Brew Number Two - it's going to be stout - but which kit?

[Stonch]

OK, so as you'll all have guessed, the bug that bit most of you a long time ago has bitten me hard. I haven't even got a homebrew ready to drink and I'm determined to press on with the next...

It's going to be a stout (or a porter). That's because I really, really like real stouts and porters. Real stouts are rare in pubs (I loathe nitrokeg Guinness), so from a pracitcal point of view I'll be doing myself a huge favour if I can brew something even half decent up. I love the style so much that even something very rough around the edges will make me very happy indeed .

So which kit should I use?

The idea of doing a very strong brew does appeal (after all, alcohol and strong flavours mask defects!) - what about Muntons Imperial Stout?

However, there seem to be mixed feelings here about Muntons kits, and Brupaks seem to be more in favour - do they do a decent stout?

What I want is something very potent in terms of roasted , coffee flavours if at all possible...

Any advice is appreciated!

[mysterio]

In my experience, the Muntons kits have just not made good beer. I would look towards Brupaks or Woodfordes but I have never made a kit stout so I can't offer any specific advice.

Have you looked towards all grain brewing Stonch? There's really nothing to it and you can make the beer from scratch like the pro's with whatever ingredients you please. Plenty of us here to help

[oxford brewer]

Try the Muntons Gold Docklands Porter,it has a dry mouhfeel and that coffee-ish taste you are after.I brewed this before and have another kit sat here waiting for me to do!
Dont forget to disgard the yeast supplied and use another sachet of quality yeast,Safale-04 or Gervins are good dried yeast to use instead,as some of the yeast supplied with kits are "apparently" not up to the job

[james_m_r]

My vote goes to Brupacks Blackmoor Stout. I promise that you will not be dissapointed with this kit.

[Chris The Fish]

being a cheepy, i went for the Youngs harvest stout for my first brew, at 6 odd quid its a bargain, I made it with glucose and primed with muscovado sugar and then bottled, it was great!

i imagine 10x better with a spray malt in place of the glucose, id stick with the muscovado to prime, it added a certain something to the beer.

btw, i bottled half and kegged half, the bottles were better.

chris

[Stonch]

Have you looked towards all grain brewing Stonch? There's really nothing to it and you can make the beer from scratch like the pro's with whatever ingredients you please. Plenty of us here to help

What I like about this forum is that, unlike followers of any other esoteric pursuit I can think of, you all seem so keen to make out what you do is really dead easy! It's good.

Brupaks seem to get endorsements left right and centre on this site, so I think I might plump for the Black Moor Stout.

I'm just going to buy another load of equipment so I don't have to wait for one brew to be spent before I start another.

I was looking on Hop & Grape, and they'll do budget kegs with the C02 valve for little more than the ones with the safety valve. I'll get one of those so I have the option to pump CO2 in with those little pods you can get.

[sparky Paul]

I've done a John Bull Masterclass Irish Stout recently, I thought it was reasonable initially, but wasn't overly impressed - however, it matured into a very good pint indeed. In the end, I thought it was good value at around £13 for a 3Kg all malt kit, and I might try the Chocolate Stout next...

I've found that stouts take a good while to reach their best.

[Bigster]

What I like about this forum is that, unlike followers of any other esoteric pursuit I can think of, you all seem so keen to make out what you do is really dead easy! It's good.

stonch it really is as easy as an easy thing - honest. Time consuming but great fun and you can fine tune your brew to your taste.

[BarryNL]

Try the Muntons Gold Docklands Porter,it has a dry mouhfeel and that coffee-ish taste you are after.I brewed this before and have another kit sat here waiting for me to do!
Dont forget to disgard the yeast supplied and use another sachet of quality yeast,Safale-04 or Gervins are good dried yeast to use instead,as some of the yeast supplied with kits are "apparently" not up to the job

Be interesting to see how true this is. I just made up some Smuggler's Ale; half using Wyeast #1098 and the other half using the Munton's yeast. Should have some results in after another six weeks in the bottles - they certainly tasted different at bottling time though. Difficult to say which was better, but if anything the Munton's had a cleaner taste.

[PieOPah]

Stonch, another option you have avaialble to you is to modify a kit.

Recently I took a Yorkshire Bitter kit that I really knew I didn't like and added my own ingredients to it.

Steeped some speciality grains, boiled some hops, added some spraymalt. I then added this in place of the water I would normally have used.

Now, instead of a crappy bitter, I have a great porter.

As well as giving you a great tasting beer from a cheaper kit, you would have the advantage of getting a small taste of extract brewing (although All Grain really is the way forward) and the pleasure from having truly made a beer yourself

On the other hand, I have used the Coopers Stout on a few occassions and this was fantastic - I even used 1kg of plain sugar rather than the recommended Spray Malt (recommended here, not by Coopers). To one of these Coopers Stouts, I added 3 pots of freshly brewed coffee (1 filter full so each pot was weaker). This added a great flavour to an already great beer. Another time, I added a bottle of Ginger Wine. This was good while young but the flavour quickly dispersed - just means more wine needed

[Stonch]

PieOPah, I like the idea of putting coffee in to the wort - will try that some time.

I am about to order from Hop & Grapea Brupaks "Pride of Yorkshire" Black Moor Stout kit. I assume I should also order a kilo of DME at the same time then? Or are the Brupaks complete kits, i.e. already include the fermentables?

[Andy]

The Pride of Yorkshire kits are complete - no additional sugar/DME required.

[bitter_dave]

I am about to order from Hop & Grapea Brupaks "Pride of Yorkshire" Black Moor Stout kit. I assume I should also order a kilo of DME at the same time then? Or are the Brupaks complete kits, i.e. already include the fermentables?

They are complete kits, so you won't need the DME

[Stonch]

Great.

I think I'll get a couple of DME bags anyway. We can use it with a John Bull Bitter tin that was thrown in when I got our first pressure barrel and fermenter from HomebrewUK.

Cheers everyone!

[jaytee1]

Hi Stonch

I am considering delving into a porter or stout for my next after the next after the next brew....i have also become wrapped up in this brewing lark and have the next two brews already bought and ready to go....

I would really be interested how the blackmoor stout goes especially if you add coffee...quality

Also had a look round your blog and it made me laugh out loud

JT