homebrewandbeer.com

Hey all,

I just bought my second ever kit - Cooper's Stout, just the normal one, not the Irish - and being pretty much a greenhorn brewer (I think I learnt that term first from Grizzily Adams) I would like to know of any simple but effective things I can do to make my first stout much more than just what the kit will give me. Here's a few Qs -

a) What yeast should I use if the kit yeast is not the best?

b) I have a packet of Light Dry Malt extract - use it or not?

c) SHould I use some hops for i) Bitters, ii)Flavour and/or iii) aroma in that simmering order?

d) Is Nescafe Instant Coffee able to be used and would the result be... ??

anything else?

Thanks in advance,

DavidG

Yes to Coffe but why would you?

Dogger

Hi Dogger,

I take it you mean yes, you can use coffee, rather than yes it wil make you puke, but that you don't recommend it? I should specify that I like a more full-bodied, bitter stout like an extra or a dry.

Cheers,

DavidG

Coffe will make your stout taste like coffee. (sorry that came across rather insulting and I didn't mean it that way) which seem to be the rave right now

Try some chocolate malt or Black Patent if you like the fuller body, leave the coffee alone (you can use it, I just am not keen on it)

Dogger

Dogger Dan wrote:Coffe will make your stout taste like coffee. (sorry that came across rather insulting and I didn't mean it that way) which seem to be the rave right now

No offence taken....

Dogger Dan wrote: Try some chocolate malt or Black Patent if you like the fuller body, leave the coffee alone (you can use it, I just am not keen on it)

Dogger

I was thinking along the lines of chocolate malt....thanks. I'll give it a go.

Cheers,

DavidG

A little roast malt or black malt (same thing, the name just depends on where you buy it) will also give you a coffee-like flavour and aroma

My view is usually that you should make a beer simply to start, then add other ingredients next (hops, grain, etc) based on your tasting of that brew.

Having said that, let me say this: do what I say, don't do what I do

You could add some grain, as suggested. Just steep in a little hot water (not boiling though) for half an hour or so, strain and add the liquid to the fermenter.

You could also try some hops. Perhaps some Fuggles.

But the Cooper's Stout is pretty good. Brewed with 1kg light malt and the yeast as supplied it should be great.

Cheers,

Oliver

Oliver wrote: You could add some grain, as suggested. Just steep in a little hot water (not boiling though) for half an hour or so, strain and add the liquid to the fermenter.

Thanks Merlin and Oliver. This brings me to my next question. You say not to boil the grain Oliver. When do you boil grain and not boil grain? I ask because on reading around this site and others frequent reference is made to boiling grain for X minutes, or simmering the grain, or steeping.

Is it safe to assume when homebrewers talk about boiling they actually mean simmering?

Cheers,
DavidG

ausdag,

I think most people here will agree that you should never boil grain, as it draws out bad tastes such as tannins. Instead, steep the grain in some hot water as described above.

Cheers,

Oliver

I just read the How to Brew page again and saw the bit about grains and tannins. Thanks for the advice Oliver.

Cheers,

DavidG

you could also add some oats to it. Very nice. Turns it into a breakfast beer. Well more so than the rest

Oats sounds like a good thing, but at this stage I've gone with Oliver's advice and done a basic Kit + 1kg Light Malt for starters and then work from there. Tasted pretty good just from the bit I took to do an OG reading. It's now bubbling away sitting half emersed in a tub of cold water and wet towels over it as we hit around 38 deg Celcius today.

Cheers,

DavidG

My stout for next winter is going on tonight:
-Coopers stout tin
-300g jar of black cherry jam- the good stuff
-100g Cadbury's cocoa powder
-Brewmaster stout bag- dried malt, maltodex, dex & liquorice powder, I forget the exact proportions
-Fistful of rolled oats
All to be boiled/simmered in 5l of water for 15 mins, then strained & cooled, topped up to 20l
Plan to rack after about 10 days, then bottle when SG is steady & leave as long as possible.

My next stout for winter is going to be as follows:

1 can Rapid Creek Stout mix
500gm dry light malt
400gm maltodextrin
200gm of Cadbury's drinking chocolate
250gm oats
500gm honey

Boil malt, maltodextrin, chocolate and honey in 2 litres of water for 15 minutes. Add to fermenter anf toss in oats. Fill fermenter to 22 lites and ferment with Safale yeast.

Am steering well clear of anything that will impart an aniseed flavour as I detest aniseed.

Will rack to secondary after initail fermentation and then bottle (bulk prime with dextrose) after 1 week in seconday. Will leave to next May/June then imbibe with pleasure.

Wassa,
I assume your comment about aniseed is is relation to the liquorice mentioned in my post?
As I said, I can't remember the exact proportions but I think it was only 10 or 20g in a kilo bag- should add a bit of tang without a strong flavour.

Best stout I ever made was simply...

1 coopers stout can
1kg dry dark malt extract
500g maltodextrin
Safale Yeast
20L

This turned out sensationally dark and creamy with a massive head and had enough of a roasted grain/coffee flavour already.

I will agree with Oliver though. Keep it simple to start with and then start adding grains and hops. This way you can notice the evolution of your brew and you can tell where you've gone wrong.

Cheers,
Jay.

Jay wrote:Best stout I ever made was simply...

1 coopers stout can
1kg dry dark malt extract
500g maltodextrin
Safale Yeast
20L

This turned out sensationally dark and creamy with a massive head and had enough of a roasted grain/coffee flavour already.

I will agree with Oliver though. Keep it simple to start with and then start adding grains and hops. This way you can notice the evolution of your brew and you can tell where you've gone wrong.

Cheers,
Jay.

I used light dry malt 1kg this time, but next time I'll try a dark malt extract. Mine is 20L and the froth was blowing out the air lock last night but it's settled down now and bubbling slowly.

Strange thing was when I took the OG reading prior to adding the yeast it only read 1037 (1034 +3 to compensate for the warm temp of the water at that moment). I thought stouts should have a higher OG than that (1 Coopers kit + 1kg LDM @20L).

Cheers,

DavidG

DavidG,

I'd certainly expect a higher SG than you got with those ingredients and that volume.

Did you make sure to spin the hydrometer to remove any bubbles?

It might sound like a stupid question, but the hydrometer was floating in the liquid, wasn't it, not sitting on the bottom of the test jar?

You can test the accuracy of your hydrometer by putting it in water at about 20C (the leaflet that came with your hydrometer should tell you at what temperature no correction is required). The reading should be 1.000

Cheers,

Oliver

Hi Oliver,

I made sure I gave it a good spin and tap to remove the bubbles and it was well clear of the bottom. Either way, if any of those factors were in action it would have caused the hydro to sit higher giving a higher reading wouldn't it? The only thing I haven't done thoroughly is test it accuracy. So I'll do that more carefully - it's calibrated to 20C.

I'll get back to you when I've done. Thanks for the response.

Cheers,

DavidG

ausdag wrote:I made sure I gave it a good spin and tap to remove the bubbles and it was well clear of the bottom. Either way, if any of those factors were in action it would have caused the hydro to sit higher giving a higher reading wouldn't it?

Just testing

I think I must have been having a blond moment.

Oliver