Coopers Irish Stout - not enough fermentables?

[Nial]

I did my first batch of Coopers stout last night with...

Tin of malt extract
500g Young's been enhancer
200g dark brown sugar
Half a tin of treacle.

I made up to 23 L and took a sample for testing the OG before pitching
the yeast and putting it all in my fermentation fridge at 21 Deg.

Later I tested the OG and it's only 1030, should I have used the whole 1Kg
of beer enhancer?

I don't mind this ending up a bit weaker but am worried it'll taste a bit 'thin'.

Should I stir in the other half of the beer enhancer to the fermenting wort
or just leave it and see how it turns out?

Thanks for any thoughts,

Nial

 

[Spoc]

I would chuck it in the fv your fermentables total is only about 2.5 kg so it will probably taste like black ****
Whenever I do a coopers kit I always add at least an extra 1.5 kg of fermentables

 

[Godsdog]

Bung the rest in as 1030 if it drops to 1010 is p1$$ weak 2.63 abv and thin with little mouth feel

 

[Robin54]

Bung the rest in as 1030 if it drops to 1010 is p1$$ weak 2.63 abv and thin with little mouth feel

agree...and chuck in some bittering hops as well if you have them

 

[Slid]

I agree also that you bung in the rest of the brew enhancer.

 

[Nial]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I started this on Thursday night and have just gone to see how it's doing to find the top of the airlock
lying a few inches away from it. It must have been pretty vigorous at some point.

I'll dissolve the rest of the enhancer in a little boiling water then add a bit more cold to cool it and tip it in this afternoon.


Nial.

 

[Godsdog]

Currently half way down the keg of mine,had a total fermentable of 3150 grams and came out with an OG of 1068 and fermented down to 1011 giving an ABV of 7.48 and bloody nice too they really are what they call bomb proof on here

 

[Dutto]

I hope you appreciate what can happen with a brew like this.

1. It will taste like dishwater and you will never want to brew it again; which isn't a problem.

2. It will be the best brew you have ever made; but due to the way it was made you can't replicate it.

Enjoy! :thumb:

 

[Pirate_Pete]

Are you going to bulk prime this?
I made a Coopers Stout earlier in the year and bulked primed it. I'd read to half the amount of dextrose for a stout.
I think the idea is that you put the stuff away for six months or so before drinking it. I now see on the Coopers recipes
they advise normal priming.
I couldn't bring myself to half it, so I used about 95 grams, whereas I'd normally use 165-175 grams.
3 months later and it's as flat as. I'm thinking of rebottling it and adding more dextrose.

 

[Nial]

As an update to this....

I didn't get round to adding the extra beer enhancer so it had 2 weeks in the FV then three weeks in a pressure barrel, both at ~20 Deg C.

It's great. It doesn't have the full bodied taste of a pint of Guiness but it's not 'thin', I think the treacle adds flavours that hide the
fact that it's not massively strong.

It fermented down to 1005, so about 3.3%, very drinkable with the benefit of a clear head the next day!

I'll be doing very similar again.

 

[Godsdog]

As an update to this....

I didn't get round to adding the extra beer enhancer so it had 2 weeks in the FV then three weeks in a pressure barrel, both at ~20 Deg C.

It's great. It doesn't have the full bodied taste of a pint of Guiness but it's not 'thin', I think the treacle adds flavours that hide the
fact that it's not massively strong.

It fermented down to 1005, so about 3.3%, very drinkable with the benefit of a clear head the next day!

I'll be doing very similar again.

So it ended up a quaffable session beer,3.3 a tad low but long as you happy jobs a gud un

 

[Nial]

So it ended up a quaffable session beer,3.3 a tad low but long as you happy jobs a gud un

The drink drive limit up here (Scotland) been lowered to 50mg/ whatever so
being able to have a (good) few pints and know you're fine the next day is a
bonus.

 

[Nial]

Are you going to bulk prime this?
I made a Coopers Stout earlier in the year and bulked primed it. I'd read to half the amount of dextrose for a stout.
I think the idea is that you put the stuff away for six months or so before drinking it. I now see on the Coopers recipes
they advise normal priming.
I couldn't bring myself to half it, so I used about 95 grams, whereas I'd normally use 165-175 grams.
3 months later and it's as flat as. I'm thinking of rebottling it and adding more dextrose.

I did bulk prime it in the pressure barrel. I can't remember how much I put
in but this has also been as flat as ****, apart from the first few pints.

I still like it though. :-)

 

[celsius]

I did my first Coopers Stout in July and am enjoying the fruits of my labour now. 1kilo DME and .5 Kilo dextrose. I got a 5.3 FG after three and a half weeks in the FV. Been bottled a couple of weeks now and had a couple of samples. Primed using carbonation drops, its a lovely drink. Nice head, although it doesn't stay to the bottom of the pint. It's sweet, almost like a Mackeson. Really happy with it.