My coffee stout brewed earlier in the year was the best thing I have ever brewed & went down well with my drinking friends.   The only fault I could find is that it thinned out a little with age.   This time I've boosted the total malt content, the dark malt content & the coffee.

Mash - 1 hour 15 mins, 20 litres, 55°c rising to 68°c over 25mins then kept at 68°c for an hour.

Pale malt 5.0 Kg

Crystal malt 600g

Roast barley 500g

Chocolate malt 200g

Black malt 200g

Boil - 1 hour 30mins

15g of Millenium hops (15% alpha acid) at start of boil

15g of Cascadeⁱ hops (7% alpha acid) after 30 mins

20g of Cascade hops (4.6% alpha acid) after 50 mins

24g Cascade hops (4.6% alpha acid) after 1hour 10mins.

After the boil, as the wort was cooling I added a mug of extremely strong coffee (10 teaspoons of ground coffee used).

Fermented using Muntons Gold dried yeast.   Using the very handy recipe formulator, the alcohol level should be around 6.4% & bitterness at 50 IBUⁱⁱ.

Verdict on bottling: Due to my wife giving birth this was bottled by Mark, who said it tasted "good".

Verdict after 3 weeks: A little flat - needs a little more carbonation, this will come in time.   A big liquorice & black malt flavour, with some coffee there too.   Maybe a more earthy hop should have been used as the Cascade fresh citrusness doesn't quite go with the darker, burnt flavours.   Maybe less of the darker malts should have been used too as these flavours dominate.   Still, a good beer.

Verdict after 4 weeks: The carbonation level is almost where I want it now & any harshness from using a little much black malt has mellowed out.   Will be truly great in another few weeks time.

Verdict after 10 weeks: A great beer that my friends find chocolatey rather than coffee-like. Still a hit with them though.

Verdict after 14 weeks: Drying out now, but still has a chocolatey taste. Bitter-coffee flavour more pronounced.