Brew a Delicious Cup of Cold Brew Coffee with a Mini Keg System

Do you love drinking cold brew but the hassle of making cold brew coffee always seemed like too much work? Or are you just looking to take your cold brew to the next level?  Then we’ve got you covered with ouriKegger 2.0 mini keg systems, and with the help of this handy blog we can teach you how to brew the perfect, smooth, rich and creamy cup of cold brew coffee from the comfort of your home.

So get ready to impress your taste buds (and friends) with a delicious cup of cold brew and read on!

Ingredients and Equipment:

Okay, so we know what we’re going to serve the cold brew coffee from, but what are we going to make it in and what ingredients are we going to use?

If you’re just making a small amount then just about any sealable container will do, but if you’re looking to really step up your game and make a large amount then we do have a handy dandycoffee bucket and (even afull coffee bucket and keg package)ready to go.

Another piece of equipment to think about is your filter and there’s a couple of different options here. The easiest is areusable nylon coffee filter bag  of course a large cost up front, but being reusable means you’ll get a lot more use and life out of them in the long run versus a paper or single use version. You can also absolutely use normal paper coffee filters or muslin/nylon cloths. The argument for using a bag over just a normal coffee filter definitely shows itself when it comes to filter, the bag you can easily remove from your cold brew with minimal mess versus having to carefully pour your cold brew into the filter while transferring into the keg.

Ingredient wise, of course for the best results you’re going to want to use the best quality coffee. Freshly roasted ethically sourced coffee beans that you can grind yourself will always elevate your game, but as long as you’re using coarsely ground coffee that you enjoy you can’t go wrong.

Grinding and Ratio for your coffee:

As mentioned above, the best results come from using freshly roasted beans and grinding them to a coarse consistency, as this allows for optimal extraction of the flavours we want without the bitterness that can come from over-extraction. Not only that, but a coarser grind is easier to filter with as too fine could cause the coffee grinds to pass through the filter and into your coffee which nobody wants. A good go to for your coffee-to-water ratio is 1:4, obviously you can adjust to your preference, taste and strength but it's a solid starting point!

Once you’ve got it all measured out you can add your coffee grounds directly to your container or if you’re using a filter bag you can add it into the bag and then add it to your brewing vessel.

Adding Cold Water and Brewing:

After adding your coffee grounds to your brewing vessel it’s time to cover them with cold, preferably filtered water. But water straight from the tap is a-okay as long as it’s drinkable! Once you’ve added the water gently stir the mixture to make sure everything is wet and submerged and to ensure an even extraction.  Once you’re happy that everything is submerged and mixed, seal your container and place it in your fridge or a cool, dark place and leave it to steep and brew for 12-24 hours. The extended steeping time allows for a smooth and more flavourful cold brew extraction.

Transfer Cold Brew to your iKegger Mini Keg: 

Once your cold brew coffee is ready it’s time to add it to your mini keg! If you’ve used a filter bag you can easily remove the bag and pour your cold brew directly into your clean and santisied keg, otherwise carefully pour your cold brew through a coffee filter or muslin cloth (laying them over a funnel that is placed in the opening of your keg helps!), being careful to avoid transferring any coffee grounds. Make sure to leave around 800ml of space at the top of your keg for the best possible nitrogen infusion. Securely close your keg to keep it fresh and to prevent any leakage.

Get your Nitrogen: 

You’ve got your cold brew in your keg and now it’s time to infuse it with nitrogen and get it all creamy and delicious. To do this you’ll need anitrogen source. To get the best nitrogen absorption as a general rule you would use 1 x 2g nitrogen gas bulb per 2L of cold brew coffee. Once you’ve injected the nitrogen, with the help of a regulator, into your cold brew, shake your mini keg to fully absorb the nitrogen into the liquid! The reason for doing this is that the gas will create bubbles within the liquid letting an even greater surface area come into contact with the gas which will help create a wonderful cascading effect, perfectly infusing the coffee with tiny nitrogen bubbles.

Drink and enjoy:

After letting your now nitrogen infused cold brew to chill for a few more hours (or overnight for the best results) it’s ready to be drunk! Serve your delicious cold brew directly from the keg using ourikegger 2.0 tap system. All your hard work and waiting will be rewarded with a smooth, creamy, delicious and perfect velvety textured cold brew coffee right at home!

What’s next? Experimenting of course!

The best part of making cold brew coffee at home is that you can make it however you want to drink it. Consider experimenting with different flavours, be it with just milk or even different flavoured syrup or infusing spices like cinnamon or vanilla into your coffee as well. The versatility of the iKegger mini kegs means you can try as many different combinations of flavours as you want with ease. 

And if you want to make your cold brew coffee a little more adult, why not consider using it as a base for an espresso martini? Throw a little vodka, coffee liqueur and simple syrup, add nitrogen and just like that you have a simple and tasty espresso martini! We even have an iKegger espresso martini packages to get you started.

Or if you even want to skip the wait for your cold brew coffee to be ready, we’ve got you covered and havecold brew concentrate that’s ready to use, we won't tell anyone.

Following the steps above, with the help of the iKegger mini keg system, you will be able to unlock a brand new world of rich, smooth and delicious cold brew coffee. So why not wow your taste buds and friends by giving it a go and elevate your coffee experience and enjoy the wonderful flavour of cold brew coffee at home!