# Coopers Stout



## kenny23 (15/5/09)

Hey guys 
Im about to put down a coopers stout kit. Just goin to use 1kg liquid brewing sugar. Has anyone tried one of these and what are they like. Interested on any info
thanks
Ken


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## iScarlet (15/5/09)

I have to say the Coopers stout is almost foolproof. I haven't done it with liquid sugar, but when I was younger I did it with the standard brewing sugar in a Rockhampton summer and it was probably the most drinkable thing I did at the time.


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## antains (15/5/09)

I did one last year. Bog standard Coopers Stout kit. It was okay, not brilliant, but has definitely improved with age. 

I'm planning another one, but aiming to steep some grain to give it a richer flavour.


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## mwd (15/5/09)

Coopers stout is pretty much bulletproof IMO.

You can add any old crap and ferment at silly temps and still get a drinkable brew.

Get some DDME or use Coopers Brew Enhancer 2, 1kg pack + 500g raw sugar or CSR treacle if you want alcoholic strength.

The kit yeast works O.K. but if you want refinement use Nottingham or S04 or any good ale yeast will give a nice result.

Got to be good to make something undrinkable out of that lot.


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## parrja (15/5/09)

I did one a while ago. Stout Kit, #2 Brew Enhancer, Safale. Tasting notes said it was drinkable after 6 weeks but very nice after 6 months.

As it aged for quite a while it also over carbonated. Maybe go 2/3 to 1/2 of what you'd normally use (if you think you'll be able to let it age).


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## tcraig20 (15/5/09)

Get a tin of dark ale and 1/2 kg brown sugar, dump them and the stout tin in the fermenter. Ferment with S04. 

Probably still my favourite kit ever.


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## Bribie G (15/5/09)

A year ago, having been out of brewing for 20 years, I made a couple of high alcohol ginger beers then thought "'Winter's coming on, I'll do a Coopers Stout" and accidentally dumped in a 2 k bag of sugar instead of 1 kg. Believe it or not it turned out very drinkable but I had to cut it with tallies of Carlton Mid to avoid getting totally paralysed :lol: 

However I owe it to Coopers stout that it re-awakened my love of brewing and only a year later I'm now an expert all grain guru effortlessly turning out any brew that takes my fancy with total professional expertise.

I wish  

Getting there three steps forward one step back. However I agree with the comments that Coopers Stout is bulletproof. Suggested improvements, instead of the sugar which can make it a bit dry, try a kilo of Coopers Brew Improver 2, or a kilo of Light Dried Malt Extract and it will turn out a wee bit more like bottled Guinness or Sheaf Stout. If you end up liking the brew you can make a dynamite version with two cans of stout, a kilo of light dried malt extract and 750g of sugar or dextrose that turns out a headbanging 9% alcohol. The kit yeast will handle up to 9.5 %. :beerbang: 

For sipping, not quaffing. Enjoy responsibly.


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## mwd (15/5/09)

JamesCraig said:


> Get a tin of dark ale and 1/2 kg brown sugar, dump them and the stout tin in the fermenter. Ferment with S04.
> 
> Probably still my favourite kit ever.



+1 ++ one of the best toucans ever but do not drinks pints next day you will really suffer.


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## Bribie G (15/5/09)

I can feel a toucan coming on


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## tcraig20 (15/5/09)

Tropical_Brews said:


> +1 ++ one of the best toucans ever but do not drinks pints next day you will really suffer.



Mind you - the last batch of that I made only lasted about 3 weeks after bottling. 

Good beer is a two-edged sword :icon_drunk:


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## iScarlet (15/5/09)

BribieG said:


> Getting there three steps forward one step back. However I agree with the comments that Coopers Stout is bulletproof. Suggested improvements, instead of the sugar which can make it a bit dry, try a kilo of Coopers Brew Improver 2, or a kilo of Light Dried Malt Extract and it will turn out a wee bit more like bottled Guinness or Sheaf Stout. If you end up liking the brew you can make a dynamite version with two cans of stout, a kilo of light dried malt extract and 750g of sugar or dextrose that turns out a headbanging 9% alcohol. The kit yeast will handle up to 9.5 %. :beerbang:
> 
> For sipping, not quaffing. Enjoy responsibly.



Aye, last one I did was with 1kg Brew Enhancer #2 and 300g Dextrose and filled the carboy to 21 litres and just that got it to 6.5%ABV with the kit yeast (cough cough). Three weeks in it tastes young but fantastic.

