Coffee, caffeine and fermentation
 

I have just started a coffee mead. The must was made using quite a lot of ground coffee, about 50g per bottle. It
occurred to me, now that I have started it, that if the caffeine does not degrade as part of the fermentation it will
quite an 'exciting' wine, heh heh.

Does anyone have any idea whether caffeine is degraded during fermentation?

Many thanks, Jim

Coffee, caffeine and fermentation
 

Just think of it as a way to combat the drowsiness of the alcohol of
the wine. Now you can drink all night.

I don't have an answer, just jumping in for a cheap (and likley poor)
laugh.

Rob

Coffee, caffeine and fermentation
 

Don't know whether it will degrade or not (probably not), but it can inhibit
fermentation. It's much better to add the coffee in the secondary.
Steve
"jim" > wrote in message
...
>I have just started a coffee mead. The must was made using quite a lot of
>ground coffee, about 50g per bottle. It occurred to me, now that I have
>started it, that if the caffeine does not degrade as part of the
>fermentation it will quite an 'exciting' wine, heh heh.
>
> Does anyone have any idea whether caffeine is degraded during
> fermentation?
>
> Many thanks, Jim
>

Coffee, caffeine and fermentation
 

On Mar 11, 7:23 pm, "jim" > wrote:
> I have just started a coffee mead. The must was made using quite a lot of ground coffee, about 50g per bottle. It
> occurred to me, now that I have started it, that if the caffeine does not degrade as part of the fermentation it will
> quite an 'exciting' wine, heh heh.
>
> Does anyone have any idea whether caffeine is degraded during fermentation?
>
> Many thanks, Jim

I just started a coffee mead also - on 3/6/07. I am curious about
your results. What was your recipe?
Here is the one I used from: Massaccesi, Raymond. "Winemaker's Recipe
Handbook". 1976.
5 Tbs Instant Coffee (I used store brand)
7 pts Water
3 lb Honey (I used store bought clover honey)
3 tsp Acid Blend
3/4 tsp Energizer
1 Campden, crush
1 pkg Sherry yeast (I used Lalvin EC-1118)

Stir all ingredients into the hot water/honey/coffee mixture except
yeast
Add yeast after 24 hours
At SG 1.040 transfer to secondary
My starting SG was 1.120

Keep us updated.
Anyone else have some ideas about the recipe - what about the acidity
of the final product?
Thanks,
Adam

Coffee, caffeine and fermentation
 

Nice to hear from you about your coffee mead! As requested, this is how mine has been going...

The recipe is one I kind of hybridised from a keller coffee wine recipe and a coffee mead recipe I found on the net.
The ingredients are below - my conversions of quantities to make a UK gallon:

300g fresh ground coffee
4lbs of honey (now on the use-by date it didn't produce as high an SG as expected: 1.096, but I went with it)
1tsp citric acid
4 litres boiled and slightly cooled water
2 tsp of montrachet yeast comp (including yeast and nutrients) - I wanted to use that before its end-date too :)

The two methods for the recipes I combined were different. The advice from Jack Keller's was to add yeast when cooled
and go straight to secondary, the advice for the mead was to go primary for 5-7 days then secondary.

I followed the latter but on the fourth day (today) - after significant foaming and surface solids at the end of day 1
and through day 2, dying off a little on day 3 - I went to secondary thinking obvious activity seemed to have finished.
There were no bubbles breaking surface noticeably. The SG was only 1.060 too, but I had a grapefruit must go dry in
three days recently and like to experiment around the rules (or common sense you could say).

I think the viscosity of the liquid might have concealed the bubbles, because within a few minutes of transferring to
secondary I had fitted a blow off tube to the demijohn to save my cupboard from a foam party! Still, it looks happy -
and smells like an Irish Cappucino!

