coopers stout tips please

[Ditch]

Glyn; I'll try the Dark malt one of these days, mate. I just get stuck in my own little grooves of comfort

Meanwhile; I'll see ye Dark's " Roasty " with my own stab at the Medium. How does " Malted Chocolate Coffee Stout " sound? I'm struggling, as it tends to morph through quite notably different flavours with each passing day. But that's as near as I can put my finger on it, off the cuff.

Can't ye just envisage Mastermind? " Ditch; On your chosen subject of ' Coopers Stout', ye Passed on, 'What is the flavour of Coopers Stout?'. The answer was ..... well ..... f*cked if We could work that one out either! "

[THE EMBALMER]

well got my third stout on the go today , mixed it up a bit with nearly full bag of dark sme and bag of medium with a bit more chucked in for good measure and put more water in than normal going for quantity and flavour not out and out strength.
also got the dark ale in the fv too with medium spray malt.
loverly jubbly

[KevP]

well got my third stout on the go today , mixed it up a bit with nearly full bag of dark sme and bag of medium with a bit more chucked in for good measure and put more water in than normal going for quantity and flavour not out and out strength.
also got the dark ale in the fv too with medium spray malt.
loverly jubbly

Sounds like a cracking Easter you'll have! If it lasts that long

[KevP]

[shazza]

Greetings fellow brewers.New to site, not new to brewing or drinking.I have been contributing on the "Ditch's Stout" thread but this thread is probably more appropriate for my contribution to this wonderful community of brewers and drinkers and lovers of the finer things in life.
Cooper's Stout IS based on an Irish Stout recipe,just not any Irish stout available today....................Once upon a time (as recently as the late 80s/early 90s)we had three distinctive stouts in the country:Guinness,Murphy and Beamish.(I was also aware of Mackeson but this was just a lactose heavy dark ale masquerading as stout).The bottled equivalents of the Big Three had their own distinctive characteristics but for the purposes of this dissertation I'll stick to the draughts:Murphy,Cork brewed,was light ,refreshing,low in hop bitterness and had a loyal following in the south-western counties of Ireland.Guinness,Dublin brewed,was a maltier,hoppier beer with a creamy-coloured (as opposed to Murphy's white)head.Then there was Beamish....also Cork brewed ,also with a white head but here the similarities ended;it was medium to heavy bodied(like Guinness),its malts had been roasted to a chocolate nuttiness that was completely different to the other two stouts and its hop aroma was gentle and seductive.jazuz t'was lovely.then some corporate dickhead changed the recipe (early 90s) and a great stout was gone forever...............UNTIL NOW...........COOPER'S STOUT is the New Beamish.Praise the lord and pass the tankards.

[Ditch]

Beamish....medium to heavy bodied(like Guinness),its malts had been roasted to a chocolate nuttiness that was completely different to the other two stouts and its hop aroma was gentle and seductive.jazuz t'was lovely. COOPER'S STOUT is the New Beamish.

Now, That's some interesting sh!t! I've certainly downed Guinness in my time. Voluntarily. Went through quite a phase of it. Murphy and Beamish though? I definitely had a pint or two of one or the other, in the City Arms, Portsmouth (I believe it later became an " Irish Themed " pub? Probably long since shut down, what ever) Put a gun to my head and I couldn't say which I'd had then, or - if I'd ever had both the others - which I preferred.

But; I sure as hell know Coopers beats it out of Guinness. I am also acutely aware that someone here gave some Coopers to some female friend, and she turned straight round and pronounced it the same as .....

If she came up with Beamish, it seems some of us owe that lady a grovelling apology!

[THE EMBALMER]

all out of stout.....bugger .2 kegs empty and waiting patiently until wednesday when i can fill them up again with lovelyness
i think coopers should send there ingredients over here by the ton and start a brewery and got this stuff out in the pubs so we can still enjoy it when we are socialising.
i mean if magners can make all this cider from that little orchard of theirs then surely coopers could knock a few thousand gallons a day of this stout, it could not fail??
i wonder if they do big oil drum size kits for the purpose of brewing on a big scale, would be interesting dont you think??

