EDME Stout Question

[El_Marco1983]

Hi, I have done quite a few kits now, mostly with success. Naturally as i get more into brewing and my mind begins to wonder. I have recently bought an EDME Stout kit and i'm dying to try something but i don't know if its possible so i'm asking here to see if anybody is any the wiser.

I basically wanted to make a Super Stout. First Fermentation i do as normal, let it ferment and then transfare into another brew bin, add more fermentables(was thinking half dark brown sugar and half dried dark malt) add more yeast and allow to ferment again, then finally prime and bottle.

Is this even possible? i am aware that certain yeasts will die once the alcohol level gets above a certain level. is there a solution to this? such as a super ale yeast or wine yeast?

is there any reason why i should NOT give this a go? the brewing bug has bitten me and i'm always after exerimenting.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[pittsy]

hi, the reason you do 2nd fermenting is really to help all the crap drop and help clear and to insure all fermenting has finished , if you want a super strength to start with just add more dried malt in the first vessel at the start of the brew , no extra yeast is required although buying a good yeast instead of the 1 with the kit is also a good idea as these are selected for hardiness for a long shelf life with shops not taking best care of them to insure they work for you when bought and not selected for best brewing as they may get damaged , a good pack of yeast is only a couple of quid . Also you may want to add some hops , you could simply heat up a large pan of water mix in malt till dissolved then boil and throw in some hops about 60 mins boil time this will be a part extract brew , you may as well do a full extract no kit more malts great results

 

[RobWalker]

yeah, what pittsy said basically.

you can buy isometrized hop extract which will supply more bitterness too. you just add it in afterwards and play it by ear. you'll also need to look at your yeast's alcohol tolerence as you want to shoot over your percentage so they can clean up after and what have you, plus the carb fermentation. what abv are you looking at? you can get some pretty strong beer yeasts.

why not to try it? two reasons. one, you're probably not going to drink it all, or enjoy it that much. we all get excited about super strength beer when we start but that's basically to get destroyed off.

two, stout is notoriously explosive, a tonne of malt to go to town on, it's probably going to go over. you might want to look at gradual sugar addition - fermenting it in stages.

 

[El_Marco1983]

Thanks for the replies guys. I figured it wouldnt be a simple as I described, which is why i thought it best to ask. I think i will just Enjoy this one as it was intended and Play about next time, I want to ultimately look into All Grain, once i'm bored with experimenting. also when you say 'explosive' you mean as in the bottles exploding or elxplosive as in getting you trollied?

Thanks for the advice.

 

[BrewDan]

I think he meant explosive fermentation? I made this kit, I think I only got it around 3%abv, its lovely though.

Have you made this kit before? Why not make one roughly as per instructions, then play about with another. My only concern is you won't enjoy it if you make it super strong , as I can imagine it will affect the flavour quite a bit