Pour 15.25 liters of water into your kettle and set the heating to 68°C.
Add your grains and stir well to avoid lumps. Continue until the temperature drops to 66°C.
Maintain it for 60 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat 16.75 liters of water to 77°C; this will be used for the sparge step.
Once the saccharification hour is complete, raise the temperature to 75°C for a 10‑minute mash‑out.
Step 2:
When the mash‑out is finished, proceed with lautering and sparging.
Step 3:
Then heat your wort to perform a 60‑minute boil.
Add 30 g of Fuggles hops at the start of the timer.
With 15 minutes remaining, add 20 g more of the same hop.
If you cool with an immersion chiller, place it now in your boil kettle to sterilize it.
Alexandre, the boss of Hop & Brol, tells us: the hops here support the bitterness of the roasted barley. They bring small herbal and floral touches. The beer mainly highlights the grains.
Step 4:
Once the boil is finished, cool the wort to 20°C. Take the gravity (which should be around 1.044) and transfer to the fermenter.
Don’t forget to add the SafAle S‑04 yeast.
Alexandre wants to let it work quietly, without stress. And above all without esters or phenols that would interfere with the beer.
You will therefore let everything ferment for 4 weeks at 20°C.
Step 5:
Once this time has passed, the final gravity should be around 1.010.
You can proceed with classic bottling by adding 4 to 5 g/L of sugar.
In Saint‑Gély‑du‑Fesc, the Hop & Brol cellar / brewpub keeps evolving under the impulse of Alexandre Lemoine. A former software developer who changed careers out of passion, trained zythologist and certified Cicerone, Alexandre learned through brewing education (Astronobeer, Fauve, Drapeau Rouge, L’Échappée Bière) before taking over the cellar in 2024.
His story with brewing also began with a first Rolling Beers kit. Today, he is transforming the place into an authentic English‑inspired brewpub, brewing his own house beers (like his famous Pépito Blues) on a compact pro setup.
For this article, Alexandre agreed to share with us one of his flagship recipes, specially adapted for homebrewers so you can easily brew it at home!
For this Irish Stout, the idea was to stick as closely as possible to the traditional profile: roasted barley and flaked barley were essential. I didn’t want chocolate notes, but rather that toasted‑bread and coffee profile, with the nice roundness in the mouth brought by the flakes.
On the grain side, the malt takes center stage. We’re aiming for a beer moderate in alcohol, where the flakes mainly bring texture: it has to be drinkable yet indulgent.
Why “Pépito Blues”? It’s a nod to my cat, Pépito — who is completely black — combined with “blues” for the music and the slightly melancholic vibe. Sometimes he settles in his corner, sighs as if life were hard, but remains way too cute. The beer is a bit like that: a comforting foam for slightly grey days, but not heavy. Character, softness, and lightness. Which is also what blues is, in the end: we like to lament, but with a smile!
