Licorice In Stout?

[Paxton]

Thursday seems to be my brew and bottle day, and this week will be no exception. I want to have a go at a Stout, as my Dad likes his Beer black, and I am beginning to like the flavours of some of the better Stouts on the market. For this reason, I've decided to have a go at a Toucan (which will be my first), but I would like to put some Licorice in with the Wort to try and get some of the more delicate Licorice flavours into the Stout, however I have a niggling feeling in the back of my head that tells me I would be better to put Darrel Lea's finest into my Bottles, and use the Licorice to Prime the bottles, instead of a Bulk prime, which I have been a religious participator in since I came into the possession of two Fermenters.

What do we all think?



Andrew.

 

[devo]

most brew shops sell Licorice extract. I use it my stouts but only a small amount just to aid in head retention.

 

[pickledkiwi2]

Hi Paxton,
I have a few stouts and found the Toucan stouts to have the fuller bodied taste that I tend like.
I havent used licorice in a brew yet, however I have used Black jelly beans to carbonate the stout in the bottles.
At the 4-5 week mark on the first tasting I was beginning to question the wisdom using them (the taste was a very strong licorice/aniseed flavour) but after a total of 8-10 weeks in the bottle it has mellowed to a really nice full bodied stout with just a hint of licorice.
I will deffinatly be doing this again. The next time I will experiment with so rasberry flavours also.
Cheers.

 

[Paxton]

Hi Paxton,
I have a few stouts and found the Toucan stouts to have the fuller bodied taste that I tend like.
I havent used licorice in a brew yet, however I have used Black jelly beans to carbonate the stout in the bottles.
At the 4-5 week mark on the first tasting I was beginning to question the wisdom using them (the taste was a very strong licorice/aniseed flavour) but after a total of 8-10 weeks in the bottle it has mellowed to a really nice full bodied stout with just a hint of licorice.
I will deffinatly be doing this again. The next time I will experiment with so rasberry flavours also.
Cheers.

Do you mind me asking what Cans you used? Also, how many Jelly Beans per (I'm going to assume you use Long Necks, as I do) bottle? I'm thinking of the Coopers Irish Stout and Morgan's Dockside Stout, boil one with 2 Litres of water, then pour the Second Can, Boiled can and water into my Fermenter, top up to 20 Litres (probably less), and ferment with the two packet yeasts.

Is there anything I should change here? Not only will this be my first Toucan, but it will be my first Boil. Any help is greatly appreciated.


Andrew.

 

[Steve]

Do you mind me asking what Cans you used? Also, how many Jelly Beans per (I'm going to assume you use Long Necks, as I do) bottle? I'm thinking of the Coopers Irish Stout and Morgan's Dockside Stout, boil one with 2 Litres of water, then pour the Second Can, Boiled can and water into my Fermenter, top up to 20 Litres (probably less), and ferment with the two packet yeasts.

Is there anything I should change here? Not only will this be my first Toucan, but it will be my first Boil. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Andrew.

Why boil? Just dissolve each can with a couple of litres of boiling water in the fermenter.
Cheers
Steve

 

[AngelTearsOnMyTongue]

Hi Paxton.

I did a threecan about a year ago and added about five lengths (~4") of Rabbit(?) liqourice. I also added about 1 table spoon of ground coffee. I am not a big fan of stout but I enjoy this one. Also, I have a scottish wife and any Scots that visit like it very much. I have another friend ( A huge Tongan fellow) who drinks it preferentially to any of my other beers....but that might be because its around 8.5%.

It has really come good over the last year but I am on my last bottles unfortunately.

Good luck.

ATOMT.

 

[Paxton]

Why boil? Just dissolve each can with a couple of litres of boiling water in the fermenter.
Cheers
Steve

With no Dextrose?

Just the two cans and water to 20 Litres?


Andrew.

 

[Steve]

With no Dextrose?

Just the two cans and water to 20 Litres?
Andrew.

You can just dissolve the dextrose and 2 cans in 4 litres of boiling water and top up to desired level. Have a search for "2can" or "twocan" lots of ideas Andrew.
Cheers
Steve

 

[user 1153]

What do we all think?
Andrew.

I've made a few licorice stouts and each time I have chopped and dropped a 250G bag of licorice into a boil with my LME and a 1kg bag of soft brown sugar.

The flavours come out real nice.

Dunno if you've tried it before but the licorice does not break down so I don't think the bottle priming with licorice will be too succesful and you'd end up with flat bottles (maybe if you left it a couple of years it may completely disolve).

Currently got mine sitting in secondary for a while at the moment while waiting to rebuild my bottle collection

 

[pickledkiwi2]

Do you mind me asking what Cans you used? Also, how many Jelly Beans per (I'm going to assume you use Long Necks, as I do) bottle? I'm thinking of the Coopers Irish Stout and Morgan's Dockside Stout, boil one with 2 Litres of water, then pour the Second Can, Boiled can and water into my Fermenter, top up to 20 Litres (probably less), and ferment with the two packet yeasts.

