Toucan Stout

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NuggetSA

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Hey all,
I've seen mentions of a toucan Coopers Stout/Dark Ale around the place and thought I'd give it a shot with winter coming on. Is this a pretty standard stout without anything additional added? I prefer a dry(ish) stout without too much burnt flavour (caramel) ala Coopers Stout and not too heavy on the hops because I prefer to have four rather than one :chug:

I'm pretty amateur as well (if ya couldn't tell!) so probably best skip full extract or grain brewing :)
 
What did the threads you read say to do?
 
Well I'll be stuffed if I could find those, did forum searches for toucan stout, stout/dark ale etc... Bit special me...

I was referring to the dozens of references to this mix rather than actual recipes which I've never seen until now.

Cheers, I'll just refer to those links.
 
NuggetSA said:
Hey all,
I've seen mentions of a toucan Coopers Stout/Dark Ale around the place and thought I'd give it a shot with winter coming on. Is this a pretty standard stout without anything additional added? I prefer a dry(ish) stout without too much burnt flavour (caramel) ala Coopers Stout and not too heavy on the hops because I prefer to have four rather than one :chug:

I'm pretty amateur as well (if ya couldn't tell!) so probably best skip full extract or grain brewing :)
Hey there Nugget, you wont get an easier recipe than that and if you like your stout then its a winner. i make it exactly as it is, add both yeast packs and its normally in the bottle after 8 days (always make sure its finished though). I get into them after a month and they taste good. A bit more patience and there even better
 
My killer toucan is two tins of Coopers Stout, a kilo of dex and a kilo of LDME, with a half handful of hops on day 4. Any aromatic hops will do.

Mine got as far as the Nationals a few years ago and came upper-mid-field in the judging.

Drink with caution and consult doctor if pain persists.
 
It must be stout season. It was colder and a bit wet in Melbourne so...

I put down a one can... not that it makes me any less of a man...
Can Coopers Irish stout
270g light dried malt
230g Dex
200g choc malt steeped
topped up to 13 litres (lucky for some)
English ale yeast from brew cellar. (Never used this before, drove past a different HBS it was what they stocked)

It smelt and tasted pretty good but very strong as I put it into the FV.
It's built up a big krausen today
 
Bribie G said:
My killer toucan is two tins of Coopers Stout, a kilo of dex and a kilo of LDME, with a half handful of hops on day 4. Any aromatic hops will do.

Mine got as far as the Nationals a few years ago and came upper-mid-field in the judging.

Drink with caution and consult doctor if pain persists.
Assuming you're not trolling, what volume did you mix this to? I'm always in the market for quick/easy keg fillers.
 
Are these your typical 18-20 degree fermentations? An old bloke I know swears stout has to be done at 10-12.

Two stouts, Kg dex AND a kilo of LDME? Wouldn't that be like and 7% and super bitter??
 
It would be more like 8.2% (assuming you did the right thing with your yeast), and yes, quite bitter.
 
slash22000 said:
Assuming you're not trolling, what volume did you mix this to? I'm always in the market for quick/easy keg fillers.
More like 9% - and it's very nice after only about a fortnight in the bottle / keg. However it's a killer which is why I haven't made if for a couple of years.

toucan results.jpg
 
My first Toucan was mental, bitter as anything (IBUs were about 65ish) and awesome roasty tasting.

Coopers Selection Stout can
Coopers Dark Ale
1kg bag of brew dex/LDME mix
20g of fuggles (steeped & dry hopped)
Scoop of Coffee grounds (steeped & liquid added)


[sharedmedia=core:attachments:57735]
 
I like the idea of the coffee grounds, definitely going to try that.

Thanks all, gonna put this one down tonight - stupidly excited about the result :)
 
I was reading a forum just this morning about using coffee in stouts.

The comment talked about, rather than using coffee grounds or prepared liquid coffee, to "lightly crack" (with a rolling pin or something) an ounce of whole roasted coffee beans, sterilise them by soaking in a little vodka for ~15 minutes, and just add them whole lot to the secondary fermentor. This should keep them from being sucked into the bottle/keg (as would happen with coffee grounds) and evidently the alcohol soluble compounds in the coffee will come out along with the water soluble compounds, giving a really awesome coffee aroma/flavour.

Something worth trying if you're interested.
 
slash22000 said:
I was reading a forum just this morning about using coffee in stouts.

The comment talked about, rather than using coffee grounds or prepared liquid coffee, to "lightly crack" (with a rolling pin or something) an ounce of whole roasted coffee beans, sterilise them by soaking in a little vodka for ~15 minutes, and just add them whole lot to the secondary fermentor. This should keep them from being sucked into the bottle/keg (as would happen with coffee grounds) and evidently the alcohol soluble compounds in the coffee will come out along with the water soluble compounds, giving a really awesome coffee aroma/flavour.

Something worth trying if you're interested.
Will try that next for sure! With mine I just sterilized my coffee plunger and added the steeped liquid that way, no mess (apart from the plunger) and no problem ;)
 
I made a coffee stout a few months ago and did the coffee grounds / plunger thing. It turned out tasting like an old style coffee percolator that someone had forgotten to clean out for a couple of days with a couple of Gaulloises stubbed out in it as well.

Definitely room for improvement - the cracked beans sounds promising.

With the Toucan if you use the normal Coopers Stout and the couple of kilos of the extra fermentables I find that the resulting sweetness and body definitely smooths out the bitterness. IIRC I put it in Sqyre's Xmas case swap about three years ago if anyone can still recall it.
 
Bribie G said:
I made a coffee stout a few months ago and did the coffee grounds / plunger thing. It turned out tasting like an old style coffee percolator that someone had forgotten to clean out for a couple of days with a couple of Gaulloises stubbed out in it as well.

Definitely room for improvement - the cracked beans sounds promising.

With the Toucan if you use the normal Coopers Stout and the couple of kilos of the extra fermentables I find that the resulting sweetness and body definitely smooths out the bitterness. IIRC I put it in Sqyre's Xmas case swap about three years ago if anyone can still recall it.
How long had the grounds been sitting for before put into the plunger or had they been ground before use?
 
For my original brew I used Nottingham, which chewed through the wort in about 8 days. However I have also used the Coopers kit yeast - it's not too bad for most dark beers and I've even used it for a very successful Tooheys Old type attempt. Notto tends to strip out some of the flavour IIRC (haven't used it for years) but makes a good faux lager.
 
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