Coopers Stout kit

[Donny]

Hey everyone,

Got a coopers stout kit for cheap and want to hack it a bit.

Was thinking a chocolate stout or maybe chocolate and expresso stout. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to go about changing it?

[LordEoin]

Steep some chocolate malt, but don't go overboard ~100g shoudl do fine.
Add some crystal or carapils too, ~150g
You'll benefit from a small dryhop.
The kit yeast is fine.
brew to 20liters

[Donny]

Cheers man!

[LordEoin]

no worries. i hope it turns out well

[Donny]

Quick question, how long a steep and what temp? Have some chocolate, carapils and a brew enhancer on the way

[irish_goat]

I normally steeped at 67c (same as mash temperature) for 20-30mins. Give it a quick boil once you take the grain bag out as well to sterilise it all.

[Donny]

Cheers. Going to be a quick brew day on Saturday so

[LordEoin]

I steep the same way. there's no need to hit and sustain mash temperatures, but it's good practice

[Donny]

Is there a point in adding cocoa or powered chocolate to this or is the chocolate malt enough?

[kilo_folio]

You'll benefit from a small dryhop.

What would you recommend dryhopping with?

[LordEoin]

Go with whatever you like and BJCP be damned.
EKG would be more traditional, but don't let that be your guiding star. After all you'll have 23 liters of the stuff to drink. You might aswell enjoy it.

[kilo_folio]

Thanks LordEoin. As this is my first stout brew I think I'll play it safe and go down the traditional route. But if the recipe holds up I'll be looking at splitting the next batch to experiment with hops.

Is there much point in bittering hops when using a Cooper's stout kit and seeing as I'm only boiling the worth from steeping grains for 5/10min?