Tag Archives: stout

Black Hole American Stout

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I was recently re-introduced to the American stout style, which harkens back to the early days of craft beer and homebrewing. I feel like this variety of stout was somewhat left in the dust after the rise (and decline) of barrel aged imperial stouts, and these kinds of now-neglected classic craft styles are always enjoyable for me. Relative to other stouts, American stouts are characterized by being fairly robust in body and also fairly bitter, often accentuated by dark grains to amp up the roastiness. Big doses of hops particularly set them apart from their English counterparts.

I have only brewed this style once in the past, and surprisingly few recipes are available. As before, I used a clone recipe for Sierra Nevada’s Stout from the BYO Big Book of Clone Recipes. Last time I boosted the 2-row with Maris Otter, but this time around I stuck closer to the recipe with Munich malt. The supporting grains were a bit different from the original recipe, owing to what I had on hand, but it’s still in the general ballpark. I was low on crystal 60 and roasted barley, relative to the proportions in the original recipe, so I subbed in a bit of crystal 80 and black malt instead, and increased the chocolate malt by a small percentage. Because we’re in the thick of summer, I opted to use Lutra kveik; this particular strain has a reputation for fermenting pretty cleanly. The recipe title is because this beer is incredibly dark, even by the standards of this style; no light can escape!

Recipe Name

  • 4 lb. 6 oz. 2-row pale malt (Rahr)
  • 1 lb. 4 oz. Barke Munich malt (Weyermann)
  • 6 oz. black malt (Simpsons)
  • 4 oz. Carafa Special II malt (Weyermann)
  • 4 oz. caramel 80L malt (Briess)
  • 4 oz. chocolate malt (Bairds)
  • 4 oz. crystal 60 malt (Great Western)
  • 3 oz. roast barley (Crisp)
  • 0.6 oz. Magnum hop pellets (12.0% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 0.5 oz. Cascade hop pellets (5.5% alpha), 10 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Northern Brewer hop pellets (8.5% alpha), 10 minute whirlpool at 194°
  • 1 pkg. Lutra Kveik (dried; Omega OYL-071DRY)

Target Parameters

  • 60 minute infusion mash, 154°, full volume mash
  • 1.057 o.g., 1.013 f.g., 5.9% abv, 61 IBU, 64 SRM
  • Claremont tap water, with Campden tablet to remove chloramines
  • 2.75 gallon batch

Procedure

  • I heated 4.25 gallons of Claremont tap water to 160°, and added the grains. I held the mash at 154°, with recirculation, for 60 minutes, before raising the mash to 168° for a 10 minute mash-out. Then, I pulled the grains and brought the kettle to a boil.
  • In total, I collected 3.76 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.047, for 68 percent mash efficiency.
  • I boiled for 60 minutes, adding hops and finings per the recipe. After the boil, I turned off the heat, chilled to 194°, and whirlpooled for 10 minutes before chilling down to 95°.
  • I transferred the wort to the fermenter, and pitched the Lutra. I kept the fermenter in the warmest room in our house, which was around 90° during the daytime.
  • I brewed the beer on 7 August 2026. Starting gravity was 1.060.
  • Active signs of fermentation kicked off within an hour(!), and all bubbling through the airlock had ceased within two days. I left it for a few more days to finish up.
  • The beer had a final gravity of 1.020, for 5.2% abv. I kegged the beer on 12 August 2026, with 2.5 oz. of priming sugar.
  • The beer was moved on tap on 30 August 2026. Carbonation levels were perfect from the start!

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Inky black beer, with a reasonably persistent deep tan-colored head, which leaves a tiny bit of lacing on the glass.
  • Aroma
    • Dark chocolate and creamy coffee malt aroma at a medium-high level. Not much for yeast or hop aroma.
  • Flavor
    • Espresso-like dark maltiness and roast character at a medium-high level, with dark caramel at a low level. Very bitter, with a resiny quality. Slight malt sweetness.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium body, moderate carbonation, slightly dry finish. Mouthfeel has a bit of pleasant creaminess.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • This is a great beer, and quite pleasing as my second attempt at the style. The previous version was perhaps a touch more to my liking, especially in the subtle hop and malt characters. For future brews, I would probably go back to my previous recipe with its particular malt formulation and hop selection. I like a resiny hop character for this style, and I think the Columbus+Cascade combination is just a bit better than the Magnum+Cascade+Northern Brewer combo.
  • Overall
    • 8/10

Mountain Town Stout

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After 17 years of serious brewing with dozens (hundreds?) of batches under my belt, I’m sometimes amazed by unexpected gaps in my brewing experience. I’ve made stouts of all varieties–oatmeal, imperial, Irish, milk, and more–but never a classic American stout! The old standards from the late 1990s and early 2000s increasingly appeal to me, because I enjoy drinking them but they are nigh impossible to find nowadays. American stout is squarely in that category. Looking through my recipe books, I was somewhat shocked by how few recipes there are for American stouts. They’re mostly the substyles cited above–oatmeal, Irish, imperial, etc. It makes me wonder if my remembrance of a golden age of American stout was exaggerated through the prism of nostalgia?