[Ditch]

i think coopers should send there ingredients over here by the ton and start a brewery and got this stuff out in the pubs so we can still enjoy it when we are socialising.

That's a nice idea, on the face of it, Glyn. But couldn't ye see it going just the way of Guinness and all the other brews produced on epic scale and sold ubiquitously? Ye'd have to settle for what ye got and there's be precious little scope for variation. (I say that with the allowance that I recently had a really cracking pint of Guinness in a pub. God knows what he's playing at. Maybe he makes out he's not at home when their Gestapo call? Keeps it the way he sees fit. Not according to Party Doctrine?)

But there's the rub, see? We have the freedom to make our Coopers Stout according to whim. Prime it. Don't prime it. Keg or bottle. 'Sugar' of choice. Even the amount of water added. Best of all; We get to drink it at any stage we choose!

No. I like being my own micro breweries Head Brewer.

[shazza]

howya boys. brief note.put on a double load of the precious tonight.genius idea:I enveloped the whole lot in a B.P.B.(black plastic bag or bin bag).that should curtail the monster a bit!...only worry is shorting out the brewbelt but that's what trip switches were invented for.will update when relevant......beamish discussion to follow-gotta go habooze,earlystart.night night.

[KevP]

Tidying up my shed and stores yesterday I forgot I had a Coopers Stout! Might have to get it on soon and see what all the fuss is about, if it's as good as their Dark Ale I'll be happy.

[jmcc1889]

Well I have finally joined the revolution and started my first Coopers Stout today. The beast is sleeping at present but if the previous posts are anything to go by I expect a lot of activity during the next few days I went with Ditch's recommendation and used Medium Spray Malt. I Know that Ditch Prefers not to prime when kegging but has anyone tried both options and what have the results been? I wil be putting it into a budget keg but still undecided whether to prime or not.

Cheers

John

[Blue Brew]

I'm drinking my first batch of Coopers Stout at the mo. Its been in bottles now for two weeks. Brewed with 1KG MSM and primed with 80g Demerara sugar. Tastes great, could have done with a bit more priming sugar though in my opinion as loses its head v quickly. trying to save a few to try after a month in bottles. Demerara sugar has given a nice caramel taste. Next one goes into the FV tomorrow with 1KG Beer enhancer to see how that compares.

[WishboneBrewery]

I'd prime...
the 60-80g of brewing sugar I gave it (25L bottling bucket) before bottling could have been a bit more for my tastes, though there is nothing wrong with the finished brew... I'll be doing another soon, just as soon as I have more bottles!!! *must drink more!*

[THE EMBALMER]

i primed my budget kegs with spray malt did not take much notice of quantity just put about 10 table spoons in or so, dont have to put gas in for quite a few litres have been consumed.
count down 2 days to kegging got a few flip tops might fill them up with stout and get swimbo to hide them for a while to mature.

[Ditch]

I Know that Ditch Prefers not to prime when kegging but has anyone tried both options and what have the results been?

That's a bloody good question, John! (Have a Star for that ) Wonder no one else has asked it before. If they have? I've missed both Q & A.

Just to straighten the finer detail though; Ditch doesn't prefer not to prime. Ditch just doesn't, because of domestic situational constraints: Ditch doesn't have any sugar in the place. And, having today been caught short on the molasses situation and browsed the local towns sugar situation ....? Ditch bought a small jar of honey, for his tea, rather than settle for the bleached, white, bland sh!t available!

As I'm always at pains to point out then; I don't prime. But it's a 'mechanical', rather than taste or expertise matter


Picking up from some later posts there; I prefer MDSM over sugar because sugar adds 'poke' at the cost of 'quality'. Equally, DSM sacrifices poke as it gives a better quality brew, less potent alcohol level.

I also dislike bottles as they tend to have that 'liquid razor blades' effect on the back of my throat. So on and so forth. All rather subjective. Each to their own and do ye own things to taste. With the pure Quality of Coopers ingredients it's bloody hard to go far wrong!