Coopers Original Stout Review

[Chriso]

Just getting back into brewing from a long time ago I made my brew with the can of treacle it was quiet for a day or two but then exploded into action and foamed up to the lid. It has been in the bottle 8 days and tastes great although not gassy and no head.
I will definitely be making another before Xmas :

 

[serum]

I've just botted a batch of this.

I used 1kg dark spraymalt but had a lot of difficulty getting it down to the required gravity. It got stuck at 1.020 which isn't anywhere near the recommended finishing gravity but I wonder whether I should have put some extra sugar in because you lot all seem to have done that. I tried stirring it around. This got the airlock bubbling a bit but it the gravity didn't shift.

It didn't seem to foam up like everyone else's either. It might have been a bit too cold though.

I did some reading on other forums and they said dark malt extract brews often get stuck at 1.020 so I've just gone ahead and bottled it. The trial jar tasted alright anyway so hopefully it'll be alright. I batch primed with normal white sugar.

Fingers crossed but I'm not expecting miracles from this one.

 

[noddyman]

8 weeks in the bottle and the taste has improved over the last month. Looking forward to trying it again in another 4 weeks. :pray:

 

[eric90000]

just ordered my first ever home brew kit and went with Coopers Stout. I read through a lot of these comments and ended up ordering 1kg Dark DME, and also 1kg of Brewers Sugar.

I'm looking for decent body to the stout but also over 5% alcohol would be preferable. Will the 1kg DME and 1kg of Sugar get me there without having any adverse affects to the stout? Should I use all the DME but add less Sugar instead?

Any advice would be great.

 

[RaffCPH]

just ordered my first ever home brew kit and went with Coopers Stout. I read through a lot of these comments and ended up ordering 1kg Dark DME, and also 1kg of Brewers Sugar.

I'm looking for decent body to the stout but also over 5% alcohol would be preferable. Will the 1kg DME and 1kg of Sugar get me there without having any adverse affects to the stout? Should I use all the DME but add less Sugar instead?

Any advice would be great.

Just my opinion, but I would drop the brewing sugar to about 250g and brew short to 21l which will give you a more bodied brew than brewing to 23l with all that sugar.. and you would increase the alco at the same time.

 

[gazkilla]

Just opened my first bottle after 3 weeks in the bottle,I know its a bit early but there was no head. I batched primed with 90g of T&L and bottled straight away. Will it get better or should I add more sugar next time?

 

[GavH]

I would drop the brewing sugar to about 250g and brew short to 21l which will give you a more bodied brew than brewing to 23l with all that sugar.

+1 on this. I recently did the Coopers Irish Stout with a kilo of Extra Dark DME and about 300g of Brown sugar to 22L. Brewing a little shorter would have definitely been a wise move as it's a little thin for my liking but the flavour is all there, no doubting that.

 

[eric90000]

+1 on this. I recently did the Coopers Irish Stout with a kilo of Extra Dark DME and about 300g of Brown sugar to 22L. Brewing a little shorter would have definitely been a wise move as it's a little thin for my liking but the flavour is all there, no doubting that.

Ok thanks for the heads up! Any idea of the percentage your Irish stout came out as?

 

[eric90000]

So got my stuff in the post today and got my first ever brew on!

I brewed to 21L as advised here, added 1kg of Dark DME, and 300grm Dextrose. Smelled delicious, I can't wait til its ready to bottle

Also can anyone just confirm for me that I'm reading this Hydrometer correctly, I've never read one before. to me it looks like 1.048, would that be correct?

 

[RaffCPH]

With the hydrometer, it is there or there abouts from your picture. Good thing you have a towel under that FV as it is quite a wild ferment, big krausen with this kit and known airlock blower.

 

[GavH]

+1 on this. I recently did the Coopers Irish Stout with a kilo of Extra Dark DME and about 300g of Brown sugar to 22L. Brewing a little shorter would have definitely been a wise move as it's a little thin for my liking but the flavour is all there, no doubting that.

Ok thanks for the heads up! Any idea of the percentage your Irish stout came out as?

About 4.3% I reckoned.

 

[gazkilla]

Looks like 1046 to me Eric

 

[eric90000]

cool thanks for the replies! This has been fermenting for just over 24 hours and its going absolutely mental. I actually can't keep water in the airlock, it keeps blowing it all out. The Krausen is pushing against the lid, some of the stout foam is actually blowing through the airlock.

Is it bad if theres no water in the airlock? everytime I top it up its all blown out after a few minutes.

 

[Bernie]

I've found this with the stout. It tends to slow down and only slowly does it go down the last few thousands in SG.
I've just opened the bottled dregs from the end of the bucket made using a Coopers tin + 1 kg of their Brewenhancer. Not too shabby.

 

[DamageCase]

I barreled mine last night. I short brewed to 20 litres with a kilo of enhancer with a SG of 1045. I left it it for 9 days and barreled it with 80 grams of dextrose when it hit 1012 giving me about 4.5% alcohol after factoring in the priming sugar. The gravity sample was excellent so I'm looking forward to my first taster in a week or so!

 

[Stew]

Just started one of these at lunchtime with 1kg of medium spraymalt and about 250g of light muscovado sugar and topped up to about 21L (ish). OG was 1044/1046 as was a little bit hard to read with the foam. Now sitting on the kitchen floor with an aquarium heater at 21c inside the FV :thumb:

 

[gazkilla]

Just cracked another bottle open of these and it true what they say its just keeps getting better and better. The one last week still had a bit of the black treacle after taste but that appears to have gone now and its very smooth. Been bottled for 4 weeks now :

 

[eric90000]

whats everyones opinion on syphoning into the bottling vessel using the tap on the fermentor? Obviously I sanitized it before brewing but is it safe to connect a hose to after taking samples and being exposed to air etc?

 

[Bernie]

whats everyones opinion on syphoning into the bottling vessel using the tap on the fermentor? Obviously I sanitized it before brewing but is it safe to connect a hose to after taking samples and being exposed to air etc?

If the oxygenation is only slight I would have thought that dissolved O2 would be taken up by the yeast during refermentation in the bottle. (my hypothesis)

 

[eric90000]

If the oxygenation is only slight I would have thought that dissolved O2 would be taken up by the yeast during refermentation in the bottle. (my hypothesis)

I was wondering more about the infection side of things, am I likely to pick up a beer infection from the tap if I transfer all the beer through it into a bottling bin? I sanitized it at the start but do I have to sanitize it again....just wondering because it'd be hard to clean with the beer in the vessel.