# Cold Brew..



## SmnByt

I'm going to try some Cold Brew tonight, it says on the net to leave it for 12 hours in the fridge.

I'm only going to make a small amount in a 2 cup French press to see how it goes.

How do you guys make it?


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## MWJB

Fine grind, high brew ratio (80-100g/l), 48hours, give it a quick top to bottom stir every 12 hours to help it even out.

Or, start with a hot brew (as above), let cool, then chill & enjoy it in 5 or 6 hours.


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## SmnByt

MWJB said:


> Fine grind, high brew ratio (80-100g/l), 48hours, give it a quick top to bottom stir every 12 hours to help it even out.
> 
> Or, start with a hot brew (as above), let cool, then chill & enjoy it in 5 or 6 hours.


Excellent, thank you


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## MWJB

I filter my cold brew through rinsed Chemex paper too.


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## SmnByt

well, its been in the fridge for a couple of hours, Just given it a quick stir, I used Raves Wahroonga blend, to be fair it smells like shite... Hopefully it gets better over night.....


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## MWJB

Don't fret over the smell, it's probably not going to be great, coffee gives up its aromatics quickly, cold brew is not the best scenario for that.


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## SmnByt

Thank god for that, I was thinking I had a sink job on my hands....


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## SmnByt

Well, wasn't keen on that, might try it with Cuban Serrano superior tomorrow.

What beans do you guys use successfully?

I prefer the chocolate/caramel rather than fruity


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## MWJB

Hang on, you only started it yesterday?

What brew ratio did you use? Grind?

Rave do say it has fruity notes.


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## SmnByt

I gave it 18hrs, I put 20g of coffee, French press size grind, in a 2 cup French press and topped it up to the line with water, I can't remember the exact volume.


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## MWJB

When I have tried that the coffee was pretty underextracted & acidic, left my throat feeling a little raw?

I assume you mean coarse for 'French press' grind, if so, add an extra day (72hours)


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## johnealey

That may well be your issue. grind a lot finer and if putting less than a litre of water in scale back the offered up 80-100g of coffee accordingly. Without knowing for sure the volume of water added suspect your ratio was skewed towards more coffee than water but with a coarser grind you may not have developed any decent flavours.

Grind finer as Mark suggested earlier and measure the water in.

Hope of help

John


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## SmnByt

I'll follow your method this time, with fine grind, are we talking espresso grind? and 48hrs,

Maybe I was a little hasty, patience isn't one of my stronger characteristics


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## johnealey

Have tended to leave the same grind as do for espresso, in truth probably because it easier and saves messing around with a dialled in grinder. Most of mine only run to a max of 36 hours in the fridge and just give it a quick taste from a spoon before final stir then filter through either the v60 or clever on top of a jug (so it just pours straight through the filter, if that makes sense).

Did try it once in the clever, but not really enough to warrant the faff, now use a glass carafe in the fridge.

Hope of help and sure others got better methods ratios.

John


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## samjfranklin

I think doing the original brew in a french press is helpful as you can then get rid of a lot of suspended solids very easily. I found without doing this if you dumped all the grounds into a filter it took ages and there was a very low yield. Might have to start some cold brew overnight tonight. I've got some potentially exciting stuff with cold brew this summer


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## johnealey

If it helps after the last stir i do leave it anywhere between 5 minutes and till i remember for some of the "chunkier lumps" to settle out, didn't mention for the sake of brevity









John


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## samjfranklin

That sounds like a good idea. I've set some 40 hour cold brew up this evening, so I'll let you know the outcome in a couple of days!


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## dorsetbloke

How did it go? I've seen some cold brew specific devices, but not sure if it's worth the investment, especially if you can get a decent brew from a french press..


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## samjfranklin

I went for french press, stirring every 6-12 hours. I then pressed the french press and ran it through a pre-rinsed v60 filter. Went well!!


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## jeebsy

I"ve got a bucket of this in the fridge just now, been in for 24 hours. Tasting from the top intermittently, it's getting pretty good.


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## samjfranklin

I got a really good syrup-y concentrate from 40 hours! It's worth giving it a go with a press and paper filter before you buy anything too radical


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## Jon

I'm going to try tomorrow!