From the BYO Big Book of Clone Recipes, I found a recipe emulating the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company Stout, and it was exactly what I wanted. My biggest change was to aim for a 3 gallon batch, because I wasn’t certain if I wanted 5 gallons of such a “heavy” beer. I also made some small ingredient substitutions, using Maris Otter instead of the Munich malt in the original recipe, and hopping with Columbus and Cascade (versus Bravo, Cascade, and Yakima Goldings in the original).

Mountain Town Stout

  • 5 lb. 2-row pale malt (Rahr)
  • 1.5 lb. Maris Otter pale ale malt (Thomas Fawcett)
  • 0.5 lb. 60L caramel malt (Briess)
  • 5 oz. Carafa Special II malt (Weyermann)
  • 5 oz. roasted barley (Crisp)
  • 3 oz. 2-row black malt (Briess)
  • 3 oz. chocolate malt (Bairds)
  • 0.5 oz. Columbus hop pellets (15.6% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Cascade whole hops (4.5% alpha), 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Cascade whole hops (4.5% alpha), 1 minute whirlpool
  • 1 pkg. American West Coast Ale yeast (Lallemand BRY-97)

Target Parameters

  • 60 minute infusion mash, 152°, full volume mash
  • 1.061 o.g., 1.013 f.g., 6.4% abv, 53 IBU, 51 SRM
  • Claremont tap water, adjusted with Campden tablet
  • 3 gallon batch

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 4.6 gallons of water, heated to 158°, and then held the mash with recirculation at 152° for 60 minutes.
  • After the full 60 minute mash, I heated the mash to 168° for a 10 minute mash-out rest. Then, I pulled the grains and brought the runnings to a boil.
  • In total, I collected 4 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.051, for 68% mash efficiency.
  • Once the runnings were boiling, I added hops and finings per the recipe. After a 60 minute boil, I turned off the heat, whirlpooled the Cascade hops, and began the chill.
  • Once the wort was chilled to around 80°, I transferred it to the fermenter and then chilled the rest of the way down to 60° before pitching the yeast.
  • I brewed this beer on 6 September 2025. Starting gravity was 1.063.
  • I let the beer free rise to 66° for the main bit of fermentation, pulling the fermenter to ambient on 13 September 2025.
  • I kegged the beer on 17 September 2025. Final gravity was 1.021, for 5.6% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • A deep, almost inky black beer, with a ridiculously persistent and creamy brown head.
  • Aroma
    • Notes of espresso and dark chocolate malt at a medium-high level; medium malty aroma also. Not much for hops or yeast aroma.
  • Flavor
    • High levels of rich dark coffee and chocolate at the forefront of the flavor. Bitterness is at a medium-high level, with a resiny quality. This is an intense (and flavorful) beer!
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium rich body, medium carbonation. Rich, slightly biting finish.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • Absolutely! This is an intensely flavored beer; classic “American craft beer” in all senses. It is surprisingly drinkable (unlike, say, an imperial stout), but not in a casual way. I am enjoying this one!
    • As a side note, the final gravity was 1.021, versus a BeerSmith prediction of 1.013. However, the recipe book claimed 1.020. I’ve noted that BeerSmith tends to do very poorly on estimating final gravity for beers with lots of non-fermentable malt sugars (~19% of the grist in this case).
  • Overall
    • 10/10

Eagle Face Oatmeal Stout 2024

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dark stout with tan head in tall, slightly bulged-out craft beer glass, sitting on table
Eagle Face Oatmeal Stout, in a Spiegelau stout glass. I know that beer can be enjoyed in nearly any glassware, but this sure does look pretty!

I have brewed this one many times before, and it is a house favorite. After a two-and-a-half year hiatus, I once again returned to my favorite oatmeal stout recipe. This version has two significant departures — firstly, I returned to the use of 2-row rather than Maris Otter in the recipe. The very first brew used 2-row, and I have more frequently used Maris Otter since. The biggest change here, though, was to try out BRY-97 instead of Nottingham or another higher attenuation English ale yeast. I figured it would be a worthy experiment, creating a more “American” take on the style.

