Advice on Stout and Ale kits.

[LarryF]

Good evening all, I've got my first brew on but I'm planning two and three and I just wanted to run what I'm planning past you guys on the forum just to make sure that I'm not investing time and money on producing dishwater. Anyway, I got 30 bottles with my kit and I've since purchased another 60 bottles so I can keep it all rolling with brewing, bottling and drinking so as soon as I bottle one brew I can get another one on. My next adventure is going to be a Coopers Stout with 1kg of Youngs brew enhancer (half DME, half dextrose) and I'm thinking of priming the bottles with a teaspoon of brown sugar but any advice on this would be more than welcome. I'm looking at giving the brew three weeks in the FV as my current temp is 16-18, I've been assured that this is ok for the Coopers lager I'm doing. I just want to check that it'll be ok for the stout, I'm then thinking of giving it three weeks in bottles and then having a first taste. Please let me know if you think that this will work, if the temp is an issue I have no problem doing another lager until things start to warm up a bit, hopefully by the end of March. After this I'm thinking of doing a Coopers English bitter and will probably go with another brew enhancer but I'm thinking of priming the bottles with the Coopers sugar drops but would welcome any alternative suggestions. I like the idea of adding hops as I get more confident with what I'm doing but I'm worried about infection, at the moment I'm leaving it alone and staying away from it as I've been advised. When it comes to adding hops I'm not sure whether to go with a tea being made at the start of the process or whether to add hops to the FV two or three days before bottling and would welcome any tips on what hops to use and how to use them safely. I'm going to bottle the lager on 25/01/15, specific gravity allowing and I'll be looking to get the stout in the FV on the same day, thanks in advance for any tips and advice.

 

[Slid]

Hi Larry and Welcome

The Coopers lager and stout kits are great and most of what you plan looks good to me. Here are my suggestions:

If the temps are a bit low, try to retain the heat from the brewing process by wrapping the FV in a towel, blanket or even duvet. This will also help to prevent the yeast going dormant overnight.

There are a LOT of ideas on the stout kit here:

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17817

My suggestion is to add 1kg of DME to the stout and stick with 500g for the lager. I also like to add up to 1kg sugar (cheapest table sugar at that) in a lot of brews, but know that this is considered slightly yobbish.

Also table sugar is best for priming as it's easiest to handle and adds little taste anyway. If you like the sound of other sugar, I would add it up front.

(I'm afraid that my CAMRA upbringing was undermined by having kids and spending 20 years drinking supermarket lager and cider.)

At any rate, you seem to have a good plan and I would suggest you get the first two brews on and ask about the many interesting ways to pimp up a Coopers UK bitter in due course.

 

[clibit]

Coopers stout comes with an ale yeast and the ideal temp is 20-22C. It will still ferment at 18C, just take longer. Don't leave it to chance, take hydrometer readings from about day 10 and make sure you reach a suitable final gravity.

Coopers English bitter uses Coopers yeast, ideal temp 18-20C.

The priming sugar used doesn't affect the final beer noticeably. I just use brewing sugar.

With regards to hops, there is no risk of infection. Hops are put in beer to preserve it. But a good idea is to boil them for 5-10 minutes, which extracts flavour and aroma, and then you can strain them out and just add the oils from them to the FV. Then you have flavour and aroma, and no faff when you come to bottling or kegging the beer. You could add some or all of your brew enhancer to 2 or 3 litres of water and boil the hops with that. Mix the kit in the FV with water, add the hopped water and then top up with cold.

 

[LarryF]

Sound advice Slid, very much appreciated. I think I'll run with getting my first two under my belt and then take it from there, priming with table sugars certainly sounds good to me.

 

[LarryF]

Thanks Clibit, I can see how that method with the hops will work, it clears up my concerns about infection. Now I know what to do I'll start checking the threads about hops and gather as much info as I can. From your reply I think I'll do the Coopers English Bitter next as the yeast will work better at the lower temps at this time of year and save the stout for later on in spring. Thanks for your advice Clibit, very much appreciated.

 

[Sandimas]

I've tried various recipes for Coopers Stout but keep coming back to the basics, which tastes best to me: just the kit and enhancer, brewed a little short to 20 or 21L. It's a craking kit, I've got 61 brews under my belt and do a lot more complex ones these days, but keep going back to the Coopers Stout occasionally.

With the lager, it needs a long time to condition, recommended 3 months minimum in the bottle. It's kinda exponential, if you sample in the first month it won't be very good at all, then just gets better and better, 3 months is about right IMHO.

 

[LarryF]

Thanks for that darrellm, I can hear my local supermarket and local shop rubbing their grubby little paws together at the prospect of the beer I'll be buying from them. I will try a bottle of the lager on 13/02/15 but if it is horrible at least now I'll know not to tip it all away but leave it for the three months as you've advised. I'm going to do a Coopers British Bitter next as I've been told it's a bit more forgiving with the lower temps this time of year, I do still have the Coopers stout kit but I'll wait until the weather warms up a bit before putting it on. I think I will just do the straight kit with the bitter and the stout as you've advised and I won't start tweaking the kits until I get a bit more experience under my belt, also, by doing the straight kits I'll have a base level to judge any tweaks I make in the future against what I've already done. I heavily insulated my FV today in an effort to bring my temps up and although it's already been on 7 days I'm going to give it another 14 days before I bottle it, specific gravity allowing. Thanks again darrellm that's sound advice that I'll certainly be heeding.