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## Gander24

Hi all, never tried this, think ill give it a bash. Quick question, when you strain it after 40-48 hours, do you need to use it all right away or will it keep a couple of days?


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## The Systemic Kid

Will keep for several days in the fridge.


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## jlarkin

This sounds good for the summer, I enjoyed some cold brew stuff at the LCF and was thinking of giving it a go soon. Great info as always!


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## Chad

Interesting thread guys, any thoughts on Nitro coffee?

It's supposed to have a creamy, Guinness like texture. Sounds intriguing, but I can't help thinking coffee is better hot!

ps. I'm not at all as hipster looking as the guy in the Evening Standard article!

http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/restaurants/nitro-coffee-what-it-is-and-where-to-get-it-in-london-10228890.html


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## Jon

I've gone cold brew crazy!


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## Gander24

Finished my first batch today, 48hrs, 90g into 1litre. Only realised that i had nothing to filter the finished product though!!! Ended up passing it though the aeropress!!! What an idiot, got there in the end though, tastes great, very smooth!


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## Jon

That's what I'm doing: 48hr/80-90g/1 litre. Using £1.25 1l glass jugs from Asda lined up in the fridge filtering through a Swiss gold permanent filter. Little summer production line.


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## Gander24

Yeah, ill need to invest in some filters before making it again. Would you recommend the swiss gold perm?


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## jeebsy

I tried to filter two litres through an aeropress, ended up with more on the worktop and over me than in the cup at the end


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## Jon

Gander24 said:


> Yeah, ill need to invest in some filters before making it again. Would you recommend the swiss gold perm?


Mine is a little cup top filter like you used to get from Rombauts in restaurants in the 80s. I bought it in the US a few years back on a road trip - and for filtering cold brew it's ideal.


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## jlarkin

Just put my first batch in with the Hario jug (with in-built filter), I'm rubbish at waiting...roll on Friday


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## knightsfield

Currently making my first cold brew and have put 90g of espresso grind in a litre of water. Only had a drink bottle to use so it all in there.

After a while I noticed a big sludge of coffee grinds at the bottom of the bottle. Should I be stiring it on a regular basis or just let it be.

How are people then drinking the cold brew? Does everyone have it cold on its own over ice, mix with hot milk or hot water?


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## jlarkin

I think I saw the advice to give it a pretty good stir every 12 hours or so, somewhere back on the thread. Good question about how people enjoy it afterwards though - I think most iced coffee I've had before has been very sweet from mass production.


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## DoubleShot

To those who have made or currently in the process of making some cold brewed coffee, please post up which beans you're using and dosages etc that you've found work well using this method?

Looking forward to trying some, hopefully during some upcoming warm/hot weather!

Thanks in advance.


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## Phil104

Is anyone using any more sophisticated cold brew kit? I'd be interested to know - our daughter wants something (other than her V60 stuff) to plunge deeper into the delights of cold brewing.


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## DoubleShot

@Phil104










A tenner delivered courtesy of Alison on these forums.


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## Phil104

DoubleShot said:


> @Phil104
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> 
> A tenner delivered courtesy of Alison on these forums.


Bimey that was a quick reply - I spotted that (too late). Are you using it yet and what's the product like?


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## DoubleShot

Haven't used it yet, only just found it on the outside front doorstep a couple of hours ago. jlarklin has already got his one in the fridge.


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## Phil104

DoubleShot said:


> Haven't used it yet, only just found it on the outside front doorstep a couple of hours ago. jlarklin has already got his one in the fridge.


Okay - not in a cold brew time scale yet, then, and presumably jlarklin will post a report.


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## Gander24

Done my 1st last week.

I used 90g of coffee compass sweet bourbon, 48hrs expresso grind. I tried it mostly with cold milk and ice, once hot. It was nice. In hindsight i think i could have

1. filtered it better (ended up using my aeropress!!!!)

2. Stirred it more times.

3. Stirred it up more vigorously, i found quite a dense layer of coffee at the bottom of the tub, which probably didn't get the best extraction from due to the water not penetrating as i never stirred it correctly.(i shook the tub)

Aside from the issues i still thought it was a great success, i really enjoyed it, very mellow and smooth, and i believe it will be even better next time as iv learned for my mistakes


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## jlarkin

Phil104 said:


> Okay - not in a cold brew time scale yet, then, and presumably jlarklin will post a report.


