Tweaking a Kit

Lovely Bloke

I've got a Cooper's Stout, and 1kg Spraymalt.

I've been thinking of tweaking it, as I reckon I've done enough kits now that I have the theory down, so with one left over kit, how could I stretch the comfort zone a bit with this?

I don't want to not make it, but the addition of Spraymalt is as far as I've gone so far.

Not mad into overly hoppy beers, but if dry hopping is a direction to go, I'd be willing to do it, someone will drink the beer even if I don't.

I can't really think of anything else - adding coffee is a definite no-go, I absolutely cannot stand the taste of coffee.

BeerNut

Chillies! Three or four strong ones, boiled in a little water for a couple of minutes to sanitise, then bung them in the mix at the start to add a bit of a kick to the stout.

Lovely Bloke

That's an idea I like!

Chopped or whole?

I might split the wort into two fermenters and do two half brews of different things.

blueshed

i brewed a coopers stout and added some dark spraymalt, brown sugar and treacle.

you could add honey, golden syrup, coca powder or some grains and hops http://www.homebrewwest.ie/grain-hops-brewferm-extract-30-c.asp

Lovely Bloke

When would cocoa powder go in? Is it fermentable?

I think I like Treacle + Cocoa.

For half a kit, how much would I need to use?

blueshed

TheNinthGate wrote: »

When would cocoa powder go in? Is it fermentable?

I think I like Treacle + Cocoa.

For half a kit, how much would I need to use?

think i added about 200g of treacle, remember to add a small amount as to much of anything can ruin a brew where a little under and it's still going to be ok.

BeerNut

TheNinthGate wrote: »

Chopped or whole?

Shouldn't really matter. I quartered mine.

TheNinthGate wrote: »

I might split the wort into two fermenters and do two half brews of different things.

If you're doing this it's probably an idea to use a whole sachet of yeast in both rather than trying to split one.

Lovely Bloke

BeerNut wrote: »

Shouldn't really matter. I quartered mine.
.

Quartered and then boiled is it? then left in for the whole duration of the fermentation process? I'd be worried about them going off or disolving into the beer.

I think both these suggestions are good, so will go ahead with both.

Cheers guys, any other advice welcome

Khannie

BeerNut wrote: »

Chillies!

Ballsy. I like it.

BeerNut

TheNinthGate wrote: »

Quartered and then boiled is it?

Doubt it makes a difference, but yeah. Don't drain them as there'll be chilli goodness in the water: just bung it all in.

TheNinthGate wrote: »

then left in for the whole duration of the fermentation process?

Yup.

TheNinthGate wrote: »

I'd be worried about them going off or disolving into the beer.

You just end up with spent chilli bits with the other gunk at the bottom.

Lovely Bloke

Ah, of course.

Ok, A Chilli Stout - would I need anything else in there to compliment or underscore the flavour?

BeerNut

Other people have added chocolate as well, but I find the chocolateyness of the stout is plenty to complement the chilli.

Lovely Bloke

I was thinking Lime, but that's probably a step too far - Thai Stout.

fobster

Having made a chilli stout, I'd use some mild ones like jalapenos and 3 at most.

BeerNut

Adjust to taste . I had 5 habaneros in my last one and it packs a wallop.

Ravelleman

I'm going to go with some chocolate essence in my next batch of stout. I also got some chocolate malt to experiment with but I'm not sure how much of a difference it will make to a kit. It cost around €3.50 so it doesn't really matter if not. It should be fun though, regardless.

fobster

BeerNut wrote: »

Adjust to taste . I had 5 habaneros in my last one and it packs a wallop.

When I was making mine, I added the chilli at bottling time by putting 5 chopped peppers into vodka and adding 2 tablespoons to 8 bottles from a batch of 40. The chilli stout turned out with a higher carbonation than the regular stout which worked against it. I reckon boiling the peppers would take the edge of the heat.

howamidifferent

fobster wrote: »

The chilli stout turned out with a higher carbonation than the regular stout which worked against it.

