First home brew attempt - Cooper's Stout

[jonnyburton81]

Hi there

I purchased a Coopers DIY kit at the weekend and brewed a stout according to the Stouter Stout recipe given on the Cooper's website: http://www.coopers.com.au/the-brewers-guild/how-to-brew/stout/stouter-stout. It seems to be fermenting well and has a large krausen on it. I've managed to keep the temperature relatively constant at c22 degrees. My only worry is that I mistakenly filled the fermenter to 23 litres, rather than the recommended 18 for this recipe. Is that going to be a problem? Just looking for some reassurance as this is my first brew! I'm hoping it's still going to taste nice, and the only issue might be a low ABV, but that doesn't bother me too much

Cheers

Jon
London

 

[unionrdr]

The Cooper's cans/kits are designed for 23L (6.072 USG). So it won't be quite as strong,but still good. The difference isn't going to be much. And just for the record,19L equals 5.016 USG.

 

[Potamus]

I've done the same thing. The beer will be a little watered down with a lower ABV, but it should still taste fine.

 

[jonnyburton81]

Thanks for the replies. That sets my mind at rest! I think I made the mistake as I was following the instructional DVD which says to go to 23L (as it's based on the Lager kit). I'll have to be more careful with my next batch!

 

[DaNewf]

Thanks for the replies. That sets my mind at rest! I think I made the mistake as I was following the instructional DVD which says to go to 23L (as it's based on the Lager kit). I'll have to be more careful with my next batch!

23 litres is the standard volume for most (all?) Cooper's pre-hopped beer kits. Following the DVD instructions while making your stout is perfectly inline with the expected use of that kit. Recipes like Stouter Stout are actually variations on the standard recipe.

Stouter Stout reduces the volume of water in the fermenter to increase the flavour and ABV of the finished beer without having to purchase more ingredients (obviously at the expense of less bottles).