Mikey G's First Brew (Irish Stout) w/ Pics

[Mikey_G]

Here it is, my first brew, an Irish Stout. I am utilizing a bathroom we absolutely never use, however, I found out quickly that I need a bigger working space. I followed a combination of the Coopers DIY DVD and the "The "OMG I don't want to screw up my first brew" how to." thread.

Here are the stats:

Coopers Irish Stout
500g Dark Spray Malt (Ritchies)
500g Brewing Sugar (Wilkinsons)
250g Dark Muscovado (Billington's)

OG: 1043 (I believe I read that right, see pic)

There is only one thing I need an opinion on and it deals with priming. For bottle priming, are the Coopers Carbonation Drops OK for stouts like this or are there other recommended methods?

The forum would not let me add pics to the thread, so if you would like to see them, copy and paste the link below into your browser and remove the space between . and com

s60.photobucket.com/user/mgillette614/library/Brewing/1st brew

 

[the-erl]

Congrats on your first brew pics look good! :thumb: Although I think you could have added some hops to it? Is the dark spray malt hopped or not?

The carbonation drops are fine for your stout or you could just use normal sugar? I think a teaspoon of sugar in a 500ml bottle is approx. equivalent to a carbonation drop? It depends how "fizzy" you want it. Thats part of the fun of brewing, making mistakes and altering ingredients on the next brew to try and create the "perfect brew"! Just keep detailed notes on what you do so you can work out what you want to change next time.

Keep us posted on how things turn out.

erl :drink:

 

[PD]

carbonation drops are a bugger, most folks tend not to use them after the initial batch provided with a kit is used up
Ordinary household granulated sugar is fine for priming your bottles. Get a set of cooks measuring spoons from poundland or similar the half teasoon measure is ample for ales. ( about 3gms ) the teaspoon measure if conditions are right will give you a fizzy lager or bottle bomb ales !

Stouts tend not to be used with many aroma hops, but your the brerwer and its your beer so add whatever you fancy if you wish.

Bittering hops like Target or Northern Brewer are the main hop ingredient

 

[Mikey_G]

Thank you both for your suggestions and advice. When bottling, I may experiment with the batch and try a few with granulated sugar, a few with carbonation drops, and a few with muscovado sugar.

the-erl, I am not sure if Ritchies Dark Spray Malt is hopped or not, but I will keep that advice in my hip pocket for future brews.

 

[calumscott]

Bah - editing the url tags into your post doesn't work... I though maybe I could as a mod but no...

So here's the clicky link...

http://s60.photobucket.com/user/mgillette614/library/Brewing/1st brew?sort=2&page=1

 

[calumscott]

Oh, and well done! Get planning the next one!

Muscovado would be good for a stout. I've used treacle before and that was really nice.

Standard spraymalts are not hopped.

Your Coopers can on the other hand was. Really no need to add any when you're just getting started. Keep it simple and make some beer, once you have that sorted, then start tinkering... :thumb:

 

[Mikey_G]

Muscovado would be good for a stout. I've used treacle before and that was really nice.

I was looking for treacle at the local Sainsbury, but they did not have it stocked. I saw the dark muscovado instead and decided to give it a go!

 

[PD]

if it makes you feel better I read the hydrometer as 1044.......

 

[Mikey_G]

if it makes you feel better I read the hydrometer as 1044.......

I should have also used an SLR camera instead of the iPad!

 

[Duxuk]

Click the picture in Photobucket and the bottom box on the right says "IMG" Click it to copy then paste into your post by pressing Ctrl and V at the same time



A happy brewer, recently.

 

[Tarticus]

congrats on your first brew, looks a loverly brew

And there plenty of room in there be fine, there is no need to mess with hops at this stage get your first beer under your belt hen start messing :)

I would go for 1/2 a teaspoon in a 500ml bottle for carbonation never used carbonation drops I just use some left over brewing sugar :)

 

[Mikey_G]

Day 6 the gravity read in at 1.013 which puts the stout at about 4% so far. It tasted fantastic! I cannot wait to try this brew when its done!

 

[AllAleCrumpy]

You sound as excited as I am at doing my first brew. Think I'll do the same and try plain granulated sugar, muscavado sugar and treacle, make a note on each bottle and see which is the best. If I do this on z couple of bottles at least I won't waste too much and it'll get drunk regardless!.
Good luck with your brew ..

Cheers, Crumpy

 

[Jeff Brewjubbly]

Good job Mikey... Looks like a great first outing... You'll be hooked now :) it gets said a lot but is true... Nothing really compares to beer you make yourself and if you love commercially made then when you go all grain you make it yourself :)

My Autumn Puddle is based on a 6x recipe... It's very very close !

 

[abeyptfc]

well done Mikey, you'll be be firing all grains out blindfolded before you know it!

 

[the-erl]

Sorry Mikey I misread your first post and somehow my eyes didn't acknowledge that you had written 'Coopers Irish Stout". So my suggestion of adding hops was not really called for! Once you've got a few brews done and dusted you can start tinkering if you feel the need!

erl :drink:

 

[Mikey_G]

Whew I have been busy as of late. I bottled/primed on the 8th of October! I primed 15 bottles with the carbonation drops, 15 with brewing sugar, and 14 with muscovado sugar, all 1/2 teaspoon each.

I know I still have a ways to go as far as priming goes, but I could not help but try at least one stout to get a preview on how it tastes. I opened one bottle from the carbonation drop batch and it had a nice head on it although it looked more like the head from a soda more than anything. Head retention was not bad either. The brew is not bad, although there is a strong "alcohol taste" at the end. Is this normal while priming?

 

[PD]

theres lots of funny things going on in the bottle, lol.... everything alters usually for the better after a few weeks.

 

[Mikey_G]

It's been quite awhile. The stout went real fast, I got great reviews from my friends. The most popular G-Stout was the one conditioned with brewing sugar, followed by carbonation drops, then the muscovado. I thought the muscovado was going to be the best, but it really left an alcoholy after taste that I, nor my buddies really cared for. There were a few that did enjoy it however.

I recently took a trip to the US for a visit with the family and because my dad is a plumber, he hooked me up with supplies to make a mash tun out of a cooler. I am just another step closer to AG brews!



Here are the pics of each conditioned bottle:

G-Stout w/ Carbonation Drops


G-Stout w/ Brewing Sugar


G-Stout w/ Muscovado

 

[morethanworts]

Good work!

That filter looks like the type folk use as hop filters in the boiler, with the steel braid. Usually slots in 15 mm pipe for grains in the mash tun. Not sure how that would affect performance.

I need to build something like that for my boiling pots right now too...


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