# Toucan Stout



## Moray (14/5/07)

Hi all,

I have read a bit here about toucan brews, and liked the sound of a toucan stout.
I noticed Coles have coopers kits on sale so I got a stout and a dark ale kit, as well as a kilo of dark brown suger.

I have a safale s04 yeast in the fridge that I'm going to use instead of the kit yeast.

I'm thinking basic recipe is disolve 500 g's of sugar in a couple litres of boiling water, then just chuck it and the contents of both cans in the fermenter, top up to 20 litres and pitch yeast.

or should I boil one or both of the kits, and if one which one.

I also have some very old hops ( 10 year old target and challenger cones, and a couple of packets of northern brewer pellets of about the same vintage) Should I use any of these for aroma or bittering, or are they to old to be any good, and should just be chucked in the bin.

cheers
Moray


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## 0M39A (14/5/07)

Moray said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I have read a bit here about toucan brews, and liked the sound of a toucan stout.
> I noticed Coles have coopers kits on sale so I got a stout and a dark ale kit, as well as a kilo of dark brown suger.
> ...



If you want a really basic twocan stout, just chuck in both tins and make to 21L and use the s-04 yeast.

nothing more.

dont use too much brown sugar, 200g is the most i would go with, otherwise it could go a bit cidery.

I have a twocan coopers stout on the go atm. 

just:
2x coopers stout
1kg dark dried malt extract
25g fuggles hops
10ml liquid liquorice (brewcraft brand)
safale s-04 yeast

made up to 23L

OG was 1064 for reference.

and i wouldnt bother with them hops, far too old to be of any use.


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## brettprevans (17/5/07)

Moray said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I have read a bit here about toucan brews, and liked the sound of a toucan stout.
> I noticed Coles have coopers kits on sale so I got a stout and a dark ale kit, as well as a kilo of dark brown suger.
> ...



Moray

1. Chuck the hops in the garden. If your lukcy they might grow into hops plants (doubtful). if noting else its good fertilizer
2. Please dont use too much table sugar. Its the devil. DME is better, or maybe a bit of muscavado sugar for really dark tasty flavour.
3. Where in Melb has the cheap coopers kits???? I want to get some Imperial Voyage for a Imperial Voyage toucan.


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## petesbrew (17/5/07)

Just watch the airlock mate. I had a big foamer with mine filled to 23L. There's still a black speck in the middle of the airlock, which won't wash out.


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## FazerPete (17/5/07)

I wouldn't bother with the sugar at all. I've just made one of these that was just the stout and dark ale cans and nothing else and it's certainly strong enough in flavour and alcohol.  

If I was going to do anything, I might add a few fuggles but I really don't think it needs any more fermentables. I always figure it's best to keep it basic the first time you try something new to understand the flavours and then adjust to your taste in later brews.


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## Brooksy (17/5/07)

Moray,

I wouldn't add any sugars all all. The dark malt ext you have is ok.
Fuggles are the go in these brews.

I am drinking a true Toucan (and nothing else) Coopers Stout at the moment and it is very good, 5.6% ABV. 
It is just a touch bitter (even for a stout) at present, but it is only 6 weeks old. It will mellow.

Next time you are down there pickup 2 X Coopers Bitter and do a true toucan Bitter, 
now that is an eye opener. 
It does turn out very friendly ideay...... Trust me.


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## Cortez The Killer (17/5/07)

I did a toucan stout a while back

1 can Coopers Stout 
1 can Coopers Dark Ale 
150g Chocolate Malt
200g Rolled Oats

Came out a treat

Notes are here - http://hyperfox.info/beer01.htm#13

Cheers


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## 0M39A (17/5/07)

just took a hydro reading of my twocan thats brewing atm.

still on 1022 after a few days, so i gave the carboy a bit of a swirl to hopefully get it to drop a few more points.

had a little taste, the fuggles hops i added have changed the flavor a little (for the better of course!) and its shaping up to be a very tasty brew. cant wait to get this baby bottled and matured a little.


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## Moray (18/5/07)

Hi all,

thanks for all your replies.

I am a bit worried about the bitterness from a toucan, which is why i'm looking to add more fermentables.

so I picked 500 g's of ddme yesterday, I'll use this instead of the brown sugar, that will go on the kids porridge  

looking to brew it up tomorrow.

oh and to answer citymorgue's question
3. Where in Melb has the cheap coopers kits???? I want to get some Imperial Voyage for a Imperial Voyage toucan.

Coles has the coopers kits on sale in it's latest catalouge, so I'm pretty sure all Coles should have them.


cheers
Moray


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## ale_snail (18/5/07)

im gunna make a toucan brew

first i need some bottles


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## reveler (19/5/07)

I'm curious. Is a Kit such as my coopers stout, just a mixture of malt and hops?

