Coopers Irish Stout (with a twist)

[TheCavanMan]

Guys

I'm only homebrewing a month or so. I brewed up the Cooper's Irish Stout with a 1.5kg LME
and thats in the bottles conditioning at the moment. First samples are very good.

I decided to put the fermenter to good use and not have it lying there empty.

I've stuck on the following, with the plan to leave it there for a couple of month, for those cold winter evening.

1.7kg Coopers Irish Stout
1.0kg Dark Malt Extract
400g Dark Brown Sugar
400g Dextrose
100g Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

Going to stick some Chocolate Extract (which was a pain to track down) and maybe some Espresso in it when transferring to secondary fementer.
ABV should be about 6.0%, just nice for a cold winters evening.

I was reading in the forums about Crystal and how it can improve the head. My next batch will have a lower ABV, but I was wondering should I
reduce the dextrose and stick in maybe 200g of Dark Crystal to improve the head.

Thanks

[LordEoin]

Yeah, 800grams of sugar is going to reduce the mouthfeel and head retention.
For the next brew, stick to a maximum of 300g (ish) of sugar.
Adding some crystal or carapils will help with the head retention and add some more freshness

[TheCavanMan]

Thanks a million

As regards the Crystal, do you simple buy crushed crystal and boil it in a similar way to hops and then add the water.

From what I can see on HBW its not like the normal DME powder.

Sorry if it a supid question

[Garry]

The grains need to be steeped. Either in 2 to 3 litres of cold water over night or 65'C water for 30min. Don't boil them because it releases tannins or some shit?

Steep the grains in a bag or just strain them out when you're finished (with the wife's colander). LordEoin uses his old tights  The steeped water then needs to be boiled to sterilize it. If you are adding hops, add them to this boil.

More info here, and remember that there's no such thing as a stupid question 

[TheCavanMan]

Excellent. Thanks again.

The auld brain is going 90mph thinking of things I want to try.

[Garry]

I forgot to answer the crushed question. Yes, buy the grain crushed because you don't have a mill (i assume). You can crush grains with a rolling pin and a plastic bag but it's a PITA.

[LordEoin]

yeah, the crushed grains come in 500g or 1kg bags usually, so don't worry about the unused stuff going off as it'll be used fairly quick