Coopers Original Stout Review

[morethanworts]

I'm about to set this one off. I want it just over 5%, by the time the priming sugars are fermented out. It's going in this PB (with its unusually long tap) that gets a nice tight head. Make up your own jokes.

I have 1Kg of dark DME ready to go, but I'm trying to decide whether to simply add some cane sugar on top to get up to an OG of around 1.052, or to use part sugar and brew slightly short. I want some body in the beer, but it doesn't need to be like treacle.

Coopers recommend fermenting this at "21-27C" :shock: That sounds like Belgian beer temperatures to me. Anyone really doing it higher than 21C?

 

[CJR]

Coopers recommend fermenting this at "21-27C" :shock: That sounds like Belgian beer temperatures to me. Anyone really doing it higher than 21C?

I'm fermenting at ~22C with the aid of a fishtank heater. The Spew was amazing! You could literally hear it pushing through the hole in the lid.

My kit was the following:

Coopers Original Stout
1kg Dark DME
Approx 1 cup of brown sugar (variety uncertain).

I'm looking for a session beer so I don't want a very high percentage. I'll be putting into a cornie at the 10(ish) day mark and start drinking. I've followed the Ditch's Stout recipe so I don't have any gravity readings. :P

 

[Realaleofbritain]

Hey all, I brewed my first ever beer last night. It was the cooper stout with a twist. I wanted to make it a session-able Christmas stout, so I added, 500g medium spray malt, 3 cinnamon sticks, one large vanilla pod, chopped ginger and 450g black treacle. The OG was 1.038 ( I was hoping for 1.042)

What do you think?
:drink:

 

[noddyman]

I can't take it anymore!!

I have to get 1 of these kits and soon. I was going to go for ikg of DME and a full 454g tin of treacle. I will more than likely bottle the brew so any advice on priming?

Cheers and thanks for talking me into it!! :clap:

 

[noddyman]

DONE IT!

The Coopers Stout is in the FV, complete with 1kg of Dark DME and a tin of Treacle.

Still need a bit of advice on batch priming, i have another tin of Treacle at the ready. :

 

[winelight]

I don't think it matters so much what you use for batch priming, the quantity is so small as to not make much difference.

I made one batch with treacle, and didn't like the early sample at all. Does it improve a lot with conditioning? I certainly hope so!

 

[noddyman]

I don't think it matters so much what you use for batch priming, the quantity is so small as to not make much difference.

I made one batch with treacle, and didn't like the early sample at all. Does it improve a lot with conditioning? I certainly hope so!

Thanks for that, i will decide when the time comes. Not much activity after 20 hours but temp is around 19-20 degrees.

 

[hong]

Noddyman, just out of curiosity, how much did you pay for your DME?

 

[noddyman]

Noddyman, just out of curiosity, how much did you pay for your DME?

Around about £6. I bought my Coopers Stout and the DME for £19.55.

BTW, had a look at the brew this morning and it's puffing away like Ivor The Engine! Top of the FV is bulging, i've wrapped an old cloth round it and the stick on thermometer is reading 22-24 degrees. Happy Days.

 

[hong]

£6.00 is very good for 1kg of DME. At my lhs its about £6.00 for 500 grms!

 

[noddyman]

Just checked the website. £6.30.

 

[morethanworts]

I don't think it matters so much what you use for batch priming, the quantity is so small as to not make much difference.

I made one batch with treacle, and didn't like the early sample at all. Does it improve a lot with conditioning? I certainly hope so!

Thanks for that, i will decide when the time comes. Not much activity after 20 hours but temp is around 19-20 degrees.

Mine had quite a long lag too, about the same as yours I think, despite rehydration, aeration and good temperature control.

 

[noddyman]

Just this minute done a hydrometer test, came out at 0.0012 (OG was 0.0044). The taste is fantastic, the treacle is a winner to me already. I may bottle this weekend with Medium Spray Malt. How much though? :wha:

 

[goldenone]

After reading this thread i'm really tempted to do this kit next for my winter brew.

What's your opinion on using 1kg of brewing sugar and 500g medium malt extract? How do you think that this would turn out? Or should I try another combination?

 

[morethanworts]

Just this minute done a hydrometer test, came out at 0.0012 (OG was 0.0044). The taste is fantastic, the treacle is a winner to me already. I may bottle this weekend with Medium Spray Malt. How much though? :wha:

I really can't see the point in priming with spraymalt/DME or LME for that matter, sorry. It can't add much body or flavour in such small quantities. All you want is the CO2 condition at that stage. I went quite low for my one, around 60g white sugar. Stout is one drink I don't want too fizzy.

 

[noddyman]

Stout is one drink I don't want too fizzy.[/quote]

True, you don't get bubbles in Guinness do you. White sugar it is! Thank you.

When you say co2 condition, do you mean the sugar will provide enough. I know, beginner!!

 

[morethanworts]

Stout is one drink I don't want too fizzy.

True, you don't get bubbles in Guinness do you. White sugar it is! Thank you.

When you say co2 condition, do you mean the sugar will provide enough. I know, beginner!!

Guinness uses nitrogen in the draught and widget versions, I believe, giving finer bubbles - so there may be more gas than you notice, but it's not sharp.

As for 'conditon', see the forum Glossary for the best definition. White sugar (cane or beet) is 100% fermentable. DME/spraymalt may be as little as 75%, so you would need to add more to get the same amount of CO2 in your final beer - if you were using it. The treacle in at the beginning will likely have far more effect on the taste than the (say) 80g or so DME which you might use to prime the bottles/keg.

 

[noddyman]

Ahhhh the glossary. Thank you again. I have made my mind up to follow your advice and use white sugar (60g). will let you know how i get on. Cheers.

 

[Mulled]

Having read nothing but good things about this beer i bought a tin from Wilco's yesterday and made it up today. For the extra fermentables required, i used 500g of medium spaymalt and a 680g jar of golden syrup from Aldi. Lovely looking wort i must say

The O.G. at 25 c was 1040 so temperature adjusted 1041. If it ferments down to 1010 i am looking at around 4.1% which is a nice session strength. I am really looking forward to this one after all the praise it has received, it is also my first Coopers kit.
On thing that leaves me a little bemused though is the addition of DME by the kilo. I don't really have a homebrew shop nearby just Wilco's. The cost of the kit at £14.00 plus a kilo of DME at £8.80 puts this kit in the premium category. :shock: Is it really THAT good? Time will tell :lol:

Regards
Mulled

 

[morethanworts]

On thing that leaves me a little bemused though is the addition of DME by the kilo. I don't really have a homebrew shop nearby just Wilco's. The cost of the kit at £14.00 plus a kilo of DME at £8.80 puts this kit in the premium category. :shock: Is it really THAT good? Time will tell :lol:

You're totally right :thumb: . Mine is still too young to know how it will come out, but I pondered for a while about a kit where such a huge portion of the fermentables required are not already in it!*

In the end, I just treated it as a premium 'two can' kit, that has the hop/adjunct bill already in it for the whole batch, but which leaves flexibility (in preference and cost) on a big part of it.

On this thread, we're sort of reviewing the various options as much as the can itself, I guess.

*I did the pondering after the purchase, as it happens, because it was in the half price sale and therefore was a bit of a no-brainer.