the co ee itself, you might not get quite as much detail. It’s just co ee, right? It seems that the humble roasted beans are often only thought of as a simple adjunct for similarly dark brews. But just as we’ve come to see beer change radically in South Africa – and the world – over the past decade, the speciality co ee scene has brought with it an entirely new world of possibilities when it comes to avour, and as brewers we are obligated to take advantage of that. A CRASH COURSE IN COFFEE e characteristics of co ee, much like our favourite beer ingredients, are highly in uenced by its species, growing altitude, climate, soil, harvesting, processing, roasting and brewing method. ese factors (and more) are responsible for the wide array of aromatics found in co ee, with sources estimating between 1000 and 2000 possible distinct avour compounds. e way the co ee is roasted will have a big impact on how these avours are presented, with lighter roasts exhibiting more terroir character and acidity, and darker roasts bringing more maillard and caramelized avours, becoming roasty and carbonic as you reach the extreme. A co ee that hasn’t been fully developed during the roast will have unpleasant grassy or bready avours, while an overdeveloped co ee will taste bland, lacking acidity and sweetness. Not unlike hops, the temperature of your brewing liquid and contact time will greatly in uence how your co ee extracts. Under- extracted co ees will often be sour and thin, and over-extracted brews will be bitter and astringent. A well extracted co ee should be sweet and balanced. Lastly, often overlooked when it comes to co ee: freshness! Grocery store stu has often been on a shelf for ages, and I always recommend buying direct from roasters for the freshest beans possible. If you intend to use ground co ee and don’t have a grinder at home, ask your local co ee roaster to grind them for you as close to brew day as possible. So with all this information, how does one decide which co ee is best for their brew? At the end of the day, the most important thing is to nd a co ee that you enjoy, with avours and characteristics that you feel will complement your next brewing creation the most. BREW THE OTHER FEATURE 26 | Winter 2019 | ontapmag.co.za