Stout Advise

[BEERBOY]

I got given a couple of bottles of homebrew "stout" yesterday, and it was not bad. I had never had it before and was wondering what was the best "dump & stir" brand to buy and with what type of sugar or malt extract.
Also should it have a head? as this stuff just looked like coke but tasted like tooheys old

 

[big d]

dump and stir
never thought of it like that but anyway one of my most memorable stouts in my k and k days was a mount mellick stout .
cant remember how i put it together but i know it wasnt with sugar but i do remember it being one sensational tasting stout kit.
if its still available give it a go and report back.im sure it will please.
try one of those brew booster bags that go with dark beers/stouts
from memory these bags are a mix of dark and light malt plus corn syrup.

cheers
big d

 

[GMK]

Tooheys Old is not a stout....

Tell me what sort of stout you like and i can recomend something...

Eg in your face with burnt bitterness and sharp, or slightly sweet, mellow and more rounded/easy drinking.

Do you want to steep some grains as well....do you have extra hops? If so what ones...

I am drinking a super hopped Foreign extra Stout at the moment - who said that you cant have hops in stout - Bloody Beutiful.

 

[Trough Lolly]

I got given a couple of bottles of homebrew "stout" yesterday, and it was not bad. I had never had it before and was wondering what was the best "dump & stir" brand to buy and with what type of sugar or malt extract.
Also should it have a head? as this stuff just looked like coke but tasted like tooheys old

Beerboy,
A reasonable starter would be a Coopers Stout kit with a Brewiser "Stout Combo" pack from K-Mart. This gives a good starting point for K&K stouts IMHO. I did this one back in early 2002 and thought it was pretty good for a "dump & stir" job .

I would bulk prime with dry malt (any colour) before bottling and consider steeping some specialty grains if you are so inclined. I'm not a Stout guru (or a tall one for that matter ) but you might want to toss in some Chocolate Malt grains (say 100g) 100g of Flaked Barley and add an extra 150g of Maltodextrin (Corn Syrup) to the mix in order to add more body and firm up the head of the beer (in the Guiness style if you wish).

This should result in a 23L batch at an SG of 1.043 (substantially more if you add the stuff in the second para) and will ferment down to about 1.016 in about 2 weeks - don't rush the fermentation - 7 days is not enough to really develop a stout. Keep the temp in the low 20's - don't pitch above 25C. Secondary fermentation in the fridge at 10C or less for a couple of weeks will really help develop the beer as well.

Yeast is important here and does make a difference - use the kit yeast for this batch and then do the brew again using a purpose built yeast such as: Wyeast 1084 (Irish Ale), 1335 (British Ale), 1028 (London Ale) or 1728 (Scottish Ale).

Cheers,
TL

 

[pioneergangsta]

BEERBOY,

i haven't much info on stouts, and decided the other day to do a k+k stout,
i used a coppers, used kit yeast :huh: and wacked in some of that morgans choc malt, racked yesterday after 8 days in primary, is fermenting in 20deg C (chest freezer).When i racked it had a creamy-ish look to it...probably leave in secondary for a week and then keg.

Cheers

 

[Jovial_Monk]

Definitely steep 250g choc grains and say 500g roast barley

some wheat malt extrect for head

Jovial Monk

 

[Linz]

And watch it like a hawk....these buggers ferment like a bastard and WILL generate its own heat source.

As for ease of "dump and stir" try an ESB fresh wort Stout kit....just add yeast!...can't be any easier!

 

[Gout]

make the kit to 18Lt (higher gravity more punch and much better)

also get some liquorice extract mmmmm

then age the bugger


Or to make it simple add 2 kits to make the same volume, give it a long time to ferment use both yeasts, airate very well

The extra bitterness is ok becuase of the extra malt (a guy at work does this and for his first 2 brews there dam fine)