Breakfast Stout recipe - your input requested.

I want to make a full-bodied, low to moderate gravity oatmeal-coffee stout and here's what I came up with.

my main questions and uncertainty's are regarding the roast/sweet levels.

I want some roastiness there, but is 1 full lb of roasted barley too much for this beer? Will this be too bitter and harsh without any crystal? (I didn't add any crystal at all because I want zero dark fruit notes in this beer. I'm sick of my stouts reminding me of cherries.)

Finally, I was thinking of adding .5 lbs of lactose in to sort of "cream" the coffee in this breakfast beer. would that add or detract from the overall beer here. thanks, as always, for your input HBT!

breakfast stout

Batch Size: 5.00 gal

Amount Item Type % or IBU
6.50 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 65.0 %
1.50 lb Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 15.0 %
1.00 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 10.0 %
0.50 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 5.0 %
0.50 lb Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 5.0 %
1.00 oz Williamette [5.50%] (60 min) Hops 20.0 IBU
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (30 min) Hops 7.0 IBU
4.00 oz Coffee Beans (Secondary 4.0 days) Misc
1 Pkgs SafAle English Ale (DCL Yeast #S-04) Yeast-Ale


Est Original Gravity: 1.050 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.8 %
Bitterness: 27.0 IBU
Est Color: 35.5 SRM

oh, and the oats were toasted and have been chilling for a few weeks now...

With addition of the chocolate malt and coffee I'd say you could take the roast barley down a bit, to .75 lbs is as low as I would go. IMO it would definitely be good to leave out the crystal malt, and the addition of a small amount of lactose could really round this beer out. Now to the coffee, do you know how you will add this? I would recommend bringing and adequate amount of water up to a boil, then putting it in a french press and setting it in the fridge to chill overnight before adding to your secondary.

bbrim said:

With addition of the chocolate malt and coffee I'd say you could take the roast barley down a bit, to .75 lbs is as low as I would go. IMO it would definitely be good to leave out the crystal malt, and the addition of a small amount of lactose could really round this beer out. Now to the coffee, do you know how you will add this? I would recommend bringing and adequate amount of water up to a boil, then putting it in a french press and setting it in the fridge to chill overnight before adding to your secondary.

Click to expand...

Well, that's how I've added the coffee before minus the boiling water (I cold-pressed it)....but I was reading the notes other people have left about a founders breakfast stout recipe and apparently they use 1/3lb of whole beans in the secondary. I thought I would give that a try this time.

You'll have to post the results. This recipe sounds great, I may have to steal it from you.

Find Claphamsa or Cugel. I was down at Clap's place when they were brewing a great coffee oatmeal chocolate stout that day, and used real chocolate instead of just the malt.

Also note: coffee grinds + flameout = clogged CFC.

bbrim said:

You'll have to post the results. This recipe sounds great, I may have to steal it from you.

Click to expand...

By all means. But you have to post up how it turns out. I'll be brewing this on Monday or Tuesday. :rockin:

Wow I was looking for a coffee stout recipe for this weekend. I'm trying that too. I know it's stealing but I'm lazy today.

So, I'm brewing this tomorrow. I'm still wrestling with the amount of RB, though. Any last thoughts on how much to use? I crushed .75 lbs but could easily add more. I want this beer to be creamy and oat-y without a lot of sweetness in order to show off the flavor, texture and blunting effect of the oats.....then on with some coffee and cream (.5 lb lactose)!

Also, I decided to find some coffee beans I like and cold press 5 oz beans in some sterile water instead of the using straight beans. I've been reading up and I guess that method can impart a lot of head killing oils to the beer. cold-pressing takes care of some of them I guess.

Just got done brewing an oatmeal stout with brown sugar, cinnamon, maple syrup, and lactose. It smelled exactly like French Toast. Gonna add a lil more maple syrup in the secondary and put some vanilla in the bottling bucket. Gonna be intense!