I'd be interested to see if there was a recipe (that didn't involve faeces) that could actually kill this beast. :lol:


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## Bribie G (15/5/09)

iScarlet said:


> Aye, last one I did was with 1kg Brew Enhancer #2 and 300g Dextrose and filled the carboy to 21 litres and just that got it to 6.5%ABV with the kit yeast (cough cough). Three weeks in it tastes young but fantastic.
> 
> I'd be interested to see if there was a recipe (that didn't involve faeces) that could actually kill this beast. :lol:



From the point of view of producing alcohol there's nothing wrong with the kit yeast at all. Coopers and many of the other kit companies, for their bog standard kit yeast, actually use an Australian active dried ale yeast, Mauri Ale 514 that does a good sledgehammer job and ferments up to 9.5 % ABV. As an experiment I have just used it on an all grain Aussie Old, fermented cool and only ten minutes ago I stirred some finings in (bottling over the weekend), had a taste and there's not one little thing wrong with the beer :icon_cheers:


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## pdilley (15/5/09)

+1 on the Toucan.

Even my bubbles pull a Guinness act in the glass


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## Ducatiboy stu (15/5/09)

Being an Ag brewer for over 4 yrs..

I still like some kit beers

Coopers Stout...it just works

Coopers Pale Ale ...Done with the brew booster and temp kept in control.........you have Coopers Pale Ale :chug: 

Coopers Nut Brown Ale......sadly they have dropped it......was a very nice nut ale for a kit :icon_cheers:


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## manticle (16/5/09)

I'd just like to add my vote for good kit, hard to stuff up. Before I knew anything about brewing (and I won't claim to know a lot now) this one came out pretty much bang on every time I made one. Was popular with other, non homebrew drinkers too which is often telling: unless they think Millers premium draft is actually premium.

Or draft.


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## kenny23 (16/5/09)

the stout is in the fementer sitting at 22 degrees hopefully get it to about 20


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## Pennywise (16/5/09)

In my experience the Coopers stout tends to want to climb out or the fermenter, keep an eye on it if it sits above 20, I would do everything I can to get it down to 18 just to save the clean up, even then there's no garentee.


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## Phoney (16/5/09)

Which hops would you use (if at all) for this recipe:

2x Coopers stout tins
Coopers BE2
500g Dark brown sugar
2x kit yeast.


I currently have in stock Styrian Goldings, Tettnanger, Perle and Halletau.


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## kenny23 (17/5/09)

The stout is in the fermenter an was bubbling away vigerously after about 5 hours i think. its at 22 degrees which hopefully sld be ok


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## manticle (17/5/09)

phoneyhuh said:


> Which hops would you use (if at all) for this recipe:
> 
> 2x Coopers stout tins
> Coopers BE2
> ...



I'm not a hop expert by any means 

To my mind I'd associate things like Fuggles or EKG. However the craftbrewer website suggests perle is suitable for stouts.


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## railgun_livewire (19/5/09)

I've just sampled the first of my bottles from a coopers stout brew.

I was a little dissapointed to find that my bubbles were quite large, brown and produced a skimpy head that dissapeared fast.
My reckless imagination had set me up to expect half an inch of cream sitting atop my stout....not even close.

recipe:

1 can
1kg dextrose
1.5 saches of kit yeast
topped to 23 ltrs


To be fair to my efforts, it was a fairly early sample - but is this something that will improve with age?
(the brew, not me)

Thanks!


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## benno1973 (19/5/09)

railgun_livewire said:


> To be fair to my efforts, it was a fairly early sample - but is this something that will improve with age?
> (the brew, not me)



Not from my experience. I always had big heavy bubbles when priming with dextrose or (god forbid) sucrose. It got a little better when I primed with DME. Now I keg and force carbonate, I get a beautiful creamy head all the time. Sorry to disappoint, but having said that, there's ways that you can improve it:

1. Use DME (dry malt extract) for priming
2. Steep some crystal and add it to the brew if this is to style.
3. Do a partial mash with a bit of wheat.
4. I'm sure there's more, but they escape me...


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## tcraig20 (19/5/09)

railgun_livewire said:


> I've just sampled the first of my bottles from a coopers stout brew.
> 
> I was a little dissapointed to find that my bubbles were quite large, brown and produced a skimpy head that dissapeared fast.
> My reckless imagination had set me up to expect half an inch of cream sitting atop my stout....not even close.
> ...



