2nd Brew - True Brew Irish Stout

Got a Coopers DIY Kit for Christmas and just followed the direction on that. Smells and looks good after bottling last night (3 weeks in Fermenter).

So I picked up a True Brew Irish Stout kit from my local Home Brew Supply for my 2nd batch. After reading many posts I have a couple of questions maybe you guys can help out with so I can get the most out of this kit.

Here are their directions http://brewgadgets.com/BrewingInstructions/irishstout.htm

1 - For the Grain steeping; should I put the grains in cold and heat up to temperature like I've read on the forums or heat water to boiling turn off heat and add grain.

2 - It calls for a 20-30 minute boil. Should i add just the DME and the hops and then add the LME towards the end to prevent scorching and discoloring like I've been reading here, or add it all at once per the directions.

Thanks for any suggestions with the directions and any suggested additions to this brew. And if you've done this kit let me know how it came out. I hope to get to it tomorrow night so I can open a few on St. Pattys.

There are a few different ways to steep grains. I think you can do either of the above, but I bring the water to something below boiling, the add the grain bag and hold for 20-30 minutes. I measure the steeping temp.

The kit uses hopped extract, which is why it calls for a short boil. I would lean toward following directions. Keeping light color isn't an issue for a stout. It's not a 60 minute boil, and I don't think you have to worry about IBUs due to boil gravity. The bittering hops are already in the extract.

This week i bottled my first beer, a Coopers Lager from the DIY Kit, and brewed an Irish Stout last night. Happy to say that when I left home this morning I could see some nice activity through the top of the fermenter. Can't wait for St. Pattys day.

That link says there is hopped extract and 2 oz of hop pellets? I have never seen a pre-hopped kit that calls for a 30 minute boil of 2 oz of hops. That seems like a lot of hops....

Certainly smelled good when they were in the boil. But when I put it in the fermenter not much noticeable hop aroma was left and the sample from hydrometer wasn't noticeably hoppy or too bitter. So hopefully it will have a good flavor profile when done.