Winter is Coming...

[LAGERFRENZY]

Just hit me today that it is probably the right time to whip the spare fermenter out and start brewing up some stouts and other darkish beers so that they can just start coming right in the bottle in about six (or more) months time. I reckon a robust toucan or even a full blown RIS might just be getting nice to sample around about Christmas time...

 

[Benn]

I like Porter in Winter.

 

[pablo_h]

When I could afford good commercial beer, Theakston's "old peculier" and Young's "double chocolate stout" were the best winter beers. Of course I didn't mind Swan stout (southwark's stout), but when that was discontinued coopers was 2nd place.
Lots of good porters showed up when the microbrewery revival of early-mid 2000s happened.

I'm still easing myself back into brewing after a lot of past disappointment,, doing mainly pale ales, dark ales and wheat. But if one thing could get me out of a can, it would one of the above beers.
Oh, I forgot, the old inchant (guildford, WA) breweries recipes. I can;t remember if it was a porter or doublebock but best beer I've had, ever.

Might do a toucan of coopers dark ale and stout (as I heard the stout toucan is overly bitter but crossing with dark ale helps in that regard). Might be bitter enough to use 100% malt finally...

 

[LAGERFRENZY]

I mainly drink Stouts and various English Bitter or Irish style Red Ales over the winter months and these beers will reward you with as much bottle conditioning as you can give them. This can test the patience of the most virtuous of brewers as it really means (for the stouts at least) six months in the bottle or more. I hear what you are saying as it took me some time to get my mojo back finding a Pale Ale recipe or two that I could tweak and starting on the slow path to All Grain for lager styles of beers. Lately I have found it really useful to use try and focus on and refine the brewing styles that are working for me and just continue on a path of continuous improvement.

I have never tried the toucan stout and dark ale recipe but having brewed them individually myself I can say they are great kits. There is an enormous amount of opinion that is available online to verify that they do indeed combine to being one of the more tried and tested (and least maligned) of kit brewing recipes.

 

[Yob]

The toucan stout is my favourite cooschmucks products, be aware that it's a volcanic ferment, you will need lots of headroom or a blow off tube.

 

[Mikeyr]

With that title ....... cue the whitewalkers.....places evrybody...action...

Just finished a bottle of prattys robust porter from the swap...ended up with 2, so what didn't I get. ...I'll never know....

Going to have a crack at that, great autumn beer i reckon

 

[Bribie G]

Winter is Yorkshire Bitters. I've got nice mountain views nowadays, can sit in the yard, squint and pretend they are the Pennines.

 

[TheWiggman]

Maybe I'm brewing my stouts wrongly but I've never had to leave them 6 months to enjoy them. Current FES (6.7%, based on Screwy's Choc Treacle) has been kegged for a good 5 months and sipping as well last night as it was 4 months ago.
I'll always endorse brewing more stout though. I've never made an American stout before, this might be the time.

 

[Kingy]

I often wondered about trying to make a good kit beer. A twocan stout sounds simple. How much aging does that beer need. And what yeast did you use. Us-05?
I like English bitters and brown ales. The stouts are good because not many people like them so they sit in the keg untill I finish it. I just brewed up Janet's brown ale and it's shaping up to be a cracker and I haven't even dry hopped it yet. They reckon it needs aging but I'm gunna just add it into the line up of kegs and should be on in a few weeks. It comes up as 6.66 % atm so might have to rename it the Devils brown.
I like sitting in the shed with some solid winter beers and sipping port around the fire. While everyone is inside with there heaters on and the Windows shut I can have my weekly favorite album on a few more notches.

 

[LAGERFRENZY]

Recently brewed a "Kilkenny Style" pack that a LHBS put out based on Mangrove Jack London Bitter brew. Its an absolute cracker - no I'm not silly enough to say it would stand up against the real KK but it really is a very smooth, well balanced beer that is true enough to style for me at $1.10 a long neck. I did a Muntons Yorkshire Bitter that is nice except for being a bit sweetish for my taste - I am putting this sown to S04 pulling up a bit short.

I've brewed some pretty large kit stouts, always just with the supplied yeast (though sometimes 2 packets of). When I say that they benefit from conditioning I am talking as a bottler not a kegger. In the bottle I find that they start rough and really smooth out over a period of four months or more. Coopers recipe for RIS advises to bottle in glass and age for years. I think it was Bribie G who did a monster stout in ths vein that got pretty high rankings in a national comp?

 

[Bribie G]

2 tins Coopers Stout
1 kilo dex
1 kilo LDME

Chuck in about 30g of any good aroma hop, seem to remember using Styrians, after 5 days.

kit yeast but only one packet to avoid volcanic action.

I used to drink this after two weeks in the bottle. Never had it on keg.

Damn, picked the wrong day to go on the wagon :unsure:

edit:



Well, that's interesting, I keep telling people that it was a RIS but my memory is faulty, it was a FES. Just having a senior decade by the looks.

 

[TheWiggman]

Looks like Craig Webber should focus on his IPAs :blink:

 

[LAGERFRENZY]

2 tins Coopers Stout
1 kilo dex
1 kilo LDME

Chuck in about 30g of any good aroma hop, seem to remember using Styrians, after 5 days.

kit yeast but only one packet to avoid volcanic action.

I used to drink this after two weeks in the bottle. Never had it on keg.

Damn, picked the wrong day to go on the wagon :unsure:


I reckon I would be seeing a few White Walkers after a couple of jars of that Brewski!

 

[pablo_h]

Thinking about doing a stout, but rather than toucan, just halve the water.
As the weather is hot and I can't control temps I might give up on full batches. I have 3x 50-60L eskies which are little use while using the fatarse coopers fermenters), I'm looking into doing 8-9l brews instead.
Might buy some $5 full spring water 10L water bottles to use the water and to ferment in that fit in my eskies, and a racking cane.

I have no money for a fridge or chest freezer, can't drive so can't pick up any dirt cheap s/h ones either.
Been looking into those soft cooler things (not the $100 rip off brew cool, but old ones mentioned here years ago, ie kmart/anaconda $30 "100 can coolers" which were pretty mucht he same thing for $30) Even tried aliexpress and alibaba, but nothing like that around any more it seems.

Going to buy some maris otter extract for a porter, and also do a half batch coopers stout.

E: because of the 8l batches, been looking on site and elsewhere for more info on AG, as it seems like it might be easier for half batches as I have lots of pots and stuff from when I did partials years ago - ( just lack a large powerful heatsource, mill and huge pots/modified with spouts etc, needed for full batch AG which is why I never bothered with it before)

Getting stuck on scaling and milling though (read posts on blenders/grinder/processors and diy - seems mixed, also using brewing software to scale seems the go but that's another whole pile of learning), so I'll probably put it off as fermentation temp control and yeast control/purchasing is more important right now so I'll stick with extract.

 

[Tropico]

Winter. Another Saison 1st. Then red and brown ales to last til summer. Pilsner and Lagers in the dead of winter, just in time for summer.