Coffee Stout Craft Beer
intro
Rich, roasty homebrewed coffee stout layered with notes of dark chocolate, cold brew, and caramel, smooth enough for casual sipping and bold enough for dedicated craft beer fans.
Ingredients
Steps
Sanitize Brewing Equipment
First, mix 1 tablespoon no-rinse sanitizer with 1 gallon of cool water in the brew kettle. Submerge the stirring spoon, strainer, auto-siphon, fermentation carboy, airlock, rubber stopper, and beer bottles in the solution for 60 seconds, then spray all surfaces that will touch cooled beer with sanitizer. Allow gear to air dry completely; no residual sanitizer suds should be visible. This step prevents off-flavors and bacterial contamination.
Steep Roasted Barley Grains
Fill the brew kettle with 1 gallon of cool filtered water, add brewing salts, and place over medium heat. Place roasted barley grains in the fine-mesh strainer, and submerge in the water once it reaches 150°F (66°C). Hold the temperature steady at 150-155°F for 20 minutes, then remove the grain strainer, allowing all liquid to drain back into the kettle. The water will turn a deep, dark mahogany color as the grains steep.
Boil the Wort Base
Turn the induction burner to high to bring the steeped grain water to a rolling, gentle boil (212°F / 100°C at sea level). Once boiling, slowly stir in all of the dark liquid malt extract with the long stainless steel spoon, stirring constantly until fully dissolved to prevent burning on the bottom of the kettle. Once dissolved, return the wort to a steady rolling boil, being careful to avoid boilovers.
Add Hops on Schedule
Once the wort returns to a steady boil after adding malt, set a timer for 60 minutes. Add 0.75 oz of Cascade hop pellets at the start of the 60-minute boil for balanced bitterness. Add the remaining 0.25 oz of Cascade hops during the last 5 minutes of the boil for bright, citrusy aroma. Keep the boil gentle, adjusting heat as needed to prevent foam from boiling over the kettle edge. The wort will darken slightly and develop a rich, hoppy aroma as it boils.
Cool Wort and Pitch Yeast
After the 60-minute boil is complete, turn off the heat. Place the lid on the kettle and set it in an ice bath in a clean sink until the wort cools to exactly 70°F (21°C), measured with the digital instant-read thermometer (this takes approximately 20 minutes). Pour the cooled wort through the fine-mesh strainer into the sanitized glass carboy, then sprinkle the entire packet of dry English ale yeast evenly over the wort surface. Seal the carboy with the sanitized rubber stopper and airlock, filling the airlock halfway with sanitizer solution.
Infuse Coffee for Flavor
After 3 days of primary fermentation at a steady 65-70°F (18-21°C), when vigorous bubbling in the airlock slows to 1 bubble every 30 seconds, add the coarsely crushed coffee beans directly to the carboy through the neck (no need to strain immediately). Allow the coffee to infuse for 48 hours at the same steady temperature, which will extract smooth, roasty coffee notes without harsh bitter astringency.
Bottle and Carbonate Beer
After 48 hours of coffee infusion, siphon the finished beer into sanitized amber glass bottles, adding 2 oz of corn sugar (dissolved in ¼ cup boiled, cooled water) evenly across the batch to create natural carbonation. Seal bottles tightly with sanitized crown caps, and store them in a cool, dark 65-70°F space for 1 week to allow carbonation to develop. After 1 week, move bottles to the refrigerator to chill for 24 hours before serving.
Pour and Enjoy Stout
Remove chilled bottles from the refrigerator, crack the cap, and pour slowly into the clear heavy-base pint glass held at a 45-degree angle, tilting the glass upright as you pour to build a 1-inch thick creamy tan head. Serve immediately, while cold and carbonated.
Tips
2.Sanitize every single surface that will touch wort once it drops below 160°F. Wild yeast and bacteria present on un-sanitized gear can create sour, vinegary off-flavors that ruin an entire batch; no-rinse brewing sanitizer is food-safe and leaves no aftertaste, so no post-sanitizing rinse is required.
3.Measure priming corn sugar exactly using the digital scale, rather than estimating. Too much sugar creates over-pressurized bottles that can gush or even crack when opened, while too little sugar results in flat, lifeless stout with no signature creamy tan head.
OMG this coffee stout recipe is a total game changer! I brought my first batch to a neighborhood potluck last weekend and everyone was begging for the recipe. The cold brew addition hits so smooth, no weird bitter aftertaste like some store-bought stouts I’ve tried. Only note is I used a medium roast from my local roaster in Denver and it came out chef’s kiss.
SO good! I was nervous to try homebrewing for the first time because I thought it’d be way too complicated, but the step-by-step for the boil was so easy to follow. The finished stout has this perfect rich coffee note that pairs amazing with chocolate chip cookies. My husband is already asking when we’re making a second batch.
Made this for my husband’s birthday camping trip and all the guys in his friend group went crazy for it! I was worried the coffee flavor would be too strong for people who don’t drink black coffee, but it was mellow enough that even my sister who only drinks sweet lattes had a second glass. Will absolutely be adding this to our regular homebrew rotation.
Solid recipe, but I will say I let my conditioning go an extra week past the 2 week mark and it came out even smoother. The initial 2 week version was good, but that extra week let the coffee and roasted malt flavors meld so much better. Don’t rush the conditioning step, trust me!
Help! I did the boil exactly as written, but when I checked my airlock after 24 hours there’s no bubbling. Did I kill my yeast? I’m so stressed, I dropped a pretty penny on the coffee beans for this and I really don’t want to dump the whole batch.
Game changer for weekend cookouts! I served this on tap at our last taco night and it paired so well with the spicy chorizo tacos I made. The roasty, slightly coffee bitter notes cut through the grease and spice perfectly. Even my cousin who only drinks light lagers said he’d drink this again.
Wait a second, can I use decaf coffee for this? I love stouts but I’m super sensitive to caffeine, so if I drink regular coffee after 2pm I’m up half the night. Would swapping in a good decaf dark roast mess with the flavor at all?
My kids loved helping me measure out the malt and sanitize the equipment for this! Wait, no — obviously they didn’t taste any of the finished beer, obviously, but they thought the whole brewing process was like a fun kitchen science experiment. The final stout came out rich, perfectly coffee-forward, way better than the $12 a four pack stuff I grab at the grocery store.
This was way more cost effective than I thought it would be! I was dropping $15+ a six pack on good coffee stouts, and a whole 5 gallon batch of this cost me like $30 in supplies total? Absolute steal. I did add a tiny splash of vanilla bean at bottling and it gave it this nice creamy, latte-like note that was chef’s kiss.
Made this for our fantasy football draft party and it was a total hit. Everyone was raving about how smooth it was, no heavy boozy afterburn like some homemade stouts I’ve had in the past. I will say I used a dark French roast instead of medium, and it gave it an extra bold coffee kick that was perfect for early morning draft day sipping.
Quick question for anyone who’s made this — do I really need to sanitize every single piece of equipment that touches the wort? I know sanitation is big for homebrewing but I’m short on time tonight and was wondering if I could skip sanitizing the stirring spoon if I run it through the dishwasher first.
Wait, how long does this stay good for after conditioning? I love meal prepping drinks for the month and was wondering if I could make a double batch and keep it in my kegerator to have on hand for last minute guests. Would it stay fresh tasting for a month or two?
Tried this last month and was shocked how easy it was to get that professional craft beer taste at home. I brought a growler to my office happy hour and my coworkers thought I picked it up from the local brewery down the street. The balance of roasted malt and bright coffee is absolutely perfect, not too heavy, not too sweet. 10/10 will make again.