Coffee and Oatmeal stout Brewing
Coffee and Oatmeal stouts are frequently referred to as breakfast stouts. The addition of oatmeal to the grist doesnt really add any flavour, what it does bring to the beer is a lovely thick, creamy, mouth feel. I’ve brewed with coffee a couple of times before also and tried different techniques with it but my favourite way to get the right kind of coffee flavour is by using a good quality coffee bean, grinding it fresh and making fresh espresso which can be added late when fermentation as halted. I’ve also found that good quality coffee beans tend to produce coffee that is super smooth and less bitter… you dont really want to be contributing any bitterness, leave that to the bittering hops.
Recipe overview
I’ve been using a Grainfather for over a year now and can’t recommend it enough. So the batch size is based on the max that can take.
Batch Size: 25 L Losses: 2 L Boil Time: 60 mins
OG: 1.051 FG: 1.013 ABV: 5.1 % IBU: 38.1 EBC: 62.1
Mash ingredients
I use maris otter as the base malt in this, a good helping of munich malt will help round out the malt flavour. Half a KG of rolled outs should be sufficient for mouth feel. Best to use the quick cook kind as they tend to do better in the mash as a result of being slightly processed. I like to go for about 10 % roasted grain in my stouts, and here its 50/50 chocolate malt and roasted barley. Finally, a touch of cara malt for sweetness, though its very slight here.
| Ingredient | Amount | Percentage | EBC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maris Otter | 3.50 kg | 60 % | 7.9 |
| Munich | 1.00 kg | 17 % | 15.0 |
| Rolled Oats | 0.50 kg | 9 % | 2.8 |
| Chocolate malt | 0.30 kg | 5 % | 900.7 |
| Roasted Barley | 0.30 kg | 5 % | 1,301.0 |
| Cara | 0.20 kg | 3 % | 34.5 |
Hops
For hops, I simply want bitterness to land between 35 - 40 IBUs so no need for aroma or any late hopping. It’ll let the roasted grains and coffee aroma shine through.
| Hop | Amount | Percentage | AA | IBU |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinook | 35 g | 100 % | 12.9 | 38.1 |
Yeast
US-05 is my goto yeast, and its perfect for this beer due to it not overly attenuating.
| Yeast | Amount | Attenuation |
|---|---|---|
| Safale American US-05 | 1 packets | 76.5 % |
Extras
10 espressos added after fermentation has halted prior to kegging/bottling.
Mash
Single infusion mash at 68 °C for 60 mins. Mash out at 75 degrees.
Fermentation
18 °C for about 10 days until gravity readings are steady over 2 days (as normal).
Optionally serve on nitro tap for added smoothness.