2nd Brew - Stout

Cork Boy

After the relative success of my first brew (Muntons 3kg IPA) I'm now ready to take on brew number 2 which is the Coopers Irish Stout 1.5KG kit and I've gotten dark spraymalt to go with it and am thinking of which adjuncts to use - most probably coffee and/or vanilla.

Since I've never had to use enhancers before, I'm not entirely sure how to add the spraymalt though - do I whisk/stir it in after the water and LME have been added or do I need to dissolve it in a pot of warm water and then add it to the wort?

Thanks again and to everyone who advised and helped me with my first brew, it turned out very well, all my friends were stunned at the quality!

BeerNut

Cork Boy wrote: »

do I need to dissolve it in a pot of warm water and then add it to the wort?

Boiling water! Sanitisation is everything. Give it about five minutes of a boil before adding it.

BTW, you don't need dark spraymalt: the kit will have plenty of dark malt in it already so nothing you add will affect the colour of the beer.

Cork Boy

Also,

I was thinking in order to boost the abv by a wee bit and also because I heard it's good for stout was to add in another 300g of wheat malt extract on top of the 1kg of dark malt extract. (All in addition to the 1.7kg coopers stout kit).

So - firstly, is this going to thin out my beer too much and secondly, can I dissolve and boil the different malts together or do they need to be done separately?

Gonna be a great weekend folks... gonna stuff myself with food and red wine tonight in order to make myself fit for the leaba very early so then up at 5.30am for the matches, then doing mah brew (and clean-up) and then on to Munster v Dragons game that night to cheer on Munster and either commiserate or congratulate the welsh fans in attendance... over a few beers

All in all I should be hopefully too busy and tired to be fiddling with and getting impatient with my brew :cool:

BeerNut

Cork Boy wrote: »

is this going to thin out my beer

Quite the oposite: more malt without adding more water means the beer will get heavier. Should be fine.

Cork Boy wrote: »

can I dissolve and boil the different malts together

Yes.