Strong Stout / Dark Ale Assistance

[Digga]

So as the title says I'm asking for some assistance with putting together a recipe for a strong (9% - 10%) stout or dark ale recipe.
I currently have a 50L WRDA batch on the go at the moment which has finished fermentation. I will leave it till the weekend so I can keg and bottle it. The yeast used was US05 and kit stuff from coopers dark ale cans. As the batch started at 1060 and I only had 2 packs I chucked 2 packs of kit yeast at it also.

So I'm thinking of throwing a ~25L batch on this cake as it should have enough yeasties there to do the job of a ~10% batch.

I have a bunch of stock at the moment witch includes 1 can of both dark and stout from the coopers range. I also have KGs of light, medium, and dark crystal, pale chocolate and standard chocolate, carafoam and carared on hand. Plenty of DME and dex also. And I have Belgin rock candi as well.

I haven't put anything through ianh's spreadsheet yet but in my head I'm thinking and this is just wildly throwing stuff in there because I have it. I have no idea if it will work or what it will come out like.

Either both the cans
250g of both medium crystal and pale chocolate malts
1/2 kg of Belgium rock candi
Couple of kg of DME and Dex to bring it to 10%

Or

Stout can
250g of both dark crystal and chocolate malts
1/2 kg Belgium rock candi
DME and Dex to bring to 10%

Part of me is thinking I shouldn't do crystal with a stout but I don't know haven't done many. Not sure if it will add anything that would be noticeable?
Do I en even bother with the candi?
Am I way off the mark altogether.

Looking for some thoughts as I wanna through down this weekend. Preferably Saturday.

Thanks in advance

 

[Judanero]

Save the candi for something else mate, you won't get anything from it in this one, same for the crystal- you'll get plenty of head retention from the dark grains and residual sweetness from the cans.

I would use both cans, 2-300g pale choc or choc (depending what you want dark ale or stout), kg of DME or dex day two of ferment.

 

[Digga]

Thanks Judanero I think I'll take your advice and hold off on the candi.
Do you have a recipe (k&k) that may benefit from it? Or I can fire up the urn for the maden voyage and do an AG batch!.

I didn't brew the above today but will tomorrow so will just do a 2 can with choc DME and dex as the above. I thought the crystal would just be lost in the dark depths of flavours below.

I seen that coopers do the RIS with these 2 kits and a lager kit. So ill try and match the IBU's and ECB with dex and malt, as I have these on hand. Bit of choc will be the bee's on this I recon!

 

[MHB]

If you put 2 kits and 1kg of Dex into 25L your OG should be -
2*1.7kg @ 80% solids = 2.72kg and you will get another 0.9 from the Dex giving 3.62kg
3.62kg in 25L Gives an OG of 1.055 (about).
Unless your name is Jesus I cant see you getting very much past 1/2 way to your 10% target.
Mark

 

[Judanero]

I only ever did one k n k that used candi sugar (also my second ever knk), just dug up my recipe book it was:

"-Can of muntons blonde
-1.2 kg LDME
-500g honey
-500g Candi sugar
-200g medium crystal and 100g Pale choc steeped for an hour in ~3L water

40g Hallertau, 25g Styrian Goldings (10 min boil in steeped grain water with ~ 500g of the LDME.)

Yeast: WLP500 ferment @ 20c, rise to 24 by day 3.
Total vol: 15L

Tasting notes: Plum/ dark fruits, slight alc warmth, slightly sweet aftertaste but also kind of spicy, needs to be drier."

If it was me I'd fire up the urn and use the candi in a dubbel or Belgian dark strong ale :kooi:

You can always reduce the volume of your planned dark ale/stout to 20L to bump up the alc %

 

[Digga]

So I'm going with 23L
The 2 kit tins
300g of choc
1.5kg DME and 1.5kg dex
Should be around the 10% mark.

 

[Bribie G]

Sounds good. I used to brew a killer RIS from 2 tins of Coopers Stout and a kilo each of dex and LDME with a small handful of lucky dip aroma hops into the FV at 4 days. Kit yeast.

One year I put it in Comps and it got midfield in the Strong Stouts in the National.

Turns out a bit sweet, if I did it again I'd use Nottingham.