Is there anything I should change here? Not only will this be my first Toucan, but it will be my first Boil. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Andrew.

Hi, I just got home and checked my records and I lead you astray on the jelly bean brew.
It wasnt a toucan but this recipe instead:
Muntons Irish Style Dublin stout
500grms dried corn syrup
1kg coopers dark malt extract
1kg coopers light malt extract.
nottingham ale yeast
Brewed to 22litres

I bottled half the brew using plain dex in the bottles and the other half using 2 crushed Black jelly beans per bottle.

The jelly beans didnt break down and are still in the bottle, the bottles done with the jelly beans are not as carbonated as the bottles done with the dex. However what it lacked in fizz and head it made up for in flavour.

The last toucan stout I did was:
Cooper stout
coopers dark ale
5oogrms brown sugar
500 grams dried corn syrup
yeast from both cans re-hydrated

I kegged this one and force carbonated .
according to the notes I made myself it was "good after 1 week, but outstanding after 5 weeks" I went away on holiday and left the keg to sit for that time. I am planning to redo this recipe this weekend.

For what its worth I agree with steve "why boil" I just mix it in the fermenter as Steve does with a little boiling water and the relivent cans and ingredients and it always seems to work.

Cheers

 

[0M39A]

I did a 2can coopers stout with some liquorice extract in it.

recipe was:
2 x coopers stout
1kg dried dark malt extract
15ml liquorice extract
25g fuggles steeped for 10-15min then dumped into the carboy after the bulk of the primary fermentation was finished.
safale s-04 yeast
23L


turned out great, with a lovely merangue (sp?) like head you could just about eat with a spoon.

didnt really get much/any liquorice flavour, but that said though, it did taste amazing

one word of caution though, some others who have tried this claim its too bitter, but i find it beautiful.

 

[Paxton]

I went to my LHBS, and was talked out of doing a Toucan, as you can 'make a similar tasting beer without the need for two cans', so I walked out with a Munton's Export Stout, 750g DDME and 250g LDME. So...

Priming - can you use Brown Sugar, or would it adversely effect the flavour of the Beer? Should I prime with white sugar, and add Brown sugar at the start of Fermentation?

Sorry to keep asking stupid questions, but we all had to start somewhere.


Andrew

 

[0M39A]

due to the small amounts of sugar needed for priming (especially for stouts), it doesnt really matter what sugar you use, the flavour wont be effected.

as for getting the same results without using two cans, i strongly disagree with what they sold you.

it wont be nearly as bitter as a real twocan, and you wont get as much chocolate grain flavour.

what yeast comes with the muntons can? is it their "gold" yeast? i have heard that its ment to be a half decent yeast. otherwise you would have been better with something like some s-04.

at the end of the day, i guess you could just make do with what you have and decide if you like it or not, but personally i love the twocan version i made. so lovely and thick and bitter, with an amazing coffee, dark chocolate and roasted flavour

 

[Paxton]

due to the small amounts of sugar needed for priming (especially for stouts), it doesnt really matter what sugar you use, the flavour wont be effected.

as for getting the same results without using two cans, i strongly disagree with what they sold you.

it wont be nearly as bitter as a real twocan, and you wont get as much chocolate grain flavour.

what yeast comes with the muntons can? is it their "gold" yeast? i have heard that its ment to be a half decent yeast. otherwise you would have been better with something like some s-04.

at the end of the day, i guess you could just make do with what you have and decide if you like it or not, but personally i love the twocan version i made. so lovely and thick and bitter, with an amazing coffee, dark chocolate and roasted flavour

The Yeast is Munton's Active Brewing Yeast. I've not tried a Munton's Can before, so I can't comment on how well it works.

I Might add some Coffee to the Fermenter, which should aid in getting some Coffee undertones into the Stout. I think (on further examination and searching), that I'll put another 250 Dark Brown Sugar into the Wort, Maybe 100 grams of Golden Syrup, 1 tsp Coffee, Water to 20 Litres.

Here's hoping.

 

[Muggus]

A while ago I did a toucan Malt Shovel Brewery Oatmeal Stout. Brewed it up using around 20mL of liquorice extract. Don't really notice the flavour in the brew.
It pours a very nice dense tan head. but i'm not sure if thats the result of the liquorice or the yeast I used. (White Labs Irish Ale WLP004)

 

[0M39A]

*shrug*

go for it and report back! nothing you have listed sounds like it would ruin your beer at all.

personally to get the coffee undertones, i'd rather go with some nice dark roasted grains.

not sure how much flavour 1tsp of coffee would impart though...

 

[brettprevans]

*shrug*

go for it and report back! nothing you have listed sounds like it would ruin your beer at all.

personally to get the coffee undertones, i'd rather go with some nice dark roasted grains.

not sure how much flavour 1tsp of coffee would impart though...

1tsp = sweet FA taste in a 22L batch. consideriong you use at least 100g of grain in a brew for flavours....