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

[aleian]

I certainly will mate. The only problem is keeping it for that long, it just seems to dry up faster than anything else I brew

On my fourth one of the evening and it's not so noticeable now, probably more down to me than the beer though! SWMBO says she can't taste it but there's no doubt about it for me, there was a real banana element. I've got another can of Coopers stout in the brewing cupboard I was saving for an Imperial experiment but I might try doing the cool ferment again to see if I can reproduce the taste/smell I got this time.

I recall earlier in this thread some discussion of the banana thing but couldn't find it again when I had a quick look through. It definitely wasn't there the first time I brewed it (in September, I think) when the temperature was higher. I've just had a look in to it and apparently the smell of bananas is down to an ester called isoamyl acetate, try Googling it with yeast or brewing in the search if you want - the articles I've found are a bit heavy after a few beers but worth a look if you've got some time.

[aleian]

Just had another pint, the banana has totally vanished. I was worried to find it there when it appeared, then I had a couple of pints and got quite used to it, it was an interesting thing to find in my beer and I'd started to like it. Now that it's gone I miss it - there's no pleasing some people is there?

[Ditch]

There ye go! See?

Like I've always said though; This stuff can change its skin within twenty four hours. It's such a subtle thing that god alone knows what might effect it.

Frankly? I like it best in summer. I like its tastes best when it's 'conditioned' warmer. Don't like 'chilled' beers so much. They tend to lose their flavours.

And banana? Yeah. I can just picture now, a whole load of us, sitting around at our computers. Pints of stout beside us. And the floor treacherous with banana skins!

It is ~ somehow ~ a nice combination though. Isn't it?

[aleian]

I would never have imagined it in my wildest dreams but yes, the pint I have before me is delicious but lacking a certain bananariness (?) to it .

I like bananas but I hate that banana flavour you get in milkshakes and those crappy banana-shaped spongy sweets, this actually tasted of real bananas though and in some strange perverted way it does go really well with this stout! So do you think it's a volatile flavour that evaporates off after time in to the gas in the keg and if so could you keep the flavour/aroma better in a bottle? Or does it just break down in to something else and can only be savoured a couple of days after putting it in the barrel? And how much does temperature affect it? Maybe further experimentation is needed

I have to agree with you, the last one I made (same recipe, warmer weather) was better - the temperature in my cellar is probably only 4 or 5 degrees cooler now than it was in September but I fermented at a higher and more consistent temperature, the beer was richer and fuller in some way that I can't put my finger on.

Now, I seem to recall from early posts you not being too keen on fruit flavour (kiwi or something?) experimentation in your recipe - where does Ditch's Stout end...?

[Ditch]

Where does Ditch's Stout end...?

I ferment at the same, very constant temperatures. I do this because A/ I use my heater / stats. and B? Because I've never fiddled with them since the days I bought and set them. If memory serves me correctly? I guess I must have them set at 22.

My differences occur because the temp's in my 'brewing' room fluctuate with the ambient. Thus, the stuff in my kegs near as hell freezes in weather like this. I've just come back in here with a freshly poured pint, having let some Dogs out. It's frosty outside. My beer is so damn cold as to be almost tasteless.

Compare this with a height of summer pour? That's when I can savour the rich matrix of 'Coffee and ....?' tones. This pint's just hinting at something nicer, on the back of the palette. Yet it leaves the tip of the tongue cold and tasteless. My stomach starkly cold. I don't like my beer this way. Nor do I like bottled beer. I simply have no facility to store kegs in this room, where I 'live', sleep and have the stove lit 24 / 7. If I did? I'd bet I'd be enjoying a far superior pint

" Kiwi Fruit Beer "? I just consider beer to be beer. Fruit is fruit. A kebab seems to taste better after some beers. But, I'm f**ked if I'm dunking one in my beer though.

This banana phenomena is just one more facet of this constantly shifting and somewhat enigmatic brew. I don't know what causes it. I don't know how a kaleidoscope works.

[Curlie]

That's my Ditch's Stout in the keg with no priming sugar added.

I've moved the keg to the garage! Is that the right thing to do?

Think I have disturbed the sediment at the bottom a little and may have been a liitle greedy with how much brew I put in the keg.

I have a King Keg with a top tap. The top has been put on finger tight.
Probably a stupid basic physics question but do I need to squirt one of the wee CO2 cylinders in to get the stout to flow?

Curlie

[Ditch]

That's my Ditch's Stout in the keg with no priming sugar added. I have a King Keg with a top tap.

Ah, jesus wept! Curlie; Get some priming sugar in there, Now, and screw it down. Those wretched things need the beer to be under pressure. That's what forces the beer up the tube and out of the tap. It won't move without it.

I can do what I do because I only ever use Basic Kegs. Plastic 'Beer Barrel', with a tap at the Bottom. Gravity dispenses, see? Can't not prime a top tapper, mate

[Curlie]

Ta

[Curlie]

I disolved 80 grams of granulated sugar in about 100ml of boiled water. Wacked that in and brought the keg back in door.

Thanks Ditch

[Friary]

Dunno if any spotted, but I knocked up a milk stout t'other day, with lots of the bottles getting badly oxydised, however a few of them didn't and they taste mighty fine.

Ditch, next time you make an order, get some lactose and bung 250 grams ish into ya next bucket - I'd love to know what you think...

[Ditch]

Ditch, next time you make an order, get some lactose and bung 250 grams ish into ya next bucket - I'd love to know what you think...

Friary; I haven't touched milk in thirty odd years, mate. No good ever came of it. State of my guts, as it is? I think I'd do as well to avoid anything like that in me beer

[NewPeculier]

Couldn't get the plain stout kit, so bought the "irish stout" kit - will this be okay?

[Ditch]

Ooh ..... It'll be 'OK', NP. But, having tried a couple or so myself ~ owing to momentary supply glitches and such ~ I just don't rate it like I do the 'normal' stout.

But, let's not let this whole thing run away with itself any further than it has done, look. I'm just a bloke who made a kit. Loved it. And mentioned it. Then it all sort of took off

Maybe you like tomato in ye ham rolls? It'd make me physically sick. But, that's not to say there's anything wrong with tomato's, is it?

So, make ye Irish Stout, however ye see fit. Taste it and see what You think of it. Ye may think it's the Dogs and then find a " Ditch's Stout " doesn't measure up, in your estimation, by comparison.

The aim of this thread is to tell people exactly how I create that taste I like. It's so people can try it and see what They think. Most seem to like it too. Some don't. Maybe I too am an exception to the rule regarding Coopers Irish Stout ~ even done my way. But, Coopers seem to think it's the better of the two. I just prefer the 'Normal' stuff myself

[Rocketcrab]

Well, I finally put down my first batch of Ditch's Stout this afternoon, getting everything in the FV @ 2:00PM - and she was merrily bubbling away by 3:00PM. Music to my ears!

[NewPeculier]

Maybe you like tomato in ye ham rolls? It'd make me physically sick. But, that's not to say there's anything wrong with tomato's, is it?

I'm with you on that - tomatos + bread = soggy mess