Jim

> wrote in message oups.com...
> On Mar 11, 7:23 pm, "jim" > wrote:
>> I have just started a coffee mead. The must was made using quite a lot of ground coffee, about 50g per bottle. It
>> occurred to me, now that I have started it, that if the caffeine does not degrade as part of the fermentation it will
>> quite an 'exciting' wine, heh heh.
>>
>> Does anyone have any idea whether caffeine is degraded during fermentation?
>>
>> Many thanks, Jim
>
> I just started a coffee mead also - on 3/6/07. I am curious about
> your results. What was your recipe?
> Here is the one I used from: Massaccesi, Raymond. "Winemaker's Recipe
> Handbook". 1976.
> 5 Tbs Instant Coffee (I used store brand)
> 7 pts Water
> 3 lb Honey (I used store bought clover honey)
> 3 tsp Acid Blend
> 3/4 tsp Energizer
> 1 Campden, crush
> 1 pkg Sherry yeast (I used Lalvin EC-1118)
>
> Stir all ingredients into the hot water/honey/coffee mixture except
> yeast
> Add yeast after 24 hours
> At SG 1.040 transfer to secondary
> My starting SG was 1.120
>
> Keep us updated.
> Anyone else have some ideas about the recipe - what about the acidity
> of the final product?
> Thanks,
> Adam
>

Coffee, caffeine and fermentation
 

"jim" > wrote in message
...
>I have just started a coffee mead. The must was made using quite a lot of
>ground coffee, about 50g per bottle. It

Wow!
I never heard of this before.
Has anyone actually tasted coffee mead?
I'd love to hear comments about the flavor... sweet, tart, etc?

Coffee, caffeine and fermentation
 

All I know is that coffee wine is recommended 'semi-sweet' and that people who commented on a coffee mead of similar
ingredients said: "It's great, but you REALLY have to like the taste of coffee to enjoy this one!" I guess I won't know
just how good it tastes for a year or two.

Jim


"Bob Becker" > wrote in message ...
>
> "jim" > wrote in message ...
>>I have just started a coffee mead. The must was made using quite a lot of ground coffee, about 50g per bottle. It
>
> Wow!
> I never heard of this before.
> Has anyone actually tasted coffee mead?
> I'd love to hear comments about the flavor... sweet, tart, etc?
>
>

Coffee, caffeine and fermentation
 

"Steve Peek" > wrote in message
nk.net...
> Don't know whether it will degrade or not (probably not), but it can
> inhibit fermentation. It's much better to add the coffee in the secondary.
> Steve

Just a curiosity question. If cafine could inhimit fermentation, would it
be better to add it during bulk aging rather than during any stage of
fermentation? After all coffee is not going to add any fermentables, only
flavor.

Coffee, caffeine and fermentation
 

Possibly, but thats not how the recipes suggest to do it. Perhaps the fermented flavour of the coffee is desirable. I
must admit there's no sign of this batch being inhibited and it's strong. Perhaps it would be a problem later in the
fermentation if one makes the wine with a high alcohol content too?

Jim


"Ray Calvert" > wrote in message t...
>
> "Steve Peek" > wrote in message nk.net...
>> Don't know whether it will degrade or not (probably not), but it can inhibit fermentation. It's much better to add
>> the coffee in the secondary.
>> Steve
>
> Just a curiosity question. If cafine could inhimit fermentation, would it be better to add it during bulk aging
> rather than during any stage of fermentation? After all coffee is not going to add any fermentables, only flavor.
>

Coffee, caffeine and fermentation
 

"Bob Becker" > wrote in message
...
>
> "jim" > wrote in message
> ...
>>I have just started a coffee mead. The must was made using quite a lot
>>of ground coffee, about 50g per bottle. It
>
> Wow!
> I never heard of this before.
> Has anyone actually tasted coffee mead?
> I'd love to hear comments about the flavor... sweet, tart, etc?
>


This does sound interesting. I do my own coffee roasting and am always
looking for ways to expand and meld my hobbies. I make a really nice Kahlua
using espresso shots. I have only 1 gallon of straight mead in the works
but I am liking the results so far. I think a coffee mead may be on the
short list.

Quixote

Coffee, caffeine and fermentation
 

Ooh, I'm going to have to make a 5 gallon next time - the marinade idea sounds great!

Cheers for the info.

