St Peters Cream Stout

[halfpint]

Normally a Coopers stout person, but thought I would try a different one.
Followed instructions with these additions.
Added 100g ground coffee brewed with 2 L of very hot but not boiling water.
Added 500g light spray malt
Fermented @ 20L with S-04 yeast @ 18C for 14 days
Bottle carbonated with 124g soft brown sugar @ 18C for 10 days
Conditioned 1 month @ 8C
Taste test: Coffee came through followed by chocolate and then a creamy taste on the lips to finish. This is better than any other stout I have brewed, it can only get better with time.

 

[Clint]

Sounds spiffing! Pity it won't last til Christmas.

 

[GhostShip]

I don’t normally drink darker beers but you’ve really whetted my appetite with that! In particular, I love coffee flavours.

Can I just ask - I assume you added the light spray malt at the start of the process in place of sugar? Did you also add the coffee then or later on? Did you use an ordinary instant coffee or higher quality ground beans?

 

[stan]

set this one off nearly 2 weeks ago following halfpints recipe I used filter coffee I put everything in at the start og was 1050 now at 1011 going into secondary on Sunday ( day 14 )if still at 1011 ready for bottling wed / Thursday

 

[GhostShip]

set this one off nearly 2 weeks ago following halfpints recipe I used filter coffee I put everything in at the start og was 1050 now at 1011 going into secondary on Sunday ( day 14 )if still at 1011 ready for bottling wed / Thursday

Let us know how it turns out!

 

[halfpint]

I don’t normally drink darker beers but you’ve really whetted my appetite with that! In particular, I love coffee flavours.

Can I just ask - I assume you added the light spray malt at the start of the process in place of sugar? Did you also add the coffee then or later on? Did you use an ordinary instant coffee or higher quality ground beans?

This kit does not require the adding of sugar, I added the spray malt to give it a better body. Everything went in at the start, and I used fresh ground beans from my grinder. Just make sure not to use boiling water to make up the coffee.

 

[GhostShip]

Bottled my cream stout last night, following halfpint's recipe to the letter (apart from the yeast which I forgot to get, so used the kit yeast).

Smelled wonderful and tasted even better - lovely, dark malt with a subtle hit of coffee. If it tastes that good now, I can't wait to try it after secondary fermentation and then conditioning. Hopefully, it should be perfect for Christmas.

Thanks again for posting the details.

 

[GhostShip]

Tried the first pint of my stout tonight. As mentioned above, I followed halfpint’s recipe to the letter.

The big disappointment is that I’m not getting any coffee flavour at all. However, if I leave that aside, it’s a really nice pint. Maybe slightly over-carbed, but tastes really clean and malty with a nice bitter after taste. Not the remotest hint of twang!

Will try this again sometime, but I would add more coffee. Meanwhile, I’m looking forward to cold, dark January nights with my stout by my side. Happy Christmas, everyone.

 

[GhostShip]

Well, here I am just over a month later, watching the football with a pint of my Cream Stout. It’s amazing how these beers mature in the bottle. It’s now a lovely, smooth malty stout, with a very definite finish of... coffee!! (See my post above).

This is a cracking pint and one I’ll definitely do again.

 

[stephen1546]

Had a couple of them yesterday, been in the bottle a couple of months. A decent pint.

 

[Winterbournebrewery]

Found my last bottle of St. Peter’s cream stout kit. Brewed straight on the 10th Feb 2018, bottled 8th March 2018. Came in at

5.2% ish. So nearly 2 years in the bottle , incredible mouth feel & everything a cream stout should be. You could tweak this with a bit more lactose & some cocoa nibs but to be honest if I made it again I would age it & leave it 2 years & brew straight again. Cheers

 

[GhostShip]

Having brewed this a couple of years ago, I thought I'd like to do it again for Christmas/winter. I followed halfpint's recipe from before, so added 500g light spray malt and around 2 litres of freshly brewed coffee (expresso). This time, I also added cocoa nibs which I soaked in vodka overnight before putting into a muslin bag and leaving in the FV for 2/3 days. I used the kit yeast and then brown sugar for secondary fermentation.

Kit started 21st September 2021. Added 2 litres of freshly brewed coffee and 500g light spray malt. Made up to 23L with Tesco Ashbeck mineral water.
Fermented in brew fridge at 20.5°C.
Cocoa nibs (in a muslin bag) added on 30th September.
Bottled on 3rd October, with one brown sugar stick per bottle and put back into brew fridge at 20.5°C.
Moved out to shed on 17th October.
First pint - 10th December.

Wow! It looks and smells wonderful and tastes every bit as good. As you can see from the picture, it has a lovely creamy head and the perfect amount of carbonation for a stout (i.e. not too much). It starts off creamy with a really nice maltiness. Then the coffee comes through - fairly subtle, but it's definitely there and unmistakably coffee. At the end, you get a hint of chocolate and a good bitter finish. I never normally bother working out the ABV of my beers - they are what they are, but after a pint of this I can already tell I've had a drink, so will take it easy with this one. It's beautiful though and will undoubtedly get even better over time. I'm going to try and hold 2/3 back so I can try them in a year or two just to see how it matures.