Eagle Face Oatmeal Stout 2024

  • 8.5 lb. 2-row malt (Briess)
  • 1.25 lb. flaked oats (Quaker)
  • 1 lb. 80L caramel malt (Briess)
  • 1 lb. Victory malt (Briess)
  • 0.5 lb. chocolate malt (Bairds)
  • 0.5 lb. roasted barley (Crisp)
  • 0.25 lb. chocolate malt (Simpsons)
  • 1.1 oz. Magnum hops (10.1% alpha), 45 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. American West Coast Ale dry yeast (BRY-97, Lallemand)

Target Parameters

  • 1.058 o.g., 1.015 f.g., 5.6% abv, 35 IBU, 48 SRM
  • Full volume mash, no sparge, 156° mash for 60 minutes, 10 minute mash-out at 168°
  • Claremont tap water, treated with Campden tablet

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 7.75 gallons of Claremont tap water, heated to 163°. I also added 3 mL of 88% lactic acid.
  • I held the mash, with recirculation, at 156° for 60 minutes, before raising to 168° for 10 minutes and then pulling the grains.
  • I collected 6.75 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.050, for 72% mash efficiency.
  • I brought the runnings to a boil, adding hops and finings per the recipe. After 60 minutes, I turned off the heat and chilled to 68°.
  • I transferred the wort to my fermenter, pitched the yeast, and started it at ambient (~65°) in my back room.
  • I brewed the beer on 6 January 2024. The starting gravity was 1.056.
  • I kegged the beer on 18 March 2024. Final gravity was 1.020, for 4.8% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Very deep brown & clear beer that pours with a fine tan head, with decent persistence.
  • Aroma
    • Clean, chocolate and coffee aroma, with a touch of roastiness. Not much for hop or yeast aroma.
  • Flavor
    • Roasty coffee in the malt profile, and a bit of subtle graininess behind that. Moderate level of bitterness.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium body, moderate carbonation, very slightly dry finish.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • This recipe is still a winner! My 2024 edition is a touch drier than I recall in past versions, likely because I went with BRY-97 rather than Nottingham. The return to 2-row also probably lightens the flavor a bit. I would consider this one an Americanized version of the style, but I’m ok with that. All of the past versions have been great, but this one is probably most “drinkable” (in terms of having more than one glass). I served the beer at a recent gathering, and it was certainly quite popular! It’s nice to know the recipe has a bit of flexibility–this version might be better for the warmer days of spring, and the “traditional” recipe targeted better for cold winter nights.
  • Overall
    • 9/10

Deep Space Imperial Stout

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The dark depths of winter are a perfect time for dark, deep beers. It’s really hard to go wrong with an imperial stout. I most frequently have them in barrel-aged form, though, which I think distracts from the fact that the “regular” form can have a ton going on as it is.

As I often do, I used a recipe from Gordon Strong’s Modern Homebrew Recipes as my starting point. His “Katherine the Strong” hit everything I was looking for, although I made my usual modifications for ingredients on-hand. In particular, I used US 2-row for my base malt instead of Maris Otter, swapped in some American hops here and there as relevant, and stuck with an American ale yeast. The end result is something that is perhaps more American in character than British, but nonetheless hopefully quite good.

Because I don’t normally make big batches of big beers, both for my own health as well as due to equipment limitations, I aimed for a 3 gallon batch. This makes for a challenging brew, but a rewarding one.

Deep Space Imperial Stout

  • 4.75 lb. Lamonta Pale American Barley Malt (Mecca Grade)
  • 3.5 lb. 2-row malt (Briess)
  • 13 oz. roasted barley (Bairds)
  • 12 oz. caramel 60L (Briess)
  • 8.5 oz. chocolate malt (Bairds)
  • 6 oz. flaked barley
  • 6 oz. black malt (Briess)
  • 6 oz. caramel 80L (Briess)
  • 6 oz. special roast (Briess)
  • 3 oz. caramel 120L (Briess)
  • 0.55 oz. Magnum hop pellets (16.5% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Chinook hop pellets (11.9% alpha), 10 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 0.5 oz. Crystal hop pellets (4.5% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 2 pkg. BRY-97 American West Coast Ale yeast (Lallemand)
  • 1 oz. Chinook (11.9% alpha), dry hop in keg

Target Parameters

  • 1.087 s.g., 1.019 f.g., 9.1% abv, 69 IBU, 79 SRM
  • Infusion mash, held at 152° for 60 minutes and 168° for 10 minutes, with sparge
  • Claremont tap water, with Campden tablet