If so, instead of using a kit can I just boil my malt and and hops?


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## Moray (19/5/07)

Hi Reveler,

from my understanding a kit can is pretty much hopped malt extract.

the boiling malt extract with your own hops is extract brewing, and is a good step towards
AG brewing

cheers
Moray


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## Brooksy (19/5/07)

Reveler said:


> I'm curious. Is a Kit such as my coopers stout, just a mixture of malt and hops?
> 
> If so, instead of using a kit can I just boil my malt and and hops?



When you boil a kit for 20 - 30 mins you effectively remove the flavour component of the hop oil added to the extract, leaving the bittering component. This allows you to flavour your brew with your own hops. The results may not be as good as using "clean" extract, but it is a learning curve and a matter of personal taste.

Generally cheap lager kits range from 16 - 23 IBUs, other kit ranges vary quite widely, so adding hops at any stage before 5 mins boil will affect your bitterness in some way. Boiling for more than 15 mins also darkens your end result (lagers etc).

Be careful with the toucan stout, possibly stout + dark ale my be a better trial than a straight toucan stout, unless you like a bitter beer.

If you do a stout/dark ale, add some corn syrup and use both yeast sachets or talk to your LHS owner for a good ale yeast.

Toucanning is really worth it and you can vary the result in a miriad of ways. All are covered on this site.

:chug:


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## 0M39A (19/5/07)

Reveler said:


> I'm curious. Is a Kit such as my coopers stout, just a mixture of malt and hops?
> 
> If so, instead of using a kit can I just boil my malt and and hops?



Thats called extract brewing, and if you think you are ready to take the next step, then by all means give it a go. 

extract brewing is a great step up from kit and kilo, as you are controlling the beer and flavouring it exactly how you want it.

it is easily worth the extra hour you spend brewing.


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## reveler (19/5/07)

thanks for the replys, i won't hijack the thread any further. I'll go read up on extract brewing!


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## brettprevans (19/5/07)

Moray said:


> Coles has the coopers kits on sale in it's latest catalouge, so I'm pretty sure all Coles should have them.
> cheers
> Moray


Hey fellas. hit coles this morning to stock up on Coopers kits. They had a few but out of others, SO I got a rain check for a whole heap of differant styles. I figure that even though I didnt want all of them now, it will save me heaps later on. When I want the stock I;ll just pull out a raincheck!

Go to the front of coles (where they sell ciggerettes etc) and ask them for a raincheck on whatever items you want and how many you want. they write it down and the price, and then your set. 

great little money saver


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## mikeBt (19/5/07)

citymorgue2 said:


> Hey fellas. hit coles this morning to stock up on Coopers kits. They had a few but out of others, SO I got a rain check for a whole heap of differant styles. I figure that even though I didnt want all of them now, it will save me heaps later on. When I want the stock I;ll just pull out a raincheck!
> 
> Go to the front of coles (where they sell ciggerettes etc) and ask them for a raincheck on whatever items you want and how many you want. they write it down and the price, and then your set.
> 
> great little money saver



You guys have talked me into a toucan. How do you think a Coopers Stout and dark ale would go with 500grams of honey as the only other fermentable. 

Cheers


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## Moray (19/5/07)

Beerbreath
should be pretty good with the added honey, I might try that next time.

I would boil the honey with about 2 to 3 litres of water for about 5 to 10 minutes then just chuck it and the cans into the fermenter.
Let us know how it goes.


I have just finished starting by toucan.
final recipe was a can of coopers stout, a can of coopers dark ale, 200 gms of dark brown sugar, 500 gms of ddme, used one packet of safale 04 yeast.
Made it up 21.5 litres og was 1060

cheers
Moray


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## brettprevans (20/5/07)

Moray said:


> Beerbreath
> should be pretty good with the added honey, I might try that next time.
> 
> I would boil the honey with about 2 to 3 litres of water for about 5 to 10 minutes then just chuck it and the cans into the fermenter.
> ...


let us know how that goes. sounds good. toucan is my next brew, i need to do a freeloaders brew first (chucked it into fermentor yesterday).


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## Brooksy (20/5/07)

Moray,
IMO the dark brown sugar may have been a mistake but I'm really interested in the outcome AT 6 MONTHS!!! Don't go drinking the whole batch!!!

DBS is very strong in flavour, and if this brew doesn't work, omit the sugar and do it again, but also change the dark malt for light malt and boil it before adding it to the brew.

With all the flavour you have, 2 kits + ddme, the sugar really isn't required for flavouring, but it'll certainly add to you Alc content. :lol:

My punt is 6.5%ABV

Coopers Stout + Dark Ale is a winner of a combination. If you have access to a Fuggle hop teabag, throw one into the fermenter when krausen finished (dry hop). This will give the brew the "finishing" touch. Its about the best (arguably) hop for dark beers.

