Coopers Irish Stout Review

[stephen1546]

If you want a cheaper Stout kit try the simply kit, it's 99p cheaper and 1.7kg. Had one in a keg since July made with 500g dark DME, 1kg of dark demerara , 500g of lactose, US-O5 yeast. Lovely, but not a lot left now

Gonna get one tomorrow!

 

[HarryFlatters]

Brewed this kit up with a kilo of dark DME, 200g of lactose, then after a week fermenting added a tincture made with cacao nibs and vanilla pods soaked in vodka. Turned out absolutely brilliant. I'll be making this one again.

 

[Dave 666]

This will be my next brew when it turns up in a day or 2 despite not being to much into stouts normally, I'm staring to give them more attention at the beer festivals and finding them more attractive than in the past to the point I'm wanting to give a brew of it a go.

Anyways, not to sure what to do with it, but certainly wanting to up the abv to 5-5.5% from what I guess is about 4% as per instructions. Thinking the 500g of extra dark DME, 500g sugar (white) 500g dark brown sugar and maybe half tin (250g ish) of treacle.

 

[terrym]

Anyways, not to sure what to do with it, but certainly wanting to up the abv to 5-5.5% from what I guess is about 4% as per instructions. Thinking the 500g of extra dark DME, 500g sugar (white) 500g dark brown sugar and maybe half tin (250g ish) of treacle.

You will thin your beer with all that sugar. And unless you particularly like 'treacle' rather than golden syrup 250g of 'treacle' may well overpower your beer. Better to brew short say 19 litres and use 150g dark Muscavodo sugar, 250g Golden syrup, 1 kg Dark or Extra Dark DME and the kit can. That will give you a stout of around 5.4%, OG 1.055. And the kit yeast is fine its just a little slow thats all.

 

[Dave 666]

You will thin your beer with all that sugar. And unless you particularly like 'treacle' rather than golden syrup 250g of 'treacle' may well overpower your beer. Better to brew short say 19 litres and use 150g dark Muscavodo sugar, 250g Golden syrup, 1 kg Dark or Extra Dark DME and the kit can. That will give you a stout of around 5.4%, OG 1.055. And the kit yeast is fine its just a little slow thats all.

Really, seeing at the sugar count is only 250g above what I assume the instructions would suggest using if just sugar & not malt extract though?. And adding 500g of DME too Remember. I Could try syrup I guess, no reason why it has to be treacle. What I have DME wise is 500g extra dark, 1kg medium & 1kg light. Would prefer to keep the quantity the same so maybe add some of the medium DME as well but slightly reduce the sugar count?.

 

[Dave 666]

I've got me delivery and doing this later today. However, the suggested fermentation temp range is 21 deg, yet my intended brew room the temp is a steady 18 deg. I assume this shouldn't be much of an issue unless the temp drops much below this as more a longer fermentation period than anything?.

 

[stephen1546]

I've got me delivery and doing this later today. However, the suggested fermentation temp range is 21 deg, yet my intended brew room the temp is a steady 18 deg. I assume this shouldn't be much of an issue unless the temp drops much below this as more a longer fermentation period than anything?.

Hi

In the middle of doing a stout myself, my temp dropped to 16 degrees and it still was fermenting albeit quite slowly. I moved it to a warmer place and it sped up. I suppose if it's get at 18 it should be fine

 

[Dave 666]

Hi

In the middle of doing a stout myself, my temp dropped to 16 degrees and it still was fermenting albeit quite slowly. I moved it to a warmer place and it sped up. I suppose if it's get at 18 it should be fine

Not overt bothered over a longer fermentation period as I'm going to be away all of next week anyway. Just as long as there is little chance that it will stall. But for as long as fermentation is well established before I go then I guess I should be safe.

Also I'm toying with the thought of adding vanilla extract. Does anyone else do this to have an opinion on if its worth adding vanilla extract or at what stage and quantity to add it?.

 

[Dave 666]

So this now in the FV, forgot I intended to short fill to about 19 litre to up the abv so made to 22.5 litre. I ended up sticking 500g extra dark DME, 500g medium DME, 250g of dark brown sugar & about 270g syrup. Might be a bit of a gamble with those measurements but will wait & see.

SG taken at 22 deg was 1.043, not to sure if that needs adjusting at that temp. If not and I get a FG of 1.008 then it should give a respectable abv of about 4.59%.

 

[Andymoz-70]

Not overt bothered over a longer fermentation period as I'm going to be away all of next week anyway. Just as long as there is little chance that it will stall. But for as long as fermentation is well established before I go then I guess I should be safe.

Also I'm toying with the thought of adding vanilla extract. Does anyone else do this to have an opinion on if its worth adding vanilla extract or at what stage and quantity to add it?.

I stuck one of these on last Sunday. Had it on a heat pad overnight then took it off as went to 24oc (Think 18oc is the ideal temp). Was bubbling nicely for a few days. Prob leave it 2 week before bottling. Im going to do some bottles with vanilla extract (in the bottle) as recommended by the guy in our local home brew shop. Meant to be very nice!