Yes I'll let you know how it goes. So far I'm very impressed - it would hold probably just under about 900ml of water and maybe up to 100g of coffee (a guess based on space left). I put 90g of coffee - finely ground - into it and tried to put that in a litre of water and that was a little too much, so I've probably ended up a little strong with 90g of coffee and somewhere around 850ml of water. I gave it a really good stir and stuck it in the fridge. I'd had kicker espresso beans for a while so I put them in...It fits nicely in the door of the fridge.

I think it's probably a bit easier than some other methods because it is intended to do this, the bottom can be taken off the filter section to empty and clean it out etc. and so all round seems well suited to the task. Just a shame cold brew takes so long ;-)


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## DoubleShot

@jlarkin

A tenner well spent by all accounts then?


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## jlarkin

@DoubleShot yes definitely ! I'm very pleased so far.


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## Phil104

> A tenner well spent by all accounts then?





jlarkin said:


> @DoubleShot yes definitely ! I'm very pleased so far.


Very encouraging - and it doesn't cost a bomb. Thanks both for pointing the way.


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## Spooks

Was thinking of trying some cold brew, well summer is just around the corner, what beans work best for it and do you "water down" the concentrate or just use as is?


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## jlarkin

My mizudashi update, it worked really well for ease of use factors. I think I messed it up a bit by putting too much coffee in compared to the water and that's because it didn't hold quite as much water as I expected. I wasn't accounting for the extra displacement of the actual coffee in the jug...So it didn't really mix as well with the water as it could have done. After the 48 hours, I ended up taking the filter out and leaving it in a cup to drain off more water (because it was doing a good job of holding the water inside it). Inspite of that I was fairly happy with the coffee it made - I could see it might work well next time, was just a little light on body (I also used up some beans I'd had around for a while because I wanted to learn things like this before using anything too good). Once I've cleared my hopper of the hawaiian kona then I'll give it another go!


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## DoubleShot

@jlarkin

How much coffee did you use in your first try and approximately how much do you think is the ideal amount (for your next attempt)?

Thanks.


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## jlarkin

I put in 90g of coffee thinking it would take about 900ml water. In the end I had just over 500ml water. With less coffee you might get more water in but I'm thinking I'll start with about 50g coffee and run the water through it. If it looks like I can get more water in then you could add a little coffee no problem and stir through.


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## Phil104

jlarkin said:


> I put in 90g of coffee thinking it would take about 900ml water. In the end I had just over 500ml water. With less coffee you might get more water in but I'm thinking I'll start with about 50g coffee and run the water through it. If it looks like I can get more water in then you could add a little coffee no problem and stir through.


Do you need to use a greater weight of coffee with this method rather than other brewed, where the usual weight is around 60g per litre?


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## jlarkin

Phil104 said:


> Do you need to use a greater weight of coffee with this method rather than other brewed, where the usual weight is around 60g per litre?


Yes - at least per some of the other recipes shared on here such as



MWJB said:


> Fine grind, high brew ratio (80-100g/l), 48hours, give it a quick top to bottom stir every 12 hours to help it even out.
> 
> Or, start with a hot brew (as above), let cool, then chill & enjoy it in 5 or 6 hours.


 I used cold water from the start so you haven't got heat to get the flavours out (I guess their is a proper scientific explanation, but that seems to make sense anyway).


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## Phil104

jlarkin said:


> Yes - at least per some of the other recipes shared on here such as
> 
> I used cold water from the start so you haven't got heat to get the flavours out (I guess their is a proper scientific explanation, but that seems to make sense anyway).


Ah, thanks for that - and I then recalled MWJB's post. I need to keep on it.


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## jlarkin

Actually I'm also going to upgrade my first attempt to pretty good. I had it with half cold brew and half boiled water just now. It wasn't hot but had some very nice tastes in it, I'm not sure I know how to describe it yet so I'll go with: "decent".


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## samjfranklin

jlarkin said:


> Actually I'm also going to upgrade my first attempt to pretty good. I had it with half cold brew and half boiled water just now. It wasn't hot but had some very nice tastes in it, I'm not sure I know how to describe it yet so I'll go with: "decent".


Glad yu had some success!!


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