Irish stout kit

[PTS_35]

Bottled beer last Tuesday. I ended up with 4 gallons. I used northern brewer priming calculator, picked stout at 2.1 carb, beer temp was 63f if I remember right. 2.52 grams of corn sugar if I recall. Hope it provides enough carb. Been about a week and nothings blown. That's a good thing. Just interested in finding out if 2 wks will have it carbed up or will it take longer

 

[RM-MN]

Bottled beer last Tuesday. I ended up with 4 gallons. I used northern brewer priming calculator, picked stout at 2.1 carb, beer temp was 63f if I remember right. 2.52 grams of corn sugar if I recall. Hope it provides enough carb. Been about a week and nothings blown. That's a good thing. Just interested in finding out if 2 wks will have it carbed up or will it take longer

The beer is probably carbonated now. Using a plastic bottle for one beer in a batch I found that there was quite a bit of pressure in the bottle within 24 hours. That didn't mean the beer was ready to drink, just that it had carbonation.

If you open a bottle now you will probably see a bit of a head on the beer that disappears quickly. That means it needs more time. If you wait until the beer has been in the bottle for 4 weeks, you will likely see a better head on it. It still won't be at peak flavor but it should be quite drinkable.

 

[PTS_35]

When IS "peak" for beer typically? When I see wine I see "at least 4-6 months better in a year" similar was the hard cider I did. Advice was 6 months to a year typically. But when for beer?

 

[RM-MN]

When IS "peak" for beer typically? When I see wine I see "at least 4-6 months better in a year" similar was the hard cider I did. Advice was 6 months to a year typically. But when for beer?

With beer there is a great amount of variability but in general the darker the beer and the higher the alcohol content the longer it takes to mature. Thus, a nice light color wheat beer with 3.5% alcohol might be at its peak with 3 weeks in the bottle (or less) my 9% imperial stout took a year to "settle down" and get good. I expect that beer to peak sometime in 2016 but maybe not until late in 2016.

With that in mind it's a good idea to make your first beer a lighter color one so you have beer to drink soon while you are waiting on the darker beers.

What becomes a problem is a dark IPA because the dark beer needs time but the hop aroma fades before the beer is fully mature.

 

[PTS_35]

Hmm. Interesting. Now this stout being a dark beer I guess will need time. The abv is only about 4.5 or so

 

[RM-MN]

Hmm. Interesting. Now this stout being a dark beer I guess will need time. The abv is only about 4.5 or so

Some people like the taste of a "fresh" stout. I like mine to mellow out and the flavors to meld. You could be either type so sample this batch as it matures to see what you like. If you don't sample too much or too often you can taste the change. If you run out too soon, you'll have to make another batch.

 

[PTS_35]

I'm not a real big stout fan. I made this for my brother who only drinks Guinness. I tasted it the day I bottled it and still feel it's a bit thin. Thin meaning lacking the body I pick up in Guinness. I don't expect it to be so similar to Guinness that you wouldn't know but I'm wondering whats missing. It's stout like just I'm feel it's not creamy enough, it's not roasty enough. I want to learn how to make it on my own but damn, right now the while world of grains seems intimidating. One idea was start with recipes; first enzyme then all grain then purchase those specific grains in the recipe to sort of 'make your own' and just keep building from there I guess

 

[RM-MN]

I'm not a real big stout fan. I made this for my brother who only drinks Guinness. I tasted it the day I bottled it and still feel it's a bit thin. Thin meaning lacking the body I pick up in Guinness. I don't expect it to be so similar to Guinness that you wouldn't know but I'm wondering whats missing. It's stout like just I'm feel it's not creamy enough, it's not roasty enough. I want to learn how to make it on my own but damn, right now the while world of grains seems intimidating. One idea was start with recipes; first enzyme then all grain then purchase those specific grains in the recipe to sort of 'make your own' and just keep building from there I guess

What I think it is missing is time. It takes time to carbonate which in itself will give a feeling of body but more time in the bottle will help too.

I made an extract robust porter and it was thin. I wondered why it was called a robust porter when it had no apparent body. Well, since I had made it I kept on drinking it, maybe a bottle a week since I had other beers that I though were better and one day..it was robust. It just took time for it to mature. I think your stout will surprise you one day if you don't drink it all first.

 

[PTS_35]

Ok. I was thinking the carbonation might help as well. Glad I wasn't totally off.

 

[PTS_35]

Well, beer was sampled. Had a good carb to it. Formed a creamy looking head that stayed for a bit. Very drinkable. My brother said it smelled just like Guinness and was close to the taste. I liked it as well. I could pick up something in the background that I wanna see it age out. I do look forward to seeing how this is on couple of months

 

[RM-MN]

That looks good and I'll bet it will be even better in a few weeks. If you lived nearby I'd stop over to sample one with you.

 

[bigrsmith]

I think it looks pretty good as well. Keep us posted on how it ages for you.

 

[PTS_35]

Keep updating. Got it downstairs now to forget about it. Dark and usually no higher than 65 in summer down there.