Help - Coopers Irish stout

Hey everyone.

I'm 5 brews in but of course all brews have been of a different flavor so there's no stout experience yet.

I brew strictly coopers extract for now but haven't tried the stout.

I am a big guiness lover, but don't love the guiness price. I'm trying to find a way to brew a close clone of guiness by just using the Coopers stout and maybe some dry malt or whatever you guys can suggest.

Would a coopers kit and all dextrose make a good stout? I don't think it'll be creamy.. I want the silk, creamy mouth feel. Lower carbonation obviously, but any tips or recipe guidance would be great!

I don't have any experience with hops, or liquid malt. Just the dry malt and extract cans of coopers.

Thanks!

 

The word "creamy" leads me to recommend a little lactose.
Adding some light extract in place of sugar would keep it from being too thin and simple tasting. I don't know if dark extract would be quite right, as it may be a bit too roasty for keep with your "smooth" descriptor.
I'd say start with a little lactose (amount will depend on if you brew at 5/6 gal) and do half & half sugar and DME. You can always add maltodextrin and/or lactose if your post ferm samples aren't to your liking, but if overdone and too big/flavourful there isn't a lot you could do.

 

I'll look into what lactose is in brewing terms.

I can't imagine you mean dump some 2% milk in my fermentor lol.

Maybe it's a powder like DME?

I'll call the local brew store

 

Yes.

Baking suppliers should have it or bulk food stores. I assume your LHBS would have it too. Possibly cheaper? Can't say.

 

Her's a link to some recipes which should give you a base to start with.
http://www.coopers.com.au/#/diy-beer/beer-recipes/stout/

A recipe I use is, but drier than Guiness:
1 lbs English Roasted Barley
6 lbs Gold Malt syrup (Coopers Amber?)
2 oz Cluster hops (60 min)
Wyeast 1084

edit more info: https://www.coopers.com.au/coopers-forum/topic/11494/

 

That link you posted is amazing! Just what I needed

 

No lactose. It is a milk sugar that is unfermentable. Guinness is dry.

I love Guinness, I can brew all-grain, but mostly partial mash, and have never been able to replicate it. A lot of the creaminess of Guinness today is also due to being on Nitrogen.

To get a decent stout, anywhere near Guinness, you need to be able to mash grains. Learn how to do a partial mash. I think adding oats to the mash helps a lot with the mouth feel of the beer.

I do an excellent Oatmeal stout, which I think is far superior to Guinness. I have had a lot of Guinness in my time.