Jim

"MarQ" > wrote in message .. .
>I have made coffee wine using JackKeller's recipe. I used close to a pound
> of brown premium Mexican coffee that I grounded myself for one gallon of
> wine. There sure was a lot of cafeine in these beans and it fermented
> really well, so it didn't appear to me that it could inhibit fermentation.
> I also added some orange zest to give it a little 'café brûlot' flavor. A
> friend of mine who's a chef told me it's outstanding to marinate pork.
>
> Marc
> Québec
>
>
> "Ray Calvert" > a écrit dans le message de
> t...
>>
>> "Steve Peek" > wrote in message
>> nk.net...
>> > Don't know whether it will degrade or not (probably not), but it can
>> > inhibit fermentation. It's much better to add the coffee in the
> secondary.
>> > Steve
>>
>> Just a curiosity question. If cafine could inhimit fermentation, would it
>> be better to add it during bulk aging rather than during any stage of
>> fermentation? After all coffee is not going to add any fermentables, only
>> flavor.
>>
>>
>
>

Coffee, caffeine and fermentation
 

I have made coffee wine using JackKeller's recipe. I used close to a pound
of brown premium Mexican coffee that I grounded myself for one gallon of
wine. There sure was a lot of cafeine in these beans and it fermented
really well, so it didn't appear to me that it could inhibit fermentation.
I also added some orange zest to give it a little 'café brûlot' flavor. A
friend of mine who's a chef told me it's outstanding to marinate pork.

Marc
Québec


"Ray Calvert" > a écrit dans le message de
t...
>
> "Steve Peek" > wrote in message
> nk.net...
> > Don't know whether it will degrade or not (probably not), but it can
> > inhibit fermentation. It's much better to add the coffee in the
secondary.
> > Steve
>
> Just a curiosity question. If cafine could inhimit fermentation, would it
> be better to add it during bulk aging rather than during any stage of
> fermentation? After all coffee is not going to add any fermentables, only
> flavor.
>
>

Coffee, caffeine and fermentation
 

"jim" > wrote in message
...
> I have just started a coffee mead. The must was made using quite a lot
of ground coffee, about 50g per bottle. It
> occurred to me, now that I have started it, that if the caffeine does not
degrade as part of the fermentation it will
> quite an 'exciting' wine, heh heh.
>
> Does anyone have any idea whether caffeine is degraded during
fermentation?
>
> Many thanks, Jim
>
>
What size bottles are you using?

Coffee, caffeine and fermentation
 

....and Coca-Cola is the bees-knees for glazing legs of ham :-)

"MarQ" > wrote in message
.. .
> I have made coffee wine using JackKeller's recipe. I used close to a
pound
> of brown premium Mexican coffee that I grounded myself for one gallon of
> wine. There sure was a lot of cafeine in these beans and it fermented
> really well, so it didn't appear to me that it could inhibit fermentation.
> I also added some orange zest to give it a little 'café brûlot' flavor. A
> friend of mine who's a chef told me it's outstanding to marinate pork.
>
> Marc
> Québec
>
>
> "Ray Calvert" > a écrit dans le message de
> t...
> >
> > "Steve Peek" > wrote in message
> > nk.net...
> > > Don't know whether it will degrade or not (probably not), but it can
> > > inhibit fermentation. It's much better to add the coffee in the
> secondary.
> > > Steve
> >
> > Just a curiosity question. If cafine could inhimit fermentation, would
it
> > be better to add it during bulk aging rather than during any stage of
> > fermentation? After all coffee is not going to add any fermentables,
only
> > flavor.
> >
> >
>
>

Coffee, caffeine and fermentation
 

I was meaning that the end product will contain must from about 50g of coffee per 750ml bottle :)

Jim

"M Lawson" > wrote in message ...
>
> "jim" > wrote in message
> ...
>> I have just started a coffee mead. The must was made using quite a lot
> of ground coffee, about 50g per bottle. It
>> occurred to me, now that I have started it, that if the caffeine does not
> degrade as part of the fermentation it will
>> quite an 'exciting' wine, heh heh.
>>
>> Does anyone have any idea whether caffeine is degraded during
> fermentation?
>>
>> Many thanks, Jim
>>
>>
> What size bottles are you using?
>
>