And don't forget to tell us what your FG is!!!!

Added all below.....


BeerBreath said:


> You guys have talked me into a toucan. How do you think a Coopers Stout and dark ale would go with 500grams of honey as the only other fermentable.
> 
> Cheers


A brewing mate of mine added honey to a brew and it took ages to settle in the bottles. 
At 1 month it tasted like crap and he was going to tip it down the drain. At my insistence he put it away for another 5 months saying "It's just as easy to pour down the drain in 5 months as it is now, so what the heck." It turned out quite good, not my cuppa tea, but not bad at all. The difference in taste was far more marked than the difference 5 months makes to a toucan or K&K brew.

i.e. Honey: Crap to quite good.... Dextrose/toucan: Good to brilliant.


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## InCider (20/5/07)

Hey Brooksy - In my experience honey is excellent, but not very well priced for the amount I'd like to use!

I found the honey fades with time, and I always used honey from a local bloke who keeps bees. I'd do it more if he could spare more honey!

Honey - Excellent, Dex - so so, Toucans - excellent.  

InCider.





Brooksy said:


> A brewing mate of mine added honey to a brew and it took ages to settle in the bottles.
> At 1 month it tasted like crap and he was going to tip it down the drain. At my insistence he put it away for another 5 months saying "It's just as easy to pour down the drain in 5 months as it is now, so what the heck." It turned out quite good, not my cuppa tea, but not bad at all. The difference in taste was far more marked than the difference 5 months makes to a toucan or K&K brew.
> 
> i.e. Honey: Crap to quite good.... Dextrose/toucan: Good to brilliant.


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## Brooksy (20/5/07)

No worries InCider.

As I intimated, personal taste. When I get a chance I'll do a sparkling mead, but.........

Anyway.... Back on topic  

Oh, I don't think anyone has mentioned it yet, but toucan coopers stout is quite bitter, about 1.5 times more bitter than a single k&k, so be aware there is a definite change in this department.

Personally I like it, but it may come as a shock to those not ready for it.

This site is so darned addictive, I've been trying to bottle a Cerveza all morning and most of this arvo!!

Aaaagggghhh :lol: 

Keep on brewing!!!!! :super:


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## Brooksy (20/5/07)

citymorgue2 said:


> (where they sell ciggerettes etc)



Guess who doesn't smoke......... :lol: :lol: 
Good on ya CM2


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## 0M39A (20/5/07)

Brooksy said:


> No worries InCider.
> 
> As I intimated, personal taste. When I get a chance I'll do a sparkling mead, but.........
> 
> ...



lol, if you're not boiling the cans or anything, i would hazard a guess that it would be double the bitterness when using two cans as opposed to one


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## Brooksy (20/5/07)

0M39A said:


> lol, if you're not boiling the cans or anything, i would hazard a guess that it would be double the bitterness when using two cans as opposed to one



No mate, about 1.5. It really is good.

The toucan Bitter is better, but the better the bitter, the stouter the stout.....  :blink:


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## MSR (20/5/07)

petesbrew said:


> Just watch the airlock mate. I had a big foamer with mine filled to 23L. There's still a black speck in the middle of the airlock, which won't wash out.




I also had a foamer, did a single can coopers stout couple of weeks ago and used the yeast from the previous brews slurry. Within an hour of pithching the airlock was going mental, by the morning the lid was covered in black stuff and had come through the airlock and all over the place


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## Moray (27/5/07)

Hi all,

racked to secondary today.
SG was 1014, taste was very nice, not to bitter.

I can't wait to get this into the keg  

cheers
Moray

ps 100th post


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## Sammus (27/5/07)

All the talk about foamers reminds me of a similar experience  Same toucan stout, I pitched 22L onto an entire Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale yeast cake after racking off a Theakstons OP clone....the thing went off like a rocket. 

That was over 6 months ago now, havent had a good experience with stouts OR toucans (yet to do one even drinkable) so being an experiment to just get rid of some old ingredients, I havent even been bothered trying it yet. recipe was:

Coopers Stout + Dark Ale + some brown sugar (forget how much sugar, also didnt realise that 'dark brown sugar' was different, so its just regular brown sugar ), boiled with 2 fuggles plugs for 10min, another 2 plugs into secondary.

I'm not even positive if it was dry hopped, I did about 5 brews at the same time (another reason why I havent tasted it yet ) and one of them I forgot to dry hop after racking, and I didn't take notes - oops!


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## Eddy Monsoon (27/6/21)

Just started a simple 23 litre Twocan, 

both Coopers Stout and 1 pack yeast.

Went like a rocket, so fortunately I had heeded advise ad used a 30 litre FV and it still went through the bubbler a bit.

Started at 1.046, and down to 1.020 in 3 days. 

3 days later 1.019 and flat on top

What should it finish at ?


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