Espresso Stout

 

ESPRESSO STOUT

 

 

In the beginning, there was black beer. Dock workers, laborers, and masons all desired a post work beverage that had more to it than the traditional pub ales that they had been enjoying for generations. Brewers across Europe developed a darker, more robust style of ale for these men, and named it after those who drank it most: Porters. Some people wanted something even stronger, so stout was invented. 

Originally called “stout porter,” the stout was a heavier version of the porter and contained more alcohol, thus making it more stout than its cousin. The history of both black beers is intertwined in such a way that they seemed to grow up together throughout the 18^th and 19^th centuries. The most famous stout has always been brewed in Ireland, with Guinness leading the way. Founded in 1759, Guinness was originally a porter brewery but switched over to stouts in the 1770’s after seeing how popular they were with the Dublin working men. Guinness is now one of the most popular and recognized beer brands in the world as a stout-centric brewery. 

Guinness currently makes several iterations of its signature beverage including the classic draught, export, and extra stouts. What Guinness doesn’t make is adjunct stouts, such as oatmeal or coffee stouts. This coffee stout is a hybrid style containing elements of both heavy oatmeal stouts and coffee porters, incorporating flaked oats and fresh coffee. 

Many of the commercially available stouts have something else going on with them. As a style, they are easily aged in barrels and take the flavor of the barrel nicely. Bourbon barrel aged stouts are becoming more and more popular, as are milk or pastry stouts. Lactose additions during the boil stage will add a milky sweetness and adds to the body of the beer without boosting the alcohol content. That added body increases the traditional silky mouthfeel stouts are known for. Pastry stouts will add cocoa or vanilla blend with the natural coffee flavors of the beer to create the sense of liquid dessert in a can. 

Stouts are dark. Predominantly black in color, some will show red, magenta, or brown hues when held up to a light source. A white or beige head is expected, with the shades impacted by any adjunct or a bolder malt bill. Specialty malts in stouts are mostly black, including Roasted Barley and Black Patent (or Black Malt) which give stouts their famous color and roasted flavor profile, as well as Dextrine Malt (also known as CaraFoam or CaraPils) which works with head retention without adding any real color or flavor to the beer. Many times a Caramel Malt will be included to add some malty sweetness to the beer, thereby cutting the heavy bitter chocolate notes given by the darker malts.

 Adjunct stouts are generally lightly hopped. Many times the hops used are to highlight the roasty, earthy flavors provided by the malts and to “dry” the beer out a little. In coffee stouts, this light hopping, especially with traditional English hops, works to bring out the flavor tones found in the coffee beans. The beans will also give off a small amount of caffeine, but not enough to give you the jolt of a cup of actual coffee. In most coffee stouts, the alcohol content balances out the caffeine content, however this one has slightly more than average, yet still less than an afternoon Joe.

We do two coffee additions. The first is a steeping of 8 ounces of whole beans after the beer is taken off the heat. Let the beans soak in the hot beer for about 15 minutes, and then remove them. It's easiest to do this by keeping them in a hop sock or using a spider so the beans don't float all over the place and become a problem. The second addition is in secondary fermentation. Grind the remaining beans, and place them into several muslin bags, and incorporate them into the secondary stage. Using a widemouth fermenter is beneficial here because the grounds will expand. The expanded grounds in the bags causes a giant mess when trying to remove them from a standard carboy. Definitely don't let them float freely. Those little buggers get everywhere. You can keep the grounds in secondary as long as you like, but we prefer a week minimum to get the most out of the coffee as is possible. 

 

OUR RECIPE

10 lbs 2-row Pale Ale Malt
½ lb Roasted Barley
1 ½ lb Black Malt
1/4 lb CaraFoam
¼ lb 60L Caramel Malt
1/8 lb Chocolate Malt
2 lb Flaked Barley

2 oz East Kent Golding Hops

S-04 Ale Yeast

2 ½ tsp Calcium Carbonate (CaHCo3) 
16 oz Absolute Bearing Sumatra coffee beans

Grains Used

2-Row Pale Ale Malt: A traditional American base malt, this won’t impart too much color or flavor. It is a clean, crisp malt that works well with specialty grains and most beer styles. American varieties are generally less starchy and lighter in color than their English counterparts and less flavorful as Munich or Pilsen base malts. 

Black Malt: Black malt will add dark black colors as well as roasted and bitter flavors to beer. It will impart some charcoal and black coffee aromas to stouts and porters. Black malt should be used with caution as the angular flavors can overpower a beer with astringent characteristics that may not be welcome. 

CaraFoam: Also known as Dextrine Malt or CaraPils, this addition is to increase head retention in your beer. CaraFoam can be used in any beer style as it gives little to no color, flavor, or aroma to a brew.

Roasted Barley: A classic dark malt, roasted barley adds rich dark hues with highlights of magenta and red to stouts and porters. It is heavy on the roast flavor and gives a fresh coffee aromatic characteristic in beer. Roasted barley is among the only widely used specialty grains that are unmalted. 

60L Caramel Malt: Caramel malts are the most commonly used specialty malts. Rated on a Lovibond Scale for color (L) the 60L is right in the middle of the pack. The higher the Lovibond number is on these malts, the darker they are. The lightest will add very little color and some faint sugary sweetness, while the darkest will give dark caramel, prune, and raisin flavors while adding dark red color to the beer. 60L is right in the middle, providing a warm malty sweetness and enough red coloration to accent a pint. 

Chocolate Malt: Despite its tasty name, chocolate malt does NOT taste like chocolate. In fact it’s named for the warm chocolate colors that it brings to a beer. It also adds some nutty aromas and toast flavoring.

Flaked Barley: Flaked barley is added to stouts to create a bigger, heavier beer without adding any extra alcohol or color. Flaked grains are one of the key differences between stouts and porters, along with a higher ABV and more robust flavor. Flaked barley adds silky texture and warm, smooth mouthfeel to a beer and can be used liberally in stouts.

 

Hops Used

East Kent Golding: The quintessential English hop variety, East Kent Golding was developed in the 18^th century as a generic hop for all English and Irish ales. The low Alpha Acid brings just enough bitterness to the beer while retaining an earthy, sweet, rustic flavor profile and floral aromatic characteristic. Homebrewers love this hop for its versatility and heartiness.

 

Yeast Used

SafALE S-04: An English ale strain of dry yeast, S-04 gives the beer plenty of room to work. This yeast won’t overpower the beer with bready content, rather it lets the malts and hops come to the forefront. Naturally aggressive, this yeast will ferment vigorously for 48-72 hours, quickly petering out over the next few days. The tight sediment base creates a clean beer with traditional English ale characteristics. A blow off tube and bucket or extra head space is recommended during primary fermentation as the powerful action can exceed the capacity of a traditional carboy.

 

Adjuncts Used

Chalk: Chalk, or calcium carbonate (CaHCo3) is added to the mash water, before adding cracked grains, to lower the natural acids occurring in dark malts as well as aiding in the clarification of the final beer.

Coffee: Medium roast coffee has a nice balance of bitterness and roast flavor and that distinct coffee bite the drink is known for. Coffee added to the boil will add some caffeine, along with flavor and aroma, while cold steeped coffee grounds added to secondary fermentation will do similar things over a longer period of time. There isn’t much caffeine in a coffee stout, less than ½ cup of coffee per pint. However, in this recipe, there is slightly more than usual due to the addition in secondary fermentation.