Brewing a stout at home

Start with a dry stout

The family is wide: dry Irish stout, oatmeal stout, milk stout, export and imperial stouts. For a first batch we suggest a dry stout. It is low in alcohol (around 4 to 4.5% ABV), quick to ferment and ready in about three weeks. Every mistake shows, which makes it a good teacher. Our dry stout guide covers the style itself.

The grain bill

For 20 litres at an original gravity around 1.040 to 1.044:

• Pale ale malt: about 3 kg (roughly 70%).
• Flaked barley: about 0.4 kg (around 10%) for body and a creamy head.
• Roasted barley: about 0.4 kg (around 10%). This is the signature grain.

Roasted barley is unmalted barley roasted very dark. It gives the dry, coffee-like bite of a classic stout. Black malt is harsher and more acrid. Chocolate malt is softer and rounder. Our roasted malts guide explains the differences properly.

The small percentages are deceptive. Ten percent roasted barley is plenty. Push it to 15 or 20% and the beer turns burnt and astringent.

Bitterness and hops

Aim for about 30 to 40 IBU from a single bittering addition at the start of the boil. Any clean bittering hop works. Late aroma hops get lost behind the roast, so most brewers skip them.

Roast and hop bitterness add together on the palate. If the beer tastes harsh, it is usually because both were pushed. Lower one of them rather than both.

Water: where Indian brewers have an advantage

Dark malts are acidic, so they pull mash pH down. A pale beer brewed on hard, alkaline borewell water often ends up with a mash pH that is too high, which makes it dull and astringent. In a stout, that same alkalinity balances the roast and keeps the mash near the 5.2 to 5.6 range you want.

So if your water is too hard for a crisp lager, try a stout before you buy a filter. Remove chlorine either way (a Campden tablet or carbon filter does it). If your water is very soft, such as reverse osmosis water, the stout can turn sharp and thin. Adding some calcium carbonate or baking soda helps there. Our brewing water basics guide explains how to read a water report.

Working out exactly how much to add from a report is where many home brewers get stuck. It takes a bit of chemistry the first few times.

Mash, boil and ferment

Crush the grain normally. There is no need to mill the dark grains finer; they give up colour and flavour easily.

Mash at 66 to 67 °C for an hour. Some brewers add the roasted barley only for the last 15 minutes of the mash to soften the harsh edge. It is worth trying on your second batch.

Boil for 60 minutes, chill and pitch an English ale yeast at around 18 °C. Hold it there for the first few days. English strains leave a little fruit and a soft finish, which suits the roast. A clean American ale yeast gives a sharper, drier stout. Both are correct, so pick the one you prefer to drink. A dry stout should finish around 1.010 to 1.012. It does not need long conditioning. It is at its best within a couple of months.

Oats, lactose and other variations

Once the dry stout is right, the variations are small changes.

• Oatmeal stout: swap the flaked barley for 0.5 to 1 kg of rolled or flaked oats and mash a degree warmer. Silkier, rounder.
• Milk stout: add about 0.5 kg of lactose in the last 10 minutes of the boil. Ale yeast cannot ferment lactose, so it stays as sweetness and body.
• Stronger stouts: raise the base malt and the bitterness together. Give the beer more time.

Note that lactose is milk sugar. Anyone who is lactose intolerant or avoids dairy needs to know it is there. Label your bottles. Our milk and oatmeal stout guide covers both styles in more depth.

Serving

Serve at around 10 to 13 °C, cooler than room temperature but warmer than a lager. Ice cold hides the roast. Pour it with a firm head; the flaked barley helps it hold. Stout is a good match for rich food: try it with a mutton rogan josh, a plate of grilled meat or a chocolate dessert.

Common questions

Why does my stout taste burnt?

Too much dark malt, too much black malt in place of roasted barley, or very soft water that let mash pH fall too low. Keep roasted grain around 10% and check your water.

Can I brew a stout without roasted barley?

Yes. Chocolate malt makes a softer stout and black malt a sharper one. It will not taste like a classic dry Irish stout, but plenty of good porters and stouts are built this way.

Does a stout need to age?

A low-strength dry stout is best fresh, within a couple of months. Strong imperial stouts benefit from several months of conditioning.