I've had a couple of stouts in pubs recently and been disappointed with them, but this is fantastic. If this doesn't get me through a long, dark winter, then nothing will. It's so smooth with a beautiful coffee hit, a hint of chocolate, lovely malty taste and a perfect bitter finish. There is absolutely no hint of any twang either on the nose or in the mouth. A triumph and if I want to do anther stout in the future, I will probably just follow this method again - it's very difficult to see how I could better this as it suits my tastes perfectly.

 

[Bernie]

Having brewed this a couple of years ago, I thought I'd like to do it again for Christmas/winter. I followed halfpint's recipe from before, so added 500g light spray malt and around 2 litres of freshly brewed coffee (expresso). This time, I also added cocoa nibs which I soaked in vodka overnight before putting into a muslin bag and leaving in the FV for 2/3 days. I used the kit yeast and then brown sugar for secondary fermentation.

Kit started 21st September 2021. Added 2 litres of freshly brewed coffee and 500g light spray malt. Made up to 23L with Tesco Ashbeck mineral water.
Fermented in brew fridge at 20.5°C.
Cocoa nibs (in a muslin bag) added on 30th September.
Bottled on 3rd October, with one brown sugar stick per bottle and put back into brew fridge at 20.5°C.
Moved out to shed on 17th October.
First pint - 10th December.

Wow! It looks and smells wonderful and tastes every bit as good. As you can see from the picture, it has a lovely creamy head and the perfect amount of carbonation for a stout (i.e. not too much). It starts off creamy with a really nice maltiness. Then the coffee comes through - fairly subtle, but it's definitely there and unmistakably coffee. At the end, you get a hint of chocolate and a good bitter finish. I never normally bother working out the ABV of my beers - they are what they are, but after a pint of this I can already tell I've had a drink, so will take it easy with this one. It's beautiful though and will undoubtedly get even better over time. I'm going to try and hold 2/3 back so I can try them in a year or two just to see how it matures.

I've had a couple of stouts in pubs recently and been disappointed with them, but this is fantastic. If this doesn't get me through a long, dark winter, then nothing will. It's so smooth with a beautiful coffee hit, a hint of chocolate, lovely malty taste and a perfect bitter finish. There is absolutely no hint of any twang either on the nose or in the mouth. A triumph and if I want to do anther stout in the future, I will probably just follow this method again - it's very difficult to see how I could better this as it suits my tastes perfectly.

View attachment 59399

I would put this forward as one of the best kits one can buy.

 

[GhostShip]

Just sitting watching the football with a pint of the stout I brewed a year ago. I deliberately kept a few bottles back to see how it matured. It's fantastic. So smooth and the coffee is perfect. I'd say to anyone brewing a stout or porter, keep a few bottles back for a year or more - they mature beautifully.

 

[damienair]

Just sitting watching the football with a pint of the stout I brewed a year ago. I deliberately kept a few bottles back to see how it matured. It's fantastic. So smooth and the coffee is perfect. I'd say to anyone brewing a stout or porter, keep a few bottles back for a year or more - they mature beautifully.

OK, OK, OK. I’m convinced. I’ll be buying this kit next. And I’ll brew it for next Christmas using the method used in this thread. Thanks for the reviews.

 

[Jordang]

OK, OK, OK. I’m convinced. I’ll be buying this kit next. And I’ll brew it for next Christmas using the method used in this thread. Thanks for the reviews.

It’s quite a nice year round drink tbh

 

[GazzaW57]

Normally a Coopers stout person, but thought I would try a different one.
Followed instructions with these additions.
Added 100g ground coffee brewed with 2 L of very hot but not boiling water.
Added 500g light spray malt
Fermented @ 20L with S-04 yeast @ 18C for 14 days
Bottle carbonated with 124g soft brown sugar @ 18C for 10 days
Conditioned 1 month @ 8C
Taste test: Coffee came through followed by chocolate and then a creamy taste on the lips to finish. This is better than any other stout I have brewed, it can only get better with time.

I‘m not usually a stout drinker but this posting has really interested me. I’m thinking of trying something similar, but instead of the St Peter’s Cream Stout, I‘m minded to try the Stout kit from the Range, however given I‘m a bit inexperienced in trying different variations, I have a few questions:

Firstly, and unlike the St Peter’s kit, the Range requires 1kg of brewing sugar. Should I add the 500g os spray malt in addition to the sugar, or replace some of the sugar with the malt?
Secondly, I’m assuming that the yeast supplied with the kit should handle the changes?
Lastly, when you say you added 2 litres of ground coffee, (and this may sound a little daft) but was the coffee done in a percolator and then just poured in to the mix?

I‘d be grateful for any advice on the above.

TIA.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

The Range stout is the only kit I buy (I’m an all grain brewer) and it’s very good. It’s 2.2kg of yeast extract and I add 1kg of brown sugar. But it’s not a cream stout it’s an Irish dry stout. I have made a milk stout with this kit by adding Lactose and Cocoa nibs. I don’t use the kit yeast.

 

[GazzaW57]

Thank you, that’s interesting and giving me another avenue to explore. Just out of interest, what yeast do you use in place of the kit yeast?

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Thank you, that’s interesting and giving me another avenue to explore. Just out of interest, what yeast do you use in place of the kit yeast?

Either CML Midland or Wilko Gervin yeast.