 

[Dave 666]

I stuck one of these on last Sunday. Had it on a heat pad overnight then took it off as went to 24oc (Think 18oc is the ideal temp). Was bubbling nicely for a few days. Prob leave it 2 week before bottling. Im going to do some bottles with vanilla extract (in the bottle) as recommended by the guy in our local home brew shop. Meant to be very nice!

Yep, mine is bubbling away nicely at 18\19 deg. Certainly not going mental and frothing through the airlock like some have reported, I guess fermenting at lower temps helps for a more relaxed fermentation and hopefully that will pay off with the finished product. And yep, also thinking minimum of 2 weeks in the FV.

I'm looking at putting this brew in a pressure barrel when I get it than bottles. So will add the vanilla extract then with the priming sugar. Just not to sure how much to add, but it's only a small 38ml bottle yet I have a 22.5 litre brew. I don't want too strong a vanilla flavour in it, more just something I can notice in the background.

 

[Asherweef]

Morning all, bottled this 2 weeks ago with 0.5tbsp granulated sugar per bottle. Tried my 2 week test and there was no head to speak of but a pleasantly low level of carbonation. I did have it in the fridge overnight though so might that be the reason for no head?

 

[terrym]

Just bottled a Coopers Irish Stout which still rates as one of the best kits I have ever done, not that I do many now.
Anyway using the kit yeast, which is not a generic Coopers yeast but one only for this kit and the Porter, and from a starting wort volume of about 19 litres and OG 1.047 it got down to 1.012 which is a similar performance to previous brews. That's 74% attenuation which is quite respectable and what's more after 11 days at 19*C, then 2 days at about 14*C had dropped almost clear, and the trub layer left after bottling was quite jelly like as for a well flocculating yeast. And although the yeast is a bit slow to get going and there is a longish tail off at the end, even at 19 litres the krausen hit the FV lid.
Next the taster was, as before, chocolate, some coffee, and fruit although I know it will mellow over the weeks.
I really do recommend this kit to any kit brewer or any AG brewer who wants to try out a kit stout. And finally for me the kit yeast is perfectly adequate and up to the job and doesn't need replacing as favoured by some kit brewers.
So if anyone fancies a go this was my recipe for this brew
Kit can, 500g Dark DME, 500g Soft Light Brown Sugar, 120g Dark Muscovado sugar, 4 measures of strong coffee (not instant), 19 litres.

 

[Roddy J]

I just put Coopers Irish Stout in the FV yesterday. I added 1kg of DME and 200g of soft light brown sugar. Made up to 19 litres and og at 1050. Its on a brewpad in my garage and is enclosed. Its bubbling away this morning. I intend to add toasted coconut shavings to this one once it's completed and leave it in the bottling bucket for a further week or so before bottle day.

Made the Coopers several times and agree one of the best I've tried.

I made their Ruby Porter a few times as well which is a tad lighter but still great. I couldn't get dark cherries to add to my last batch so tried Mangrove Jacks Cherry flavouring. Its a subtle sweet cherry taste and not the dark cherry i had originally wanted but it goes down well.

 

[Roddy J]

I just put Coopers Irish Stout in the FV yesterday. I added 1kg of DME and 200g of soft light brown sugar. Made up to 19 litres and og at 1050. Its on a brewpad in my garage and is enclosed. Its bubbling away this morning.

This one has blown up, the krausen has blown through the airlock and sprayed everywhere.

There's a small amount of liquid still in the airlock so I hope this is still protected.

I've cleaned it all up(outer FV) and sprayed with ChemSan. Prepared then swapped to a fresh airlock lock.
Fingers crossed.

 

[Racehunter]

Just wondered if anyone has done this kit to only say, 11L with no additional fermentables?

 

[terrym]

Just wondered if anyone has done this kit to only say, 11L with no additional fermentables?

If you reduce the dilution of a kit beer from it's intended volume you increase the bitterness in the finished product. So in this case your 11 litre brew will turn out over just over twice as bitter as was intended at 23 litres, which you may or may not find acceptable.

 

[Racehunter]

Very good point. I suppose another reason to brew as per instructions and use the taste test from that as a baseline for future modding

 

[terrym]

Very good point. I suppose another reason to brew as per instructions and use the taste test from that as a baseline for future modding

If you look at earlier posts above you will see I brew this kit to 19 litres, and I have no problems with bitterness. But one of the reasons I brew to 19 litres is to try to keep it in the FV throughout, and even though I do this and only ferment at 19*C, it still hit the lid of my standard 25 litre plastic FV last time out .

 

[Racehunter]

Thanks for the valuable input once again, terrym. I did notice your recipe and thought it was a good way to go. I don't really drink a lot of stout myself, but a neighbour only drinks Guinness in the UK and Beamish or Murphy's draught when he goes the other side of the Irish sea, so I thought I would get one going and get his opinion. Just ordered the kit so hopefully it wont be long before I can get it started, lockdown delivery allowing