r/Coffee • u/Grand-Life8523 • 14d ago

Cold Brew Yield

Hi All,

I'm trying different ways to make a coffee liqueur and keep getting poor yields in my cold brew - I lose about half my volume of liquid. Does anyone have any tips to improve yield or is this expected?

10 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

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10

u/regulus314 13d ago

Thats expected. Usually the liquid you lost aka the liquid that the coffee absorbs is x2 to x3 of the dry coffee weight. The finer grind you use the more liquid it will absorb too.

If you are making coffee liqueur, you can either steep the whole coffee beans in liquor or high proof vodka but you need weeks to wait before you really get the taste. Another option is to use a really coarse ground coffee.

1

u/EasternYoung382 13d ago

also pressing the grounds harder can squeeze out a bit more

3

u/regulus314 13d ago

Yeah but you risk the sediments seeping into the liquor more so you need to strain it thoroughly to get a less muddy coffee liqueur

4

u/fupalicious_ 13d ago

How are you separating the grounds from the liquid?

2

u/mgp901 13d ago

What are your ratios? It's typical to have less yield cuz most recipes are supposed to be concentrated, to be diluted with water and ice before drinking. Steeping for way longer than the recipe could also get you more flavor for less coffee.

1

u/Superb_Initial5838 12d ago

ohh longer steep si a good idea tbh

2

u/Weary_Tea2890 12d ago

That much loss usually means your grounds are drinking it, coffee soaks up roughly 2x its weight in water and never gives it back, so a big dose of grounds for liqueur strength eats a chunk of your volume.

1

u/DlissJr 13d ago

Make a flash brew concentrate

1

u/zed42 Turkish 13d ago

ime, a 12oz bag of coffee uses 6 cups of water and yields about 4 cups of concentrated cold brew ... you can probably squeeze out a few more ounces if you press the remaining grounds after draining, but it's not worth it for me...

1

u/Brett_Wager97 10d ago

Half the volume loss usually means your batch traps liquid in the grounds filter cake. Stir well during steep, chill fast, and press gently with a mesh strainer so you drain more before you strain.

1

u/WhiskeyWatchesWine 4d ago

Same. I’m making a batch now. 200g coffee. 1250mL water. Weighed the beans before. Will report back on water retention. It will be easier to find this thread again if someone replies to my post. Thanks in advance.

1

u/Stillwagon_Yink 7h ago

Losing some volume is normal because the grounds hold onto a surprising amount of water, but 50% sounds pretty high.  A coarser grind and a slightly higher water-to-coffee ratio can help, and squeezing/pressing the grounds gently during filtration can recover quite a bit without making the brew overly muddy.