Brewmaker Shamrock Velvet Stout

[Cwrw666]

This is a one can kit that my local homebrew shop sells for about £16, and makes up to 5 gallons with the addition of a 1kg bag of white sugar. I was told by them that it's just a relabelling of the kit that used to be called `Irish Velvet Stout', but I don't know, so far it seems to be much better than the `Velvet' used to be, though I found in the past that this, although usually pretty good, was a bit variable in quality and didn't have a good head either.
So the current brew is my third `Shamrock' and I've just poured it into my budget keg with 3oz white sugar to prime it. I'll update in a couple of weeks when it's had a time to mature a bit. The previous 2 kits, both made up the same way and kegged, produced a lovely pint, great colour and thick creamy head that settled down to about 1/2 inch then stayed to the bottom of the glass. Taste was somewhat like Murphy's but with more body. Not too bitter but not bland either.
Brewing details: I emptied the can into a big aluminium saucepan, added 1kg white sugar, rinsed the can out with a kettle of boiling water. Then brought it up to the boil before adding to the FV. FV had been previously sterilised by scalding, rinsing it out with a kettle of boiling water. FV then topped up to 5 gallons with boiling water. I have to do this as we're on spring water and it's full of colliform bacteria. The water is also very acid, which might well affect the taste of the brew. FV left to cool until warm to the finger - takes about 6 hours - then yeast pitched in and FV transferred to our airing cupboard. Top bulging after first day and froth right up to top. Left in airing cupboard for just over a week then left in the cool for another week before kegging.

 

[Cwrw666]

OK, today was the day I drew off my first pint of this stuff after about 3 weeks sat in the keg. Once again - this is the 3rd time I've brewed this - it was excellent. Full bodied, great head, bitter but not too bitter. In fact, though it doesn't taste like Guinness, it's an excellent Irish stout. Have to say though, last time I visited Ireland I prefered their pub stouts in the order - Beamish, murphy's, then Guinness. So if you're a fan of the latter then you might not like this as much as I do...

 

[AxelF]

Interesting you had a good experience.
I've just made a 22l batch with the shamrock. I used reverse osmosis water for a more original taste to the wart. Fermented for 2 weeks, it's been bottled for 10days .... Just tried a sample .....very disappointed. The taste is mild and underwhelming and quite watery to be honest. The carbonation is not overly done (conditioned in the bottle) but the head is anything but creamy, it dissapates quickly and the beer is a bit flat. (I'll give it another week to condition ).

At the moment I'm thinking of poring it all down the sink and I make a all grain beer of my own.

Maybe it was the water chemistry, but this was a malt kit so it should not be that significant.

I'm puzzled as to why the beer is so week and unimpressive ..maybe I've been used to imperial stouts for too long!