[Review] St Peter's Cream Stout 3.0kg Kit

[Will_D]

... still waiting for semi-clad "brewers wives" in pictures to spice them up a bit though!

Now what have you started?

Mmmm, Brewers Wives section Mmmmm!!

[LordEoin]

I try, you called yourself an ass, I just confirmed it. Not polite to bust a guys balls just coz he is 3 or 4 weeks late with a review.  Garry knows me better. None of the reviewers work or get paid by the NHC so not fair to be busting their chops on timelines. Rules state if it doesn't get done recipient gets struck off.

Maybe Raffle Boss wants to comment but I see it working pretty well at the moment, still waiting for semi-clad "brewers wives" in pictures to spice them up a bit though!

Patience is the brewer's most important skill. It's a good on to learn.
I'm happy with this review so far, it was posted quickly, it's very detailed and a lot of work has been put into it.
Garry is not late with the review, he had this thread started promptly, within less than 2 weeks of receiving it (and the delay was because of Christmas)
I cringe at the thought of the beer sitting on the trub for 7 weeks, but I have full faith in Garry's ability and I'm sure that it will be fine.
I've tasted other beers brewed by Garry that sat in primary for this long and they were great.
I too look forward to hearing how the beer ends up, and drinking some of it in the Well at some stage.

Good man Garry! Cheers 

[Garry]

I was thinking of doing a bit of experimenting and by hacking this to a chocolate milk stout, was thinking of steeping 150g of chocolate grain then fermenting with 500g of dark spray malt,500g of lactose and 300g of  Tesco "Milk Chocolate Dessert Sauce" . then whilst bottling adding some a wee bit of "littlePod pure chocolate extract"

I did a coppers stout with 500g of lactose. It was too sweet for my taste, I'd go with 250g if I did it again. I've never heard of the Tesco choc dessert sauce but give it a go? Check the ingredients for any strange looking preservatives though.

If your looking for something like Guinness though, I'd just brew this kit as it is. I'm not sure if a seasoned Guinness drinker would appreciate all that extra chocolate in his beer?

[Garry]

Wow, just checked back there! Cheers for the update Garry...now....is it full bodied from 7 weeks in primary, or just cuz? I remember a lot of ones saying the coopers original was fit to be drunk from the fv too...within 2 weeks! To hell with the plumbing!
If it's a bit less bitter than the Coopers I reckon I'll give it a go...I'd like to coffee it up, thicken it up, and creamify it too though! Any thoughts? Still trying to move it toward that Caledonian Double Dark...

If you look up ditchs stout on Jim's beer kit, there are guys drinking it straight out of the bucket 

As for creamifying it, here's one I made earlier:
www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,3574.msg46296.html#msg46296

[LordEoin]

I've never heard of the Tesco choc dessert sauce but give it a go? Check the ingredients for any strange looking preservatives though.

Have you considered adding biscuits to it for secondary? Dry-bourbon-creaming it!
Maybe some ben and jerry's fish food too
And prime it with chocolate nesquik.
If you need a quick source of lactose, add a pint of milk (not buttermilk though, it has the wrong kind of cultures)
What's the worst that can happen?

[Garry]

Bottled tonight. Terminal gravity was 1.016 so it will be shy of the stated 5% abv. Maybe I should have left it another week 

Still tastes good 

I had a bottle of Guinness extra stout tonight and the carbonation was a lot more than you'd get from a pint of draught. I kinda liked it so I carbed this one to 2.0 cols.

[delzep]

Can you get your hands on the commercial St. Peters Cream Stout to compare it? That stuff is so tasty (feckin pricey too though)

[Garry]

Can you get your hands on the commercial St. Peters Cream Stout to compare it? That stuff is so tasty (feckin pricey too though)

I'll keep an eye out for it. Don't hold your breath 

[delzep]

I've only ever seen it in Sweeney's off licence and that was a couple of years ago (was about €4.50 a bottle so I didn't have too many of them  )

[Dunkel]

Unfortunately it's not available in Ireland anymore - the importer dropped it for some reason (maybe the price).

[Ciderhead]

Unfortunately it's not available in Ireland anymore - the importer dropped it for some reason (maybe the price).

I bought some in Sainsburys, 4 or 5 years ago along with a Golden ale as I had done the GA 3Kg kit and they 2 were very close, never got around to the stout as I wasn't big into them at the time and its taste didn't encourage me to do so either as I was just on the jump to AG
I'll have a look for you next time I'm up.

[Garry]

For the weekend that's in it 

[Garry]

This is a lovely pint. It smells really sweet/malty. But there's nothing sweet in the taste. It's bitter chocolate with a hint of coffee. Nice body. Good head initially but retention isn't great. Good lacing ( great for a homebrewed stout without nitro).

The head retention would probably be better force carbed in a keg than bottle conditioned.

For a straight kit with no mods, this is the berries 

[LordEoin]

It sounds like you've found the stout kit for you Garry!
I hope you have a long life together and have many little halfcast coffeeman babies! 

[heeler58]

Hi Garry, what a brilliant post! I am interested to know how it turns out. I see a few flip top bottles in there. Do you have a source?