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 6 gallons of water at 160°, to hit 152°. I recirculated at this temperature for 60 minutes, before raising the mash temperature to 168°. I held it here for 10 minutes, before pulling the grains. I sparged with ~0.75 gallons of hot water.
  • In total, I collected 5.35 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.055, for 69% mash efficiency. This was well below my target gravity, so I knew I would need to boil for awhile longer than expected.
  • I brought the runnings to a boil, boiling for 75 minutes before adding the first round of hops. I then boiled another 60 minutes with hops and finings added per the recipe, for a total of 125 minutes boiling time.
  • I chilled the wort to 75°, transferred it into the fermenter, and then chilled to 67° in the fermentation chamber before pitching the yeast.
  • I brewed the beer on 7 October 2023, and it had a starting gravity of 1.082. This is slightly below the target but not awfully so.
  • I set the fermentation temperature for 66°, and pulled the beer to ambient on 28 October 2023. On 29 October, I agitated the fermenter to rouse the yeast and ensure that the beer fermented out fully.
  • I kegged the beer on 4 November 2023. Final gravity was ~1.023, for 7.9% abv.
  • I bagged and added the dry hops to the keg on 14 November 2023 and removed the hops on 27 November 2024.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • The beer pours with a rich and creamy deep brown head, which leaves gorgeous lacing down the side of the glass over time. The stout is a deep, deep brown beer, almost jet black in appearance in the glass. Amazing!
  • Aroma
    • Cocoa and roasty notes dominate, along with dark roast coffee as the beer warms. At this later point in the glass, there is a very subtle hint of alcohol, but it’s not at all unpleasant.
  • Flavor
    • Deep roasty cocoa and coffee flavors predominate, with a dark chocolate aspect too. Bitterness is high, manifesting on the finish in particular, which keeps the beer from being overly cloying and sweet. The hop character is slightly resiny.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium-low carbonation, rich and full-bodied, with an off-dry finish due to the intense hopping.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • YES! This is exactly what I had envisioned as an imperial stout–big and complex flavors, rich, and paradoxically drinkable. The beer definitely tilts towards the roasty and chocolatey, rather than fruity, character as a stout. So, I would say it’s more American than British in overall character.
  • Overall
    • 10/10

Eagle Face Oatmeal Stout 2021

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I have made this recipe a million times (okay, more like seven or eight times), and it’s still just so enjoyable. Here’s the latest!

Eagle Face Oatmeal Stout 2021

  • 8.5 lb. Finest Maris Otter Ale Malt (Crisp)
  • 1.5 lb. flaked oats
  • 1 lb. 80° caramel malt (Briess)
  • 1 lb. Victory malt (Briess)
  • 0.5 lb. roasted barley (Briess)
  • 6 oz. chocolate malt (Briess)
  • 6 oz. chocolate malt (Dingemans)
  • 0.5 lb. rice hulls
  • 1 oz. Magnum hop pellets (10.1% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 2 pkg. Nottingham ale yeast (Lallemand)

Parameters

  • 1.059 o.g., 1.017 f.g., 5.6% abv, 34 IBU, 35 SRM
  • Full volume mash, no sparge, 156° mash for 60 minutes, 10 minute mash-out at 168°
  • Claremont tap water, treated with Campden tablet

Procedure

  • I heated ~7.5 gallons to 164°, and then mashed in to hit a target mash rest of 156°. I added 5 mL of 88% lactic acid, to adjust pH.
  • I held the mash at 156° for 60 minutes, and then raised it to 168°. I held it at this temperature for 10 minutes, and then pulled the grains.
  • In total, I collected 6.4 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.048. This was a bit below my target (1.052).
  • I brought the runnings to a boil, and boiled for 15 minutes before adding the hops. I then proceeded with an additional 60 minutes on the boil, before turning off the heat and

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • A black, clear beer, with a somewhat persistent tan head. The beer is a very dark brown when viewed on edge.
  • Aroma
    • Earthy aroma, with coffee and chocolate and roasted malt. There is a faint dried dark stonefruit aroma.
  • Flavor
    • Medium-high bitterness, and a coffee/chocolate, exceptionally malty flavor. This is a wonderfully rich beer! The yeast character is pretty clean, with a very faint fruitiness. There is an earthy background, perhaps from the hops.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Very full bodied, with a somewhat slick mouthfeel as would be expected from an oatmeal stout. It is very smooth, with a slightly dry finish.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • It’s interesting that I pick up earthy characteristics in the aroma, given that there is only a single hop addition as a 60 minute bittering charge of Magnum. That must be produced by the malt combination, but I can’t figure out whre.
  • Overall
    • 10/10