Can anyone recommend a good stout kit?

[Pint-a-water]

I am interested in a stout kit as stout is usually what I drink. My Coopers Canadian Blonde is ready to be bottled in the next day or so and Im looking to brew a stout kit if anyone can suggest a good one  Also how long will the bottled beer keep?

[LordEoin]

I like the Coopers Irish Stout with some chocolate grain and dry hopped with Fuggles. It turns out very nice 

Provided everything was sanitized properly and it's stored somewhere cool and dark, bottled beer will last pretty much indefinitely. I have bottles in the press from about a year and a half ago and they're still fine.

Just remember that flavors mellow and mingle with time. That's great if something tastes a bit too bitter or roasty for example, but not so good for the delicious hop late additions which will fade.

[Eoin]

Try a ditches stout, it gets rave reviews.

1KG medium DME
1 Coopers kit
1 Mug demerara sugar.

Rest as usual, you can drink it out of the fermenter like Ditch does, or you can bottle etc for a less authentic drink

[derfel]

I've tried the Coopers Irish stout, worked out very nicely. It's quite popular with guests too.

[davybarman]

Is hard to go wrong with the Coopers Irish Stout.

[Pint-a-water]

Thanks for the replies all   

I just today received my coopers Irish stout along with 2x 500g of dark spraymalt I ordered. Just looking at the instructions that came with the stout. They are the exact same as the ones that came with the Canadian Blonde... Is this right?  Ive read on here that stout takes about 2 weeks in the FV, but the coopers instructions say its ready to bottle after a week !

Do I follow the same instructions that came with it or is there a better way I can do things?

[davybarman]

All the Cooper Instructions are the same and are pretty generic. I find though that the stout will take a bit longer to condition in the bottle. But it sounds like your on the right track. The Coopers website is pretty good though for further kit instructions

[LordEoin]

Both the Canadian Blonde and Irish Stout come with ale yeast, but different strains.
For a best result aim for 18-20C for the Blonde and 20-22C for the Stout.

The only Coopers kits that use different instructions are the Pilsener/European Lager (see page 7 on internation and Brewmaster instructions) and Ginger beer.

There are 4 different sets of instructions they provide, one for each range.
Original, Premium, International and Brewmaster.
They're all almost identical, apart from the Brewmaster having additional instructions for Pilsener, International for European Lager, and Premium saying the range can be brewed between 13C and 40C (lies!!)
I've lost my Ginger Beer instruction leaflet.

There are 2 parts of the Coopers' instructions (aka destructions) that should be ignored:
1 - Fermenting temperatures. See here for a better guide
2 - Fermenting Times. Judge your times based on the activity in the FV (krausen, rising bubbles, bubbling airlock, clarity, etc). Fixed schedules are convenient, but don't take your particular circumstance into consideration.

One particularly handy part of the Coopers' instructions is page 1, the brewing record. It's a great start for record keeping and can easily be adapted into a more thorough document.

Best of luck with your Stout Kit! 

[Pint-a-water]

Thanks for that LordEoin, can I use the 2 x 500g of Dark Spraymalt instead of any sugar or dextrose? Or would I have better results using some brewing sugar?

[LordEoin]

1kg of DME would put you at about 1.038 OG and a about 3.7% before priming
adding 250g of dextrose would bring it to about 1.042 and about 4.2% before priming.
completely up to you, that little bit of sugar shouldn't even be really noticable 

[Pint-a-water]

1kg of DME would put you at about 1.038 OG and a about 3.7% before priming
adding 250g of dextrose would bring it to about 1.042 and about 4.2% before priming.
completely up to you, that little bit of sugar shouldn't even be really noticable 

So I'll throw in the 1kg of DME, 250g of Dextrose when Im putting the can in the Fermenter then add then 1 or 2 carbonation drops to the bottles when the time comes?

[Dunkel]

If you're using 500 ml bottles, then just use one carbonation drop. You don't want stout to be too fizzy.

[Jon.Martin]

I like the Coopers Irish Stout with some chocolate grain and dry hopped with Fuggles. It turns out very nice 

This sounds delicious. Can I ask though, did you use the grain as a steeping grain or did you mash the kit with grain?

[Pint-a-water]

Today is brew day 

1 coopers Irish stout kit
1kg of DME
250g of Demarara sugar

[LordEoin]

@ jon - Steep. Pure Simple!

@pint-a-water - ooh, demarara sugar! nice touch I hope it goes well for you