Is stout supposed to be less carbonated than any other beer?

joctcl

seen a lot of disasters with chillis where it can be a bit tricky to get ratios right.
Consider small hop additions after fermentation.
Bramling Cross has some blackcurrant flavour going on so could work, Fuggles and Willamette are other options for you

BeerNut

fobster wrote: »

I reckon boiling the peppers would take the edge of the heat.

I don't see why it would. If you add the water you boiled them in to the fermenter as well, 100% of the capsaicin goes into the beer.

howamidifferent

howamidifferent wrote: »

Is stout supposed to be less carbonated than any other beer?

Any one can answer this one guys? I'm going to be bottling a stout tomorrow night and so far I've used two carbonation drops per 500ml bottle in all of my other brews to get the carbonation I like. Should stout be less carbonated?

joctcl

howamidifferent wrote: »

Any one can answer this one guys? I'm going to be bottling a stout tomorrow night and so far I've used two carbonation drops per 500ml bottle in all of my other brews to get the carbonation I like. Should stout be less carbonated?

You obviously like highly carboanted beer? did you crack them early, did they have residual sweetmess?, If you want fizzy 2 will do it but 1 is my recommendation for a stout, needs time and right temp.

Lovely Bloke

So, will be doing this on Saturday, hopefully will be able to do both.

At what stage should the cocoa go into the mix? Just lash it in with the spraymalt? I also want to stick in a bit of vanilla.

going to do the chilli too, will boil a couple of quartered red chillis and whack that into the stout at the same time as the spraymalt too.

joctcl

Be very very careful with vanilla, talking to an experienced brewer last night he was suggesting start with 25% of you target, as there is a very fine line line between addition and poison:)

Lovely Bloke

I think I'll get just one pod and scrape it into 10 litres of beer, with the cocoa

joctcl

Never used pods, just essence, it sounds better, but from a distribution of flavour am curious how it will transfer and disperse, let us know.

Lovely Bloke

joctcl wrote: »

Never used pods, just essence, it sounds better, but from a distribution of flavour am curious how it will transfer and disperse, let us know.

I bleedin forgot to get the pods in the shop yesterday, so ended up just using essence too.

It's a bit strange too, I halved that Coopers Stout mix, and threw two quartered and boiled chillis into one half, and 100g of cocoa, 200g of treacle and some vanilla eseence into the other.

The fermentation in the Chilli version has started more slowly than the chocolate one.

Yawns

I've used a vanilla pod in a wine kit last year. The Australia 7 day chardonnay kit and 1 vanilla pod, split with seeds scrapped into the fermenter just before pitching the yeast. Came out gorgeous after it had matured in the bottle for a few months. I'll be attempting it on a brew in future.

I have some bourbon vanilla pods in the house that I want to try on a stout.

joctcl

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

I bleedin forgot to get the pods in the shop yesterday, so ended up just using essence too.

It's a bit strange too, I halved that Coopers Stout mix, and threw two quartered and boiled chillis into one half, and 100g of cocoa, 200g of treacle and some vanilla eseence into the other.

The fermentation in the Chilli version has started more slowly than the chocolate one.

Your yeast obviously doesn't like chilli:D

Lovely Bloke

Thought I'd bump this, as we bottled both stouts at the weekend.

joctcl wrote: »

Your yeast obviously doesn't like chilli:D

Heh, a few days later, this is what we had



:eek: Looks like Alien Worms!!

It settled down, and after three weeks in the bucket we bottled it.

Had a taste of both the stouts, and there is certainly a nice background of heat in the Chilli Stout, nothing overly pronounced or kicking you in the face like some Texan Cook-Off, but it's there and you know there's Chilli in it - so far I think it seems to be working out ok.

The Chocolate one was quite dry, and again, the chocolateyness was in the background and afertaste more so than up front. We added some chocolate essence to the bottles, which might alleviate some of the dryness.

Ended up with about 20 pint bottles of each one to be left for a couple of months before opening.

Thanks to those who gave ideas and helped with questions in this thread, I think the lads were happy with the experiment, I know I was.