Coopers Irish Stout

[neilb]

I'm onto my second batch now. First batch was the usual Coopers Lager. Its maturing into a better drink, the cider flavours appear to be mellowing out and its becoming a semi-decent drink. It's pretty clear (just some chill haze), nice head formation and retention, and its well carbonated - overally I'm pretty pleased with myself. Aged 2 and a half weeks so far, basically trying a bottle every half week.

So my second batch is their Irish Stout. Got it today in a package that came with 500g Light DME and 1KG of Dextrose. The recipe provided by them calls for 500g of the DME with 300g of Dextrose made upto 23L. Two questions:

1. 300g of Dextrose enough for this brew?

2. What do I do with my remaining dextrose? I don't need it for priming as I have the carbonation drops (no problems with them in my first batch). Will the dextrose keep a while?

Thanks guys!

 

[Canumbler]

I would hazard that you'll want a fair bit more malt overall for a decent stout.

 

[Adamt]

Should be fine, make it up to 19-20L only though and you'll have a much more fuller-bodied (and stronger) stout. If you want it a little sweeter (irish stout is meant to be drier than Oscar Wilde :icon_vomit: ) you can steep about 250g of crystal.

Treat dextrose like table sugar as far as keeping it. It'll keep for ages in an airtight container. You can prime with it if you run out of carb drops or use it in future brews. 300-500g a batch I think is a good upper limit for dextrose in a standard brew.

 

[macples]

My first brew was a coopers irish stout and i used a stout mix from the LHBS which also has some lactose? in it to give a creamy flavour to it. Anyway don't expect too much from the stout in the first couple of months, mine tasted like crap for the first 3-4 months but on each taste you could tell it was getting closer to a stout. Now after 9 months it is absolutely awesome, i have been asked to put down another for a friends father for xmas this year so will put it down the end of the month so it can mature.

 

[neilb]

Well I got this kit and made it today. I'll tell the story as I'm sure people will get a laugh out of it.

Reading around and feeling pretty confident on how my last brew went (although the brewing sugar made it taste nasty) I was really keen to move up a step. For this brew I decided I would try a small boil to get the hot and cold breaks going, as my last batch suffered from chill haze. I also decided to make it up to 18L.

Got everything together this morning and started on it. Started my boil, being acutely aware of the risk of boil-overs. I watched that thing like a hawk. Turned the heat off and added my can, DME and dextrose and started mixing. Started to get worried as the DME turned into a solid ball, but some stiring had it dissolve pretty quickly.

I'm watching the thing like a hawk to see if its about to boil over, turn my back for a couple of seconds and I see it starting to foam up. Although I'd read exactly what to do I panicked. Tried to move the pot off the burner rather than turning the heat down. Looked around for my towel so I wouldnt burn myself, "SH$# WHERE IS IT!?!?!?" I go, and here comes the boil over. I grab the pot as its boiling over (boy does it go quick) and give my left thumb a nice burn and watch my wort dripping down the cooker. I'm trying to clean it up, throw some paper towels on it. Paper + heat = fire. Take care of that and put the pot back on never once leaving it alone. Well I get scared from this point on (plus the kitchen is full of smoke) so I finish the boil early and proceed to put it in my ice bath. Should be the last of my mistakes I think to myself...only to have some renegade piece of ice fly up and land straight in the wort. There goes the sanitation.

Let the thing chill down, and I'm telling myself its not all that bad. A small piece of ice won't ruin my brew right? So I now go to transfer the wort into my fermenter. Start pouring it in and wonder why the hell I'm getting a puddle of wort on my kitchen floor. I LEFT THE TAP OPEN. Again, tell myself its ok as I'm making it up to 18L anyway.

Start filling it up with my bottled water and manage to fill it up to 19L

Then I put the lid on. I take great effort to screw it on as I know the coopers fermenter lid needs a really tight fit. Of course, I forgot to put the yeast in. Unscrew, add yeast, rescrew.

Then I remember I didn't take the SG. Turn the tap on, and I've left the airlock in. Sucks some of the water in.

SG = 1040 on a 19L batch

Dear oh dear. I'm starting to be able to laugh about it now. Will be really interesting how this brew turns out

 

[BobtheBrewer]

neilb,

Add in spilling some of the wort on the front of the dishwasher, which eventually clogs up the buttons (so that you have to spray them with something to dissolve the gunk) and I've been there, done that. A good day is great, but a bad day is f*****!

Bob

 

[dc59]

With all thats happened, I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be your best so far. Funny how things work out sometimes.

Best of luck with the batch and may your next brewing be far less excitable, at least for your tickers sake.

 

[ando1712]

Never mind about a bit of spillage. the Coopers Irish Stout is a fine drop. Give it a kg of malt,about 15-20g of fuggles or goldings hops boiled for about 15 minutes,500g of lactose. fill it to about 20.5 ltrs & leave it for 4+ months & you've got a perfect milk stout. Cant go wrong..... unless you spill it all over the floor & stove

 

[neilb]

The weirdness continues. Its been 3 days and I'm noticing a distinct lack of airlock activity (haven't seen much of it at all tbh).

Been 3 days. Took a hydrometer reading at its at 1011! I've kept it at 18-20C the whole time. Really confused about it. I was expecting it to take at least a week at those temps. Will see what reading I get in a couple of days.