How To Brew Coffee Stout

I’m Martin Keen from the Homebrew Challenge and I’m Martin Keen from Keen on Coffee. Hi, how’s it going?

And today I’m brewing a stout. Let’s make it a coffee stout, and to make it more interesting, I’m going to roast the beans in this popcorn maker. Let’s do it.

Now the way I’m going to start off making a coffee stout is just to make a regular stout. My grains right here,.. Thank you, Atlantic Brews Supply for crushing them up, measuring them out.

Already smelling good.

Uh, so let’s get these mashed in. We’re going to mash in at 152 Fahrenheit. That’s 67 Celsius. Okay. So yeah, very standard mash for this one. I’m going to run it for probably about an hour at 152(f).

Now like so many additions when it comes to beer, there are many ways that you can add coffee into your beer. You could add it right in at the mash bit like I did with my pumpkin beer.

You can add it into the boil and you can add it into the fermenter either prior to pitching the yeast or after the is finished working. As for what coffee to add, well, there are a lot of options for that as well.

So you could just brew a regular old cup of Joe and throw it in at some point, the point to keep in mind, there is that coffee does have oils in it, and those oils will start to affect head retention a little bit.

And also keep in mind that well, coffee is often quite bitter, so you might want to cut back the amount of hops you’re adding at the bittering stage to account for that.

Another option, which I think would be a really good one is to use cold brew coffee. Cold brew coffee generally is a little smoother. It has much less bitterness and will be a great addition into the beer.

To create cold brew coffee, you just simply steep coffee beans that are coarsly ground into water at room temperature for typically 16 to 18 hours. Then you could take that and add it in to your beer.

Then you could just kind of cheat and you could use a coffee extract. Things like this coffee concentrate provide a pretty smooth tasting coffee, again, very little bitterness. And you can just add this into the fermentor or even just take a drop or two and put it straight into a pint of beer.

But what method am I going to use today? Well, I am going to be adding my coffee at the very end of fermentation during cold crash. And I’m going to be throwing in a regular old cup of Joe.

The recipe for today’s beer is really based on an American Stout. So using primarily in American ingredients and just a little bit more on the hop side, then you would add in say a dry Irish Stout.

So looking for building a beer here around sort of 1.062 which is 6.3%, ABV.

The main basemalt that I’m using, in fact, the only basemalt is two row and that’s at 68%. And then I’m adding three specialty malts each at 8%. That’s Munich malt, chocolate malt, and then caramel 60.

And then like any good self-respecting stout. Very important. We have these two additional ingredients, flaked, barley, and roasted barley, both at 4%.

Now I’m going for an IBU here of around 47, just from hops, not from the coffee. And I’m going to get that by using, as my bittering hop Magnum. This is going to go in at the start of the boil, nice clean bittering hop. And then at 10 minutes and zero minutes, that has been, I’ll be adding in the cascade.

Oh, this thing’s in my way, okay. Yeast wise, 1056 Wyeast American ale is what I’m using, going to be fermenting at 68 Fahrenheit, 20 Celsius. I’m going to let the fermentation run its course. And when I get to the cold crash stage, that’s when we’ll revisit adding coffee.

Well, it’s been a month. The beer is well and truly fermented out of this stage and cold crashed as well. Now it’s time to add the coffee. Have in here, coffee that I roasted myself using the popcorn maker. It was an eventful process.

And now I’m going to brew some coffee from these beans and get it into the beer. Now, as for the amount of coffee to add, if you are brewing a five gallon batch, then I would be adding in 600 milliliters of brewed coffee.

Um, and I like to use a 16-1 ratio for my water to coffee beans. So 16 parts water to one part coffee. I brewed a three gallon batch. So I’m going to add in 320 milliliters of coffee, which works out at a 16-1 ratio of 20 grams.

Brewed and chilled. And given that the beer is already ready, I figured I’m just going to put this coffee straight into the keg and then rack the beer on top.

Well, if I’m tasting coffee stout, I need a coffee guy, you are a coffe guy. I like coffee too. Just as much as beer and thanks for having me back. Yeah.

Pleasure to have you back. Okay. So popcorn roasted, super curios to see how this turns out.

You did a pour over, right? Yeah. And then you put the resulting coffee in the keg and then transferred the beer on top of it. That’s it. Okay. I love it. Yeah.

Let’s give it a smell. Yeah, definitely smelled the, uh, the roasted malts, right? Yep. Uh, colors great. Nice and dark, looks the part. Yeah. I want to get into it. Yeah. Let’s get into it. Cheers.

There’s the coffee. Yeah. Yeah. But it’s not over the top. Yeah. It’s on the backend. Isn’t it? The coffee comes down that you swallow and then it’s like, oh yeah, there’s coffee in it. Yeah. That’s exactly right.

One thing I was concerned about was, uh, how much bitterness I’d be adding in. We were talking a bit earlier and you were saying, you’d like to, as you steep your coffee beans in the keg, which is more of a, sort of a cold brew kind of approach.

It’s kind of the way I do it is, uh, I mean you can always leave it in longer. Uh, so I put the whole, whole bean coffee, uh, in a muslin bag and put it in the keg and then just taste it, you know, after 12, 14, 16 hours.

And then pull the bag when I feel like it has enough coffee. Yeah. That’s, that’s a nice way to do it.

Um, so I was concerned that by putting in there just a cup of coffee, that I would be contributing more bitterness than I intended, but actually I’m not getting any sort of bitterness.

So if it wasn’t entirely obvious, I do have this coffee channel, uh, Keen on coffee. So if you want to see how I did roast these beans, check out that channel. I have the whole video there of how I attempted to use that popcorn maker to roast the beans.

But thank you very much for trying this beer. Yeah. Thanks for having me. Cheers.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Coffee Stout and How Does it Differ from Regular Stout?

Coffee stout is a type of stout beer that incorporates coffee flavors. Unlike a regular stout, which focuses on malty and sometimes chocolaty or caramel notes, a coffee stout adds an additional layer of complexity with the inclusion of coffee. This can be done in various ways, such as adding brewed coffee, coffee extract, or even cold brew coffee to the beer at different stages of the brewing process.

How Do You Add Coffee to a Stout Recipe?

There are multiple ways to add coffee to a stout recipe. You can introduce coffee during the mash, the boil, or even in the fermenter either before or after the yeast has finished working. Cold brew coffee can be a great addition as it is smoother and less bitter compared to regular brewed coffee.

What Types of Coffee Can Be Used in a Coffee Stout Beer?

The type of coffee used can vary based on personal preference. You can use a regular cup of Joe, cold brew coffee, or even coffee extract. It’s worth noting that coffee has oils that might affect the head retention of the beer, so this is something to consider when choosing your coffee.

How Do You Balance the Bitterness in a Coffee Beer Recipe?

Coffee is inherently bitter, and adding it to your beer can affect the overall bitterness. To balance this, you might want to adjust the amount of hops you add during the bittering stage. Another option is to use cold brew coffee, which is generally less bitter and smoother.

What is the Ideal Ratio of Coffee to Water for a Homebrew Coffee Stout?

A 16-1 ratio of water to coffee beans is suggested for brewing the coffee that will be added to the beer. For a five-gallon batch, around 600 milliliters of brewed coffee is recommended. This ratio ensures that the coffee flavor is present but not overpowering, allowing the other flavors in the stout to shine through.

Karl S

Lead marketer, brewer, dad, and husband. Pretty much an all-round awesome guy. I’ve been homebrewing for +20 yrs, an aspiring pro-brewer and micro brewery owner!