Foodieinfl Senior Member Joined: 25 Jul 2012 Posts: 7 Location: FL Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Wed Jul 25, 2012, 3:10pm Subject: Best Brewing Method For Iced Coffee
Hi all! Newbie and first post. Looking for the best way to make iced coffee and knew I could find great advice here. I have tried the cold brewed method and am just not crazy with the result. It is weaker than I like, and just has an off taste to me. Can't really describe it...it just sort of nauseates me to be honest. I have tried several different coffee blends, as well as regular and decaf, with the same end result. I am thinking that I need to do a traditional hot brew in order to achieve the strength I like, and also hope that the off taste I mentioned will be resolved. The problem is I do not own a coffee maker, just an aeropress. I like to make a gallon at a time, so the aeropress isn't an option. Is there a way to make coffee on the stove? Is it any good? If so, how do I go about doing this? I am working with your basic crappy, electric apartment stove if that makes a difference. TY in advance! Holly
CMIN Senior Member Joined: 14 Jun 2012 Posts: 500 Location: South FL Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: Crossland CC1 Grinder: Baratza Preciso
Posted Wed Jul 25, 2012, 4:01pm Subject: Re: Best Brewing Method For Iced Coffee
Which "cold brewed" method did you use? And which beans (fresh roasted, store bought etc?). Moka's are used on stove top but that would be a pain in the ass trying to make a gallon, have to do it over and over. What are making/using a gallon for?
Foodieinfl Senior Member Joined: 25 Jul 2012 Posts: 7 Location: FL Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Wed Jul 25, 2012, 4:12pm Subject: Re: Best Brewing Method For Iced Coffee
Store bought beans, ground on medium, dumped into a gallon pitcher, then topped off with filtered water. Left to steep on counter for about 24 hours, then poured through cheesecloth. I explored the Moka pot method as well, but as you mentioned it would be a pain. I like to make a gallon at a time to have on hand during the week. Just easier than making an individual serving each time.
Posted Thu Jul 26, 2012, 6:33am Subject: Re: Best Brewing Method For Iced Coffee
Hmmm. A gallon is a lot of coffee (~3.8kg).
Just some clarification, you want a gallon of cold coffee concentrate that you can pour over ice and have iced coffee with decent strength, right? You want to store this in the refrigerator, right?
Going with those clarifications, and your comments on cold brewed coffee taste, I'd recommend something I've been playing with: warm-brewed coffee.
Hot-brewed I'm defining as a strike temperature (temp of the water at start of brewing) 190°F or above. Auto drip brewers are in that range for the whole brew cycle, while a pourover will have decreasing temperatures during the brew cycle. For a gallon, though, it's a huge amount of coffee for any of the percolation methods, so you're talking an immersion method.
For good strength when poured over ice, you're aiming for ~1.8% TDS or higher, depending on your ice dilution. This will be decent coffee when cut with 50% ice (fill a glass with ice, pour the cold coffee concentrate over it).
Since you have a gallon or larger contact container, and a way to separate the grounds, I'd try the following recipe:
If you have the capacity:
1.2 gallons of water, heated to about 170°F 400g of coffee (thats about 14oz of coffee) ground to drip(ish) level.
Combine and stir/mix well. Steep in refrigerator (place in fridge hot) until the mixture reaches approximately 120°F, but not much lower than 100°F, approximately 30 minutes to 50 minutes, depending on your setup.
Mix again and strain/filter, this should produce about a gallon of concentrated coffee. Store at refrigerator temperature.
I've found this will stay very good for about 2-3 days, and still drinkable for about a week before it heads south, IF stored cold.
If all you have is a gallon container, adjust the recipe to the following:
300g ground coffee (about 10 1/2 to 11 oz) Top to ~1 gallon or capacity of container (this will be about 3300g-3500g of water) with ~170°F water.
This will produce around 3/4 gallon of concentrated coffee.
Why it works: The lower strike temperature helps reduce extraction of some of the compounds that can turn the flavor bad in the fridge - but you get more of the compounds that contribute to what coffee tastes like than cold or room-temp brewing can do. Straining/filtering while the temperature is above 100°F helps increase the yield (cold filtering will tend to trap more of your produced coffee in the grounds). You'll achieve decent overall extraction because the contact time is long enough while the mixutre cools.
I've not done this for an entire gallon, but have done this with ~1/2 gallon and quart sized batches, there should be no reason this wouldn't scale up.
If you try it, good luck and post your results.
