OnTap Magazine

HOT SIDE During one of his recent visits to South Africa, John Palmer spoke about the harsh flavours one can extract when boiling spices instead of hot steeping them after the boil. The same is true when it comes to coffee. I would recommend steeping your coffee during the whirlpool at 90 - 94°C for best results. Whole beans will extract more slowly, contribute less colour, and have significantly less impact per gram. Ground coffee should be ground medium to coarse and will contribute some colour in higher doses. It will also extract more quickly, so don’t steep for more than four minutes or so. If you need more coffee flavour, steep more coffee! The hot side is a great way to infuse a lot of coffee character quickly and easily, but keep in mind some of the aromatics can be lost through primary fermentation. You can also add beans to the mash, but the only reason I can imagine you would is so you can say that you did... TO GETYOU STARTED INCORPORATING COFFEE INTO YOUR BREW KNOW MORE? There is only so much we can cover in one article. If you’re interested in learning more about coffee and various brew methods, We recommend speaking to your local coffee roaster, or checking out online resources such as the Intelligentsia brew guides or the Verve Coffee Streetsmarts series on Vimeo. WANT TO A FEW BREW IDEAS COFFEE IPA Like hops, many coffees can exhibit citrusy, floral and tropical flavours. Find a bright, fruity coffee and pair it with hops that have similar characteristics. Go ahead and add some whole beans when you dry hop. RED EYE AMBER ALE Imagine a malty, caramel-centric amber ale infused with a medium roast chocolaty blend, or maybe you’d prefer to pump up the hops and use a berry/ citrus Kenyan bean that would suit better? Either way, some ground coffee steeped in the whirlpool will help deepen the red colour of this amber ale. VANILLA LATTE BROWN ALE Brew up a toasty, nutty, caramelly brown ale with your choice of wheat and/ or oats for a creamy body. On brew day, prepare a coffee bean & vanilla pod bourbon tincture and add to taste on bottling day to tie it all together. OTHER DARK STYLES Porter and stout get a lot of love when it comes to coffee beers, and for good reason. But there are plenty of other dark and malty styles that are begging to be dry-beaned! Think dunkel, schwartzbier, dubbel, quad, etc. COLD SIDE Cold infusing your coffee is mostly an easy and forgiving process, but bes t practices should always be used to minimise risk of oxidation and infection . The upside is that coffee extracts more slowly at colder temperatures, so you can taste and bottle when it has reached the sweet spot. Ground coffee can be steeped anywhere from a few hours for a light coffee flavour, up to about 24 hours. Whole beans can be left to infuse for as little as a day, and will be pretty maxed out after a week or so. Keep in mind the temperature of your beer: 4°C and 20°C will have a very different impact on how quickly the coffee imparts flavour to your brew. PRE£BREWED COFFEE Espresso, filter, cold brew, and tincture are all options when it comes to pre- brewing your coffee, and can all be incorporated on the hot side, cold side or when bottling. If you don't have the necessary equipment to prepare espresso at home, you could ask your local cafe barista to prepare about a dozen doubles for you. But ask them off-peak when they're not too busy, and offer them a couple bottles of the final beer to sweeten the deal. For many people, filter or cold brew are the easiest options, as they probably already have everything needed to brew it at home. If you’re worried about filter or cold brew diluting your beer too much, you can always increase the coffee-to-water ratio for a more potent brew. Another less common option would be coffee tincture. Simply add coffee beans (as well as herbs and spices, if you wish) to a jar and cover with a spirit of your choice. Leave to infuse for at least a week or two before straining or filtering through a coffee filter. ontapmag.co.za | Winter 2019 | 27