Brew #2 Wilko Dark Velvet Stout

Pezza24 · Oct 23, 2014

After Kegging and bottling my first brew i decided to throw another batch into the fermenter while i had the kit out.

After a few mishaps and flooding my kitchen ive put together a Wilko Stout Variant.

1Kg Coopers Brew Enhancer
250g Dark Brown Sugar
400g Dark Treacle (I only wanted 200g but i poured a little too quickly)
150g Cocoa Powder

Pitched the yeast at 24 Degrees
SG @ 1056

Lookinf forward to this one as i fancied a Chocolate stout for Christmas!

DoctorMick · Oct 23, 2014

I've got a Wilko Stout going on next, not sure I'll use cocoa powder but I'll definitely be adding treacle.

Pezza24 · Oct 23, 2014

Yeah I'm thinking the cocoa powder was an error but it's too late to turn back now. I.had a sip of the trial jar and it was ok if not a tad bitter.

Stew · Oct 24, 2014

I would say that 400g of treacle is a lot to add (unless you really like the taste of treacle) as it takes an age to mellow out, although the cocoa may help offset that a bit.

Pezza24 · Oct 25, 2014

If I'm honest I accidentally put most of the tin in. I'm not sure what to expect with this one. It's bubbling away nicely but I'm worried I've ruined it with the treacle and the cocoa powder. All a learning curve though.

Slid · Oct 27, 2014

Pezza24 said:
If I'm honest I accidentally put most of the tin in. I'm not sure what to expect with this one. It's bubbling away nicely but I'm worried I've ruined it with the treacle and the cocoa powder. All a learning curve though.

Very much doubt it is ruined, but may take a couple of months to round out taste-wise. Treacle is very distinctive in a stout - I put about 200g in my first stout and it did take a while to fade, but it was fine in the end.

DoctorMick · Oct 28, 2014

Set mine away on Sunday, 3/4 a tin of treacle and there is a very strong treacle smell from the FV...funny that! I'm sure it'll mellow down quite a bit tho.

Cwrw666 · Oct 28, 2014

I read on another thread here that adding ordinary cocoa powder will ruin the head because it's about 1/3rd fat. Read that just after I put a stout on and adding cocoa myself, though nothing like the quantity you've used - I just used a couple of heaped teaspoonfulls plus a jar of honey, and even that was enough to give it a distinct chocolatey smell. It's in the keg now conditioning, so I guess I'll soon find out whether it was a mistake or not...

proost · Oct 28, 2014

I always put a 450g tin of Black Treacle in my Coopers Stout, always brewed short to 20L, and I think that tastes fine by me. Still thats only my personal taste and everyones different. Your Wilko Stout sounds ok to me, I'm sure it will come out fine and if not, well you can always change it next time. As we all say, its all a learning curve.

Good luck!

:-)

Pezza24 · Nov 13, 2014

After 19 days in the FV and having no bubbles in the airlock for about 15 days i decided to bottle this and clear up my FV for a new experiment.
The gravity was all over the place so i took a punt on this one, the reading i took before i bottled came out at 1018 which isnt reccomended but i went for it anyway.

I fear the chocolate or the cold temperature in my office killed the yeast a long time ago and the brew got stuck.

Its bottled now with 1 carbonation drop in each bottle and a bit of sediment can be seen in the bottles already. I will give this one time before trying it as i am hopping i have somehow managed to rescue it.

Slid · Nov 13, 2014

Pezza24 said:
After 19 days in the FV and having no bubbles in the airlock for about 15 days i decided to bottle this and clear up my FV for a new experiment.
The gravity was all over the place so i took a punt on this one, the reading i took before i bottled came out at 1018 which isnt reccomended but i went for it anyway.

I fear the chocolate or the cold temperature in my office killed the yeast a long time ago and the brew got stuck.

Its bottled now with 1 carbonation drop in each bottle and a bit of sediment can be seen in the bottles already. I will give this one time before trying it as i am hopping i have somehow managed to rescue it.

All the chocolate powder might have done is prevent any head retention in the final brew.

Cool temps will inhibit fermentation, but 19 days is a good sign.

Hard to know whther your reading at 1.018 is accurate since any gas in the beer will form bubbles on the hydrometer and push it up to give a false reading.

A better trial might even be to taste whether it is sweet at all or not.

Anyway, bit late now it's in the bottle - I think you should be OK with it.

Stout is usually ready to drink quite quickly, although, like all beer, it does improve.

Brew #2 Wilko Dark Velvet Stout

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