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CMIN Senior Member Joined: 14 Jun 2012 Posts: 500 Location: South FL Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: Crossland CC1 Grinder: Baratza Preciso
Posted Thu Jul 26, 2012, 7:04am Subject: Re: Best Brewing Method For Iced Coffee
Foodieinfl Said:
Store bought beans, ground on medium, dumped into a gallon pitcher, then topped off with filtered water. Left to steep on counter for about 24 hours, then poured through cheesecloth. I explored the Moka pot method as well, but as you mentioned it would be a pain. I like to make a gallon at a time to have on hand during the week. Just easier than making an individual serving each time.
If their store bought then that's one problem right there, beans are already stale and won't taste good whether hot or cold brewed. I tried Starbucks once as cold brew when I forgot to get some fresh stuff and it was pretty gross, tasted like burnt cigs/ashes.
Cold coffee doesn't last long either, I wouldn't go a week drinking the batch, maybe a day or two at the most.
Foodieinfl Senior Member Joined: 25 Jul 2012 Posts: 7 Location: FL Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Thu Jul 26, 2012, 8:17am Subject: Re: Best Brewing Method For Iced Coffee
Netphilosopher - Yes, I drink *a lot* of coffee. (blush...) Thank you for the great info. Will try this tonight. I tried making cowboy coffee last night, which I mixed with ice, half and half and raw sugar this morning, and it was close to un-drinkable. Sour, bitter, weak. I should have been doubtful of any method asking you to add coffee to boiling water. CMIN - I agree. In a perfect world, I'd happily frolick to my local roaster each morning for the freshest beans possible, scratch that -- in a perfect world, I'd actually stop into Panera each morning for iced coffee. I don't know what their brewing secret is, but it's heavenly. Unfortunately, my morning usually consists of running Tasmanian-devil style through my apartment in an attempt to make it to work on time. I also agree that I probably should not make a gallon at a time.
Java_Jiver Senior Member Joined: 3 Nov 2010 Posts: 131 Location: Baton Rouge Expertise: I love coffee
Grinder: Capresso Infinity Drip: Technivorm 741
Posted Thu Jul 26, 2012, 8:21am Subject: Re: Best Brewing Method For Iced Coffee
Foodieinfl Said:
Store bought beans, ground on medium, dumped into a gallon pitcher, then topped off with filtered water. Left to steep on counter for about 24 hours, then poured through cheesecloth. I explored the Moka pot method as well, but as you mentioned it would be a pain. I like to make a gallon at a time to have on hand during the week. Just easier than making an individual serving each time.
I'm with you on this, Holly. Years ago I had a cold coffee brewer — I forget what it was called but I'm sure someone can give us its name again — that was essentially a large vessel for storing you water and coffee grinds during the 24 hour steeping process. There was this hole in the bottom of it where you stuck this thick filter which had a cork at the bottom. When you were finished steeping the brew, you would set it atop this decanter that came with the kit.
The thing made exceptional coffee, but it was supposed to be a concentrate to which you would add hot water for your morning coffee. I never added water, finding the concentrate deliciously smooth and just right for the level of strength the way it was. I kept the decanter in the fridge, and it would last just three or four days.
Foodieinfl Senior Member Joined: 25 Jul 2012 Posts: 7 Location: FL Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Thu Jul 26, 2012, 9:17am Subject: Re: Best Brewing Method For Iced Coffee
Could it be a Toddy? I'm not personally familiar with it, but it sounds similar. I second the coffee concentrate. My aeropress works the same in that it produces a very small amount of coffee (concentrate) to which you top off with hot water. Delicious for iced coffee, but not practical. I'd have to do at least 4 pressings to achieve 1 large Tervis tumbler. :O
CMIN Senior Member Joined: 14 Jun 2012 Posts: 500 Location: South FL Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: Crossland CC1 Grinder: Baratza Preciso
Posted Thu Jul 26, 2012, 11:26am Subject: Re: Best Brewing Method For Iced Coffee
Foodieinfl Said:
CMIN - I agree. In a perfect world, I'd happily frolick to my local roaster each morning for the freshest beans possible, scratch that -- in a perfect world, I'd actually stop into Panera each morning for iced coffee. I don't know what their brewing secret is, but it's heavenly. Unfortunately, my morning usually consists of running Tasmanian-devil style through my apartment in an attempt to make it to work on time. I also agree that I probably should not make a gallon at a time.
Panera coffee is ok for a chain. But if you had something like the Toddy or Sowden Click Here (www.seattlecoffeegear.com) , and a cheap hand grinder (you didn't say if you grind or you grind at the store), you'll make way better coffee if you can buy some fresh beans or see if there is a shop around you that will sell their own (generally cheaper than ordering online). You'd be better with a Toddy or Sowden and making multiple batches through the week vs one big ass one, as even cold brewed coffee starts going stale after about a day in the fridge. SCG has a vid showing the Sowden used for cold brew: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2vrc_D0Jbg
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