" Ditch's Stout " Master Class .....

[Ditch]

Not necessarily, BM. Only, it doesn't last as long as an artificially induced one.

[BoozeMuse]

Cheers Ditch.

I'm thinking of putting half in a demijohn/cubitainer without any priming and then bottling the rest with 1/2 tsp of brewing sugar. Best of both worlds

[Trunky]

Aging it eh? Well, I'm nearly at the end of a (corny) keg I racked fron the FV into on the 14th April, it's certainly better than it was 6 weeks ago. Will it get better - I don't know.

I have drunk it young and old and I am pretty much against aging beers for the sake of it, however if you can leave it 4 months or so it really does get better.

AG beers seem ripe to drink in a week or so (and so they should - that's how breweries (generally) arrange it), kits seem to take a bit longer. I am a AG addict but I still make stout and pilsner from Coopers kits, they're really good.

[Ditch]

Best of both worlds

As may be, mate. But ye veering totally off topic from this thread there.

This one's aimed at people who want to faithfully reproduce and / or discuss what I personally do with Coopers Stout kits.

That's why it's headed " Ditch's Stout ". Anything else ~ Kiwi Fruit, extra hops and a Raspberry Tea Bag ~ can be discussed on the open board

[HighHops]

Kiwi fruit Ditch's stout sounds nice! My wife only let me do the Raspberry Tea Bag once!! Never again!

[Geezah]

Mine has got the dreaded 1020 stick
I didn't realise how much colder the weather has made by brewroom (garage extension), so i've gave it a little stirr and got it sat next to a radiator to get the temperature up.
If that doesn't work, I have a packet of Nottingham at hand...dont know how that will affect the flavour.
Fishtank heater is now on order!

[Ditch]

Fishtank heater is now on order!

Yeah. I just never stopped using mine. If it's warm enough anyway, they just don't click on. If it cools, they bring it up to temp'. Why worry?


Anyway, the main reason I'm in here is to report that I reckon I've sussed out what went wrong with that one out of three I made recently.

I reckon it's the reliance on the food mixer to mix on the malt and supply the thrashing. Frankly? It's just not man enough to get the air in there

Made two more since. Exact same method. (Couldn't make the hat trick because my last remaining kit has no yeast. I used that, in some emergency, months ago).

Might be just as well. These two look well below par. I kegged them both, this evening, after about eight days. Looked f**king vile! Ye know that flat, flecked, oily look? Took samples into a glass and had a taste. I'm at least happy to say I didn't spit them across the room ~ Though I consciously stood back and faced a bare wall, in case! Didn't taste like what I'm used to though.

Have to revise the methodology then. Use the mixer to whip the malt in. Then go back to thrashing the lot with the paddle, to get that air in there. Only, none of the last five spewed either. Just half heartedly 'Brained' up a bit. Then sullenly sunk back and looked unpromising.

So, there we have it, obviously: Coopers Yeast Is super fantastic stuff. But, it needs plenty of air to work to its full effect with.

Never too experienced to learn

[Geezah]

Well, still no activity tonight so i've threw the Nottingham straight on the brew.
Houston - we have bubbles!
So all is not lost. If it gets down to 1014 i'll be happy to keg it and drink it.

[Geezah]

The list of my (Ditch recipe) Coopers Stout problems....

1) It got cold and stuck at 1020
2) Got it somewhere warmer and threw in a Nottingham yeast - It stopped again at 1017
3) Its been in primary for 14 days and its lifeless so i kegged it - tap seal had split and beer was leaking so had to put it back in the primary, replace the seal and re-keg it

at this point I thought it would end up down the drain.

2 days after kegging it I decided to give it a taste test to see if it was worth keeping...




What a pint!!!!!
A very slight sweet initital taste which is instantly killed by the burnt, nutty hopy aftertaste.
Thick creamy head all the way to the bottom of the glass.

I'll be doing this 1 quite frequently I think.

[Ditch]

I think the moral of that story, Geezah, is that Coopers is such a damn good pint, it's hard to make a bad one!

[marklale]

Hi Ditch ,ive just tried half a pint of the stout after 2 weeks in the keg. It tastes bloody lovely. Goes down well and doesnt have that homebrew taste.Im gonna order some more in now for chrimbo. Finally found a decent homebrew.Cheers mate. Mark

[Ditch]

Mark; The short time it takes for this stuff to become gorgeous is one of it's great points

Last saturday, I had a mate round for a serious session. We got amongst some of mine that'd been in the keg barely two weeks, if that, and he was raving about it!

I guess the damage done to the level in that keg spoke volumes!

[Simon7]

So, there we have it, obviously: Coopers Yeast Is super fantastic stuff. But, it needs plenty of air to work to its full effect with.

Never too experienced to learn

If you pour the cold water on top of the wort from a great height (or maybe just from chest height if you stand next to the FV) then this'll get plenty of air into it.

I don't thrash much at all nowadays

[spliffy]

A quick post regarding 'thrashing' . I am a lazy sod and first to admit it but about two years ago I bought a couple of plasters mixing paddles that you use in a standard drill.. Used one for plaster mix and had the other still brand new.. Thought what the hell and cleaned and sterilised the new one.. Been using it ever since to give my beer (and wine) and damn good thrashing.. Touch wood not had a single problemI use it to stir in malt.. stir in water.. stir in yeast and sugars.. it workd like a dream and only needs a few seconds. A word of caution.. If anyone decides to try this make sure your drill has variable speed and you have good trigger control.. Too fast and the missus will not be happy with the mess

[Ditch]

Simon and Spliffy; I always pour my water from the JC and allow it to glug and slush about.

Yesterday though, an interesting issue: I put in my regular, in FV #1. Followed by Irish in 2 & 3. Also, I used SA 40 in 1. I'd ballsed the yeast in a stout kit, ages ago. Now I'd bought the SA 40 to replace that yeast. My supplier then had a rush on Coopers Stout and only had their Irish available in a hurry. I bought three of those. One's sat by.

Thing is, I gave 1. a bit of a thrashing. I forgot to thrash 2 & 3. One of those things .....

Spliffy; I've been trying a food whisk, electric one, to mix the DME in with. Last few, looking back, took their time taking off. In fact, they hardly did take off. More sort of bubbled. Burped. Died down again and were duly drunk.

Tonight? #1's 'Braining' like Einstein. 2 & 3 have a bubbly covering

Now, weaving in my own bit of experience with this brew, what do we likely have?

It's Not the different yeast. Last three were as normal ~ for me ~ and yet not thrashed, except by the food mixer. They burped and bubbled. ALL before them ~ duly thrashed ~ erupted and spewed. 1 will spew. 2 & 3 won't. Because they simply weren't thrashed enough. I bet I could deliberately replicate this, time and again.

And that would, of course, provide us with empirical evidence that Coopers kits like a good thrashing. It's That which makes them blow and spew so legendarily.

Moral of this latest story? I'm gonna get me a Spreads Mixer! I've not been happy with this food mixer. I have to tape kitchen towel all over the many air intakes, else it'll such malt powder in and die.

It gets the malt in there, sure. But, it's not a happy process and I now see I should Still be thrashing ~ a very tiring process which I'd set out to avoid.

Thanks for the input