Loved this kit so much had to try again,
this time
without household sugar to see what the
difference is.
Used 500g Mutons Medium Spraymalt + 300g
dextrose. OG=1.035 at 24°C. Big frothy
mess (again)
and racked to another carboy at day 4
when SG=1.010
at 20°C. FG=1.008 at 21°C on day 17.
Primed with
180g household sugar. After three weeks
started to
consume and even nicer than with sugar.
Smooth and
creamy with a nice bubbly head. This one
will certainly
be made over and over again. Don't care
how big your
headspace is: use a blow-off hosefor
this one.
Not a huge fan of this style so comments
are
biased. Didn’t have BE2 so used 500g
Spagnols
American Gold Dry Light DME + 400g
dextrose. Kit
suggested sub of only 250g dextrose.
OG=1.035 at
22°C, used kit yeast. Day 14 SG=1.009 at
15°C
after moving to cooler room. Day 27
FG=1.008 at
20°C so primed with 180g of sugar and
bottled.
Tried adding pickled jalepenos in 6
bottles and
fresh whole chili peppers in another 6.
Left rest as-
is. Final colour a darker than Corona
and beer a bit
bland with extremely short-lived white
bubbly
head. Good carbonation. Peppered beers
were fun
with slow burn down throat. Not much
difference
between pickled vs fresh: fresh ones a
tad hotter.
Add citus wedge and serve super-cold.
Verdict? Will
do again but not right away.
Used 500g Spagnols American Dry Gold Dry
Light
Dry Malt Extract (that's what it says
on the package)
+ 400g dextrose. OG=1.032 at 24°C and
used kit
yeast. Transferred day day 25 SG=1.008
at 18°C.
Totally got sidetracked and bottled day
51
FG=1.004 at 20°C. Primed with 1 cup
household
sugar. Not bad - very carbonated and
nice frothy
(and lasting) head and golden brown
colour.
Recommend at 7°C but thought bitters
were
supposed to be kinda flat? Enjoy it on
it's own
terms, I guess. Will try again with less
tardiness and
see what changes. Think I messed up, to
be honest.
My fourth brew attempt and first with a
Pilsner style
yeast. Used 500g Munton Light Spraymalt
+ 300g
dextrose and kit supplied yeast. Started
OG 1.034 at
20°C and then let drop to 15°C. Racked
at day 7, OG
1.008 at 17°C. FG 1.005 at 16°C on day
22 and
bottled, adding 180g sugar for priming.
Nice light
colour, very clear and steady stream of
carbonation
after pour. Very short-lived white head
and oddly,
found it tasted a better at 10°C than
super cold.
Followed kit instructions: 1 kg of sugar
added &
used supplied yeast. Started in glass
carboy with
airlock at ~30°C & wow: bubbling froth
all over the
place & a mess everywhere 12 hours
later.
Overfrothed a few days & did not
determine OG.
Waited a week & got an uncorrected FG of
1.005 -
not corrected for temperature (probably
~25°C).
Conditioned a week & chilled in fridge
for 2 days.
Had first bottle with brother. Couldn’t
believe how
good it was, better than the other
commercial beers
we sampled that evening. This stout was
a rich &
dark-coloured drink with a nice but
short-lived
tan-colured head, pleasantly bitter with
a licorice-
like flavour. Very pleasant & rewarding
way to get
into homebrewing. Will try experimenting
with this
in the future. Top notch!
Newbie brewer so followed kit directions
& used
regular household sugar. OG was 1.035
(uncorrected at about 25°C) & ended
roughly one
week later at 1.004. Bottled and
conditioned for a
week and found little head retention but
with nice
copper colour. Tasted a bit shallow but
must admit
I was a bit careless at bottling (mixed
priming sugar
too aggressively and also caused froth
during bottle
filling - bad idea). The kit seems to
have forgiven
me and I am enjoying them, nonetheless.
Will try
this kit again and use as basis for
experimentation.
Not sure why, but two of these and I
become Rip
Van Winkle.
Third Cooper kit so wanted to try
something that
didn’t use household sugar. Kit asks
for
500g
Coopers Light Dry Malt (but used 500g
Spagnols
American Dry Malt Ext Gold Dry Light)
plus 300g
dextrose. OG was 1.032
at 21°C &
racked on day 3 (1.008 at 18°C), then
was
concerned when airlock stopped
bubbling.
Yeast
suspension cleared its haze & then
really hugged
bottom of carboy. Day 5 was 1.005 at
18°C so
waited a bit longer. Day 9 still at
1.005 at 17°C so
bottled. Primed with 180g regular sugar
&
conditioned 6 more days at 18°C.
Sampled
days
later & very good. Not quite as hoppy
as
I had
hoped but very enjoyable -- a decent
IPA.