I'm fairly new to home brewing, currently only making kits. I'm about to start a Muntons Export Stout, and with Christmas coming I'd like to spice it up.
From my reading on the board, I plan to beef it up slightly in terms of ABV by cutting back on the water, say 20 litres not 23, rather than add more sugar. Use Spray malt.
Then add 3 sticks of cinnamon, zest of 4 oranges, a teaspoon of all spice and some fresh grated ginger .
My questions are:
Can I reduce the water in a kit stout? Will it be ready for Xmas if i make it this weekend? and will the additions be okay with a stout? When to add the zest etc. I thought prior to adding he yeast.
Christmas Stout ?
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Dances
Re: Christmas Stout ?
Hopefully I can answer some of your questions.
I regularly reduce the water volume when doing kits to 20L and did so with my Coopers stout which is in my FV1 now. They usually turn out fine and slightly stronger - it is much better than just adding more sugar IMHO.
As for Xmas, it should be ready for drinking as I usually find Coopers stout is great after 3 weeks FV, 1 week secondry and 3 weeks in the cornie. This gives you just enough time although I have started drinking it well before the times mentioned.
As for the spices,zest etc, I have never tried this (yet) but I do intend doing a brew with added zest and I intend on adding it to a litre or two of wort and boiling it for 30 minutes before straining it into the FV and then pitching yeast. Whether it works with stout though I cannot say.
Hopefully someone who has more experience can confirm this as I quite fancy the idea myself
I regularly reduce the water volume when doing kits to 20L and did so with my Coopers stout which is in my FV1 now. They usually turn out fine and slightly stronger - it is much better than just adding more sugar IMHO.
As for Xmas, it should be ready for drinking as I usually find Coopers stout is great after 3 weeks FV, 1 week secondry and 3 weeks in the cornie. This gives you just enough time although I have started drinking it well before the times mentioned.
As for the spices,zest etc, I have never tried this (yet) but I do intend doing a brew with added zest and I intend on adding it to a litre or two of wort and boiling it for 30 minutes before straining it into the FV and then pitching yeast. Whether it works with stout though I cannot say.
Hopefully someone who has more experience can confirm this as I quite fancy the idea myself