Unfortunately, stout is one of those beers that needs a lot of malt. Stouts are heavy, smooth and creamy beers. Adding dextrose increases alcohol, but makes the beer thinner, and less stout-like. Using malt adds alcohol but also adds body. 

It will improve with age, but I doubt that you will have guinness in 3 months.


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## railgun_livewire (19/5/09)

Thanks guys, 
it sounds like my (brief) run as a pure kit brewer is over.

To the nearest supplier! :beer:


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## manticle (19/5/09)

When I did kks I used BE2 for my stouts. The head was fine.

I'd still recommend moving beyond if you're feeling that way inclined.

One thing with the DME though - I made a Coopers stout tin with 1kg Cooper LDME and it came out funny tasting. I'd previously done a couple with half kilo each of Be2 and LDME which turned out very tasty for KK. I always assumed it was just that variety of extract.


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## tcraig20 (19/5/09)

railgun_livewire said:


> Thanks guys,
> it sounds like my (brief) run as a pure kit brewer is over.
> 
> To the nearest supplier! :beer:



Oh, dont be so quick to abandon 'pure kit'. If you like stouts, at least give the stout/dark ale two-can mentioned earlier in this thread a whirl.


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## manticle (19/5/09)

Or try

Coopers Stout Tin
200g lactose
1 kg Dark Dry malt extract 
Small amount liquorice

or if you're near a cellarplus grab one of their house stout mixes in place of the extract and liquorice.

This will be quite sweet so you might want to balance it with some extra bittering hops - fuggles works ok.

You could also steep a bit of crystal malt and chocolate malt or black malt.

One final tip for a great stout - get some unmalted roast barley (available at LHBS or from italian supermarkets as Orzo). About 500 g, cracked and steeped will give a lovely coffee flavour.


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## mwd (19/5/09)

Just drinking a glass of toucan Molloys Stout and Coopers Dark Ale. 

It was lightly carbonated and not much of a head. Tastes pretty damn good though.

Could always try the old syringe trick if you want a creamy head on top.


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## manticle (19/5/09)

Head is one thing I've never had a problem with with either kit stouts, extract or partial.


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## HoppingMad (19/5/09)

JamesCraig said:


> Oh, dont be so quick to abandon 'pure kit'. If you like stouts, at least give the stout/dark ale two-can mentioned earlier in this thread a whirl.



+1 on the Stout Can & Dark Can double.

A mate of mine had the good fortune to run into Dr Tim Cooper in Adelaide a year ago and he recommended this pairing.

So it can't be half bad. Haven't tried myself but have done a double can of the stouts with some fuggles for finishing hops and it came up pretty good. If I'd used S-04 instead of the coopers yeast it would have been even better. The fugs need some cellar time to die down though - add too many and you're drinking lawn clippings.

Hopper.


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## Muddydisco (20/5/09)

Hi guy's, I have just done a recipe that Bribie had posted over here in the UK. 
It was: 
2 cans of coppers stout
1kg of light spray Malt
750 g of Dextrose (But I put the whole kilo in!)
I also have added 8 cups worth of Costa Rican ground coffee (pre brewed) Into the FV
1 Pack Nottingham Yeast will make a starter for another packet and put that in 4 days after.
OG 1080

Less than 24hrs in and it has made a break for freedom, The frothy yeast head tastes wonderful like a cappacino!


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## petesbrew (20/5/09)

Muddydisco said:


> Hi guy's, I have just done a recipe that Bribie had posted over here in the UK.
> It was:
> 2 cans of coppers stout
> 1kg of light spray Malt
> ...


Man that's gonna be a big beer! I shall have to do another toucan soon. It's been a while.

What's the lid doing off the fermenter?


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## Muddydisco (20/5/09)

petesbrew said:


> Man that's gonna be a big beer! I shall have to do another toucan soon. It's been a while.
> 
> What's the lid doing off the fermenter?



I do like a good strong stout! Don't worry about the lid the fermenting takes place in a temp controlled chest freezer so the whole of it is full of co2, had a quick clean up on the lid and airlock then replaced the airlock for some tubing and a bottle with some water in to catch the rest of the froth.

Today I shall be completing my AG kit and taking it on a water only test!


