Coffee Wine??? Here I go lol

[Rembee]

So I have decided to knock one off the ole bucket list.

On 2/27/21, I started off with 3 qt. cold brew, starbucks dark roasted coffee beans. I used a ceramic stone hand grinder. I grounded up 3 oz, roughly 1 1/2 cups of fresh dark roasted coffee beans.
Into a 1 gallon pitcher I poured 3 quarts of my well water and placed the grounds into a fine meshed filter bag and placed that into the pitcher and stirred. I let the brew sit, covered, on the counter top for 20 hours. A cold brew coffee is not as acidic and is not as bitter. It actually taste somewhat sweet, bolder and smoother then hot brewed coffee.

Then I made up just over a 1 gallon batch of must in my 2 gal. bucket. (About 1 1/2 gallons)
2 quarts of cold brew, 1 tsp of yeast nutrient, 1/4 tsp grape tannin and added water until it was at the 1 1/2 gal. mark on the bucket. Then I adjusted the SG to 1.094 with sugar and ph to a 3.4 with acid blend.
I was shooting for a SG of 1.090 to 1.100.
The amount of sugar I added was 2 lbs.
I felt good with the OG of 1.094.
I then pitched Lalvin 71B yeast.
On 3/7 the SG was at 1.025. I racked to a 1 gallon carboy and placed it under an airlock. I also added 20 chopped raisins to this.
Today, I racked off of the raisins. The SG was .990.
It has an amazing coffee aroma and a very pleasent coffee taste although it is very dry at this stage. I topped up with 1 cup of cold brew and placed it back under the airlock. It tasted even better. The taste of coffee lingered on the back of my tongue with a very nice mouth feel. Very rich tasting! I then swirled the carboy and degased some what. I will bulk age until the end of May and then I will revisit it and maybe backsweeten at that point.

 

[BernardSmith]

Sounds as if you are on to a winner. I have never had much success with coffee wine although the best one I have made I simply made with very roughly crushed beans added to the secondary. I have always found that making coffee with the beans whether cold brewed or not tends to result in a wine that is too bitter.

 

[VinesnBines]

I've been planning a coffee wine and was look at a Jack Keller recipe; oddly considering his fruit light recipes, this used 1/2 pound of coffee for a gallon. I like the idea of brown sugar. I've never had great luck with cold brewing coffee but I may adapt Rembee and Jack's recipes. I was thinking of a coffee port - maybe or not. Guess I'll see what turns out.

COFFEE WINE (1)​

• ½ lb freshly ground coffee
• 2½ lbs dark brown sugar
• 1½ tsp citric acid
• ¼ tsp tannin
• 7½ pts water
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• Sauterne wine yeast

Pour water in pot and put on to boil. Stir in sugar until dissolved. When sugar is completely dissolved, stir coffee into water and wait until it boils. Remove from heat, cover and allow to cool. To a sanitized secondary, combine citric acid, tannin and yeast nutrient. Strain coffee through double layer of muslin into secondary, discarding the grounds. Add activated yeast and cover mouth of secondary with napkin held in place with rubber band.

 

[Rice_Guy]

Bitter; caffeine is a standard reference bitter flavor in the taste panel lab, I have to wonder how this would taste using CO2 decaffinated grounds or beans.
My bucket list has a chocolate coffee on it, humm will have to fish about bitter flavor in coffee before I decide what to make it with. Bitter isn’t bad especially when balanced with sweet, ,,, and brown sugar sounds really good.

 

[Rembee]

Even though it is very dry right now I did not detect any bitter notes at all. The lingering taste on the back of the tongue was rich. After the harshness of the alcohol had subsided, there was a smooth rich taste that was very pleasant.
The brown sugar does sound very interesting. I think I will backsweeten with it in May.
After all, this is more of a desert wine to sip and savor on IMO.

 

[Rembee]

I wonder how much of the caffeine remains after fermentation is finished. If there is any diminishing effect on it at all?

 

[Rembee]

COFFEE WINE (1)​

• ½ lb freshly ground coffee
• 2½ lbs dark brown sugar
• 1½ tsp citric acid
• ¼ tsp tannin
• 7½ pts water
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• Sauterne wine yeast

Pour water in pot and put on to boil. Stir in sugar until dissolved. When sugar is completely dissolved, stir coffee into water and wait until it boils. Remove from heat, cover and allow to cool. To a sanitized secondary, combine citric acid, tannin and yeast nutrient. Strain coffee through double layer of muslin into secondary, discarding the grounds. Add activated yeast and cover mouth of secondary with napkin held in place with rubber band.

@VinesnBines, that is an interesting recipe you have there. If you decide to make it please keep us informed on your progress.
The reason I decided to use cold brew instead of hot brewed coffee was to reduce bitterness.
The wife and I brew cold brew during the summer often and we find it smoother and not as bitter as hot brewed. This was a major deciding factor for me using cold brew.

 

[VinesnBines]

It will be at least a week before I can get started. I'm trying to decide whether to cold or hot brew. Maybe I will follow the recipe out of simplicity. I wonder if the brown sugar will cut some of the bitterness as well. I only have light brown sugar...though I think the brown part is molasses so maybe a dollop of molasses will be needed. I'll let you know my progress.

 

[Rice_Guy]

my assumption has been that caffeine is chemically rather stable, alcohol should not affect its ring structure
@vines I will do a room temp extract when I try it, there are chemicals in a hot water extract that are excellent at generating heart burn. If I was a barista I would run 78C water (which has lost 2 to 3 degrees from the act of pouring) or do it as a 75C bath. From a process point/ coffee shop point of view, we have time since the ferment takes time, and don’t have to rush it.

