Double Coffee Stout

[dmonbeer]

My coffee stout brewed earlier in the year (posted Oct 25th 2009) was the equal best thing I have ever brewed & went down well with my drinking friends. The only fault I could find is that it thinned out a little with age. This time I've boosted the total malt content, the dark malt content & the coffee - hence double coffee stout.

Mash - 1 hour 15 mins, 20 litres, 55°c rising to 68°c over 25mins then kept at 68°c for an hour.

Pale malt 5.0 Kg
Crystal malt 600g
Roast barley 500g
Chocolate malt 200g
Black malt 200g

Boil - 1 hour 30mins

15g of Millenium hops (15% alpha acid) at start of boil
15g of Cascade hops (7% alpha acid) after 30 mins
20g of Cascade hops (4.6% alpha acid) after 50 mins
24g Cascade hops (4.6% alpha acid) after 1hour 10mins.

After the boil, as the wort was cooling I added a mug of extremely strong coffee (10 heaped teaspoons of ground coffee used).

Fermented using Muntons Gold dried yeast. Using the recipe formulator, the alcohol level should be around 6.4% & bitterness at 50 IBU.

Verdict on bottling: Due to my wife giving birth this was bottled by a friend, who said it tasted "good".

Verdict after 3 weeks: A little flat (my friend didn't prime the bottles) - needs a little more carbonation, this will come in time. A big liquorice & black malt flavour, with some coffee there too. Maybe a more earthy hop should have been used as the Cascade fresh citrusness doesn't quite go with the darker, burnt flavours. Maybe less of the darker malts should have been used too as these flavours dominate. Still, a good beer.

Verdict after 4 weeks: The carbonation level is almost where I want it now & any harshness from using a little much black malt has mellowed out. The Cascade hops aren't really noticable now. Will be truly great in another few weeks time.

[floydmeddler]

Firstly, well done on the baby!! Secondly, well done on the stout. I love coffee stout and am drinking one at the minute myself. I hopped with First Gold and regret it as it was citrusy. I recommend Target. Perfect for stouts.