Coopers Irish Stout

almostover

Looking to do my third batch of homebrew. So far have successfully made the Coopers Australian Pale Ale kit and a batch of cider from Aldi apple juice. I want my next venture to be a stout and want to create a simple dry Irish stout that a Guinness drinker would find palletable. Nothing too sweet and heavy, I'm looking to do a dry Irish stout. I've purchased a Coopers Irish stout kit and am planning to make the kit per the instructions on the Coopers website. This will involve mixing the kit with 300g dextrose and 500g LME.

I'd like to final product to have excellent head retention. Something as close as possible to nitrogenated stout as possible. Are there any other ingredients I can add to achieve this effect? Or does anyone have a better Irish Stout recipe using this Coopers kit as the base?

ferg44

I ve made the coopers stout twice ( the white label one ) ...
It was ok , definitely a stout taste , but never great head retention tbh ..

But hoping to get to' nitrogenated stout'

This is never going to happen...

irish_goat

I'd drop the 300g of dextrose and use a kilo of DME instead, will make for a better beer and give better head retention than the dextrose will.

Otherwise it's hard to improve head retention in a kit beer. Normal practice would be to add flaked barely or wheat to your recipe but for a kit beer you could try steeping some carapils or carafoam.

Lovely Bloke

irish_goat wrote: »

for a kit beer you could try steeping some carapils or carafoam.

and not boil it?

Risky business. He could do a small extract + speciality wort I suppose, mash a half kilo of carapils then boil it with the DME/Dextrose for 15mins

irish_goat

Lovely Bloke wrote: »

and not boil it?

Risky business. He could do a small extract + speciality wort I suppose, mash a half kilo of carapils then boil it with the DME/Dextrose for 15mins

Nah boil it as well. As you say, steep then boil with the DME for 15mins.

Buona Fortuna

OP, I've had very pleasant results with the St Peter's stout.

http://www.homebrewwest.ie/st-peters-cream-stout-30-kg-36-pints-beer-kit-3178-p.asp

poitinstill

agree with st peters recommendation. super stuff especially if you can leave it a few months..be perfect for Christmas if made around now.

almostover

Buona Fortuna wrote: »

OP, I've had very pleasant results with the St Peter's stout.

http://www.homebrewwest.ie/st-peters-cream-stout-30-kg-36-pints-beer-kit-3178-p.asp

I had the cooper's kit bought before I posted here. I brewed it with 500g light DME and 300g dextrose per the instructions on the Cooper's website. Let's see how it goes - OG was 1040 so won't be rocket fuel but maybe it'll make a tasty session stout for the winter