 

[VinesnBines]

Thanks. I'll try cool brew. Still wondering about the amount of coffee. My recipe uses over twice the amount as Rembee. HIs was 3.5 ounces and mine says 1/2 lb. What do you think?

 

[Rice_Guy]

I have been trained to go to the lab bench and try the formula, and let the lab down the hall taste/ vote, (or wife) ,,, a guess is what tastes good in the morning is correct for most customers, ,,,,, unless the intention is a really rich after dinner drink which you serve with full fat half and half creamer in which case I would run high on flavor. That could be a wow beverage.

Thanks. I'll try cool brew. Still wondering about the amount of coffee. My recipe uses over twice the amount as Rembee. HIs was 3.5 ounces and mine says 1/2 lb. What do you think?

 

[BernardSmith]

Rice_Guy, Would you think that adding some lightly crushed beans to the secondary might extract much of the coffee flavor without extracting too much of the bitterness?

 

[Rice_Guy]

Bitterness should be temperature dependent. Caffeine in room temp water is 16 mg/ml, in alcohol 15 mg/ml. Boiling water is 666 mg/ml therefore a low temp extraction reduces the bitter notes.
It is worth asking what else gets solubilized? My subjective opinion on cold brew is it is a better tasting coffee so worth it. From a factory point of view a flaked coffee extracts faster but a month in a secondary ought to equalize extraction efficiency relative to your larger particle size.

Rice_Guy, Would you think that adding some lightly crushed beans to the secondary might extract much of the coffee flavor without extracting too much of the bitterness?

 

[Rembee]

@VinesnBines, I use 1 1/2 cups of beans which is 3.5 ounces of coffee to 3 quarts of cold water. It is very concentrated brew. My wife and I drink strong coffee and this recipe is to our liking. When we drink it as cold brew we fill our glass 3/4 full with the brew over ice and then add milk to fill the glass. Before making the wine, we experimented with different concentrations of coffee in the cold brew until we got to the one we both liked. Also remember that I topped up with the cold concentrated brew after fermentation was done.

 

[Raptor99]

I think that bitterness is also a function of the quality of the beans and the roasting. Cheap coffee is more bitter than good quality coffee.

I like to taste all my ingredients. You could make both a hot brew and cold brew from your coffee beans. Let the hot brew cool to room temperature so that they are the same temp. Taste both without any added cream or sugar. See if you can taste a difference. You could compare different coffee beans as well as different roasting levels. Good coffee is nice to drink black, but bad coffee needs a lot of cream and sugar to make it palatable.

 

[Rembee]

Here is the difference of hot brew compared to cold brew per my research;

Cold-brew coffee
Texture of cold brew is smooth and comes with less bite as well as less acidity! Due to the cold temperature, the beans do not release bitter tannins, so there is less bitterness.

Hence, we can say that cold brew coffee is less acidic than hot brew! Also, the bite is less bitter in the case of cold brew. This is because of the rate of oxidation and degradation of coffee while brewing process.

Flavor
Another most significant difference between hot coffee and cold brew is the flavor. Change in the flavor is attributed to the oxidation process while brewing.

Hot coffee
Traditional coffee gives you rich aromas and a warming sensation. However, the flavor disappears with time, and as you slowly reach the bottom of your cup, the taste is not the same!

Cold coffee
You can experience mild sweetness in cold brew coffee, which cuts off the coffee’s bitter component. Also, the acidic remnants will be crisper instead of bitter. To test it, you must try black coffee. The colder brew has very little bitterness and rich taste paved by smooth flavor.

Caffeine levels
This is the most important difference between cold and hot coffee.

Cold-brew coffee
You might have experience high jolt due to cold coffee than hot coffee. This is because the cold brew has more caffeine in comparison to hot coffee.

Hot coffee
Hot coffee has 326 mg caffeine in the 16-fluid ounce, and the cold brew has 200-319mg in 10 fluid ounces. Most of the time, you will see that caffeine level is affected by the types of beans you use for brewing!

 

[photoguy]

that looks very interesting. i have too many empty carboys so this will be great experiment. Thanks for
posting your process.

 

[thumpper23]

Been making coffee wines for a couple years, if you want to up the flavour a little add a couple teaspoons of real vanilla right after your final racking, let it sit atleast 2 weeks before bottling. Here is a comment i got from a customer who i madr a couple custom batchs of wine for.

I tried the sulawesi last night and it tastes amazing. I get the cold brew coffee notes at the beginning, then chocolate to dark chocolate and cameral flavors in the middle and back, and almost a chocolate milkshake flavor for the finish. You've got one hellva talent for making wine my friend. I can't wait to taste more of your creations.

 

[Rembee]

Been making coffee wines for a couple years, if you want to up the flavour a little add a couple teaspoons of real vanilla right after your final racking, let it sit atleast 2 weeks before bottling. Here is a comment i got from a customer who i madr a couple custom batchs of wine for.

I tried the sulawesi last night and it tastes amazing. I get the cold brew coffee notes at the beginning, then chocolate to dark chocolate and cameral flavors in the middle and back, and almost a chocolate milkshake flavor for the finish. You've got one hellva talent for making wine my friend. I can't wait to taste more of your creations.

I will definitely try the vanilla.
When you say real vanilla, are you talking about home made vanilla with the beans and vodka or do you mean placing a vanilla bean into the carboy?
My wife makes her own vanilla extract using beans and vodka.
Also, what do you backsweeten with?

 

[VinesnBines]

And I assume cold brew coffee; how much per gallon?