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## manticle (20/5/09)

That AG kit looks like something I could do. I know it may not be the shiniest stainless steel microbrewery everything but I'd really appreciate one of those step by step with photos things on the set-up and construction if you're happy? It looks like the kind of DIY brewery I'd be more than happy with.
I'm partial mash man at the moment - most of my equipment is quite small but I'm hoping to hit AG before the year is out.


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## Muddydisco (21/5/09)

Manticle Have a look here for now http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopi...039&start=0 I will write up a "how to" for the guys over here if your interested? I'll put it in the Equipment section. I don't know what supplies you can get over in Aus?


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## manticle (21/5/09)

Muddydisco said:


> Manticle Have a look here for now http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopi...039&start=0 I will write up a "how to" for the guys over here if your interested? I'll put it in the Equipment section. I don't know what supplies you can get over in Aus?



I'm definitely interested.

Cheers


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## brettprevans (21/5/09)

looks pretty much like a John Palmer (how to brew) set up to me. basic and does the job. Hell look at one of the AG setup Thirsty Boy did. extremely simple but effective.


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## Yob (21/7/11)

Mornin all... digging up a fairly old one, what volumes of c02 should I be aiming for with one of these, keeping in mind that SWMBO likes em less rather than more carbed... 2.2 - 2.3?

Windsor or Can yeast from those that know?

Yob

(SWMBO's doing well out of the new brewery  )


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## going down a hill (21/7/11)

Windsor is a good little yeast that will add more mouthfeel because of it's moderate attenuation, but I would reculture some yeast from a couple of coopers bottles for a coopers stout.


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## Yob (21/7/11)

bugger.... will put it aside till I can get a starter going.. I guess I will have to do the English Bitter then  

Yob


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## Nevalicious (21/7/11)

iamozziyob said:


> Mornin all... digging up a fairly old one, what volumes of c02 should I be aiming for with one of these, keeping in mind that SWMBO likes em less rather than more carbed... 2.2 - 2.3?
> 
> Windsor or Can yeast from those that know?
> 
> ...



Throw the can yeast out...

Windsor might fail to attenuate enough. If you only have a choice of the two, really... Use both the kit yeasts. Yes this goes against what I first wrote... If there is a LHBS nearby, get some S-04 = winning

As for carbonation, if bulk priming, somewhere around 110g dextrose for a 'normal' size batch... read: 20L~ish or around 2 vols. 

I have done the Bribie Headbanger stout a few times now and I use s-04 and carb to these levels. Delicious but beware, it knocks your headoff...

Nev


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## Yob (21/7/11)

The windsor Im currently using is a good finisher, finished down to 1012 in a dark ale in 2.5 days!!

Took me by surprise that did.. was expecting trouble but must be a good batch :unsure: 

usually all kit yeast goes in as nutrient, was just going on what was previously posted.

Yob


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## petesbrew (21/7/11)

iamozziyob said:


> The windsor Im currently using is a good finisher, finished down to 1012 in a dark ale in 2.5 days!!
> 
> Took me by surprise that did.. was expecting trouble but must be a good batch :unsure:
> 
> ...


I love the windsor yeast. Even if it does finish on the higher side, I love the body that comes with it.


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## Yob (21/7/11)

Yeast I have on hand is

US-05 (Dry and Harvested)
Windsor (still in FV but will be washing it later today + one in the fridge)
Nottingham (in the Fridge)

I dont trust S-04 so won be going down that road. 

Happy to get a Coops starter going if that is the advisable way to go.

Yob


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## Nevalicious (21/7/11)

iamozziyob said:


> Yeast I have on hand is
> 
> US-05 (Dry and Harvested)
> Windsor (still in FV but will be washing it later today + one in the fridge)
> ...



To keep things simple, I'd use the Notto. Got to remember, two kits and a kg ea of LDME and Dextrose is going to be a rather large beer and you won't want it to finish high otherwise it'll be like syrup. Notto chews through high abv beers and will usually finish dry enough for a beer of this size!! I regularly experience 80% aa with recultured Coopers yeast so that too is an option, but if you are after no fuss stout (personally I wouldn't bother with the reculture in a beer this big. 
You won't experience the benefits of this great yeast when faced with 9% beer) go with the Notto!

Ohh, and if you have them on hand, use some late English hops like fuggles or EKG in a small boil and even a dry hop... It makes a big difference!! 

Nev


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