I’m looking for a stout extract kit from NB that is a little bit stronger than Guinness but not super strong and overpowering. It looks like the Dry Irish stout uses the Gold malt extract for a base which is more of a pale /amber and probably not what I’m looking for. I was thinking about maybe the cherry stout which uses the Dark malt for a base. Or the big honkin stout and cofee ones seem like they might be overpowering big beers. But I’m just guessing. What would you recommend?
Thanks!!!
I just finished making the sweet stout extract. Finished with abv 5.0%.
Fermented 3 weeks primary and 3 weeks secondary then bottled. After 1 week in the bottle it was flat and tasted like prune juice. After 2 weeks it was fairly carbed and tasted like good but young beer. I think a few more weeks will make it a darn good beer. Id recommend it but only if you have a few months to spare or if u are kegging.
Stronger flavor or stronger alcohol?
probably a bit of both stronger flavor and alcohal. Mostly flavor.
You could take the dry stout kit and add 4oz of debittered black malt and 4oz of chocolate. That will up your flavors.
Adding 1lb of table sugar will add ~.007 and keep it dry.
Or 1lb of DME will add ~.009. But it may finish a bit on the sweet side.
I hoping not to have to make up a recipe and just stick to one of the NB extract stout kits.
Looks like there are a bunch. I am a novice brewer so I need to keep it simple for now. Thanks!
I pretty new to home brewing. So it sounds like there are no stout kits with the strength I was thinking of.
Sounds like you can add sugars like table sugar or chocolate to increase the alcohol?
How does this affect the taste?
Adding a pound of table sugar sounds like it will make a sweet beer is that true?
Also sounds like it would make it very caloric, not that it’s a bad thing.
What is DME?
Also why does NB kits only have OG where some other companies tell you the potential alcohol.
It makes it hard for me to figure out the strength of beers.
I found gravity % alcohol calculator but you need the FG.
Is there an easy way, just assume a certain FG for all of the kits??’
Sorry for all questions.Thanks
!
The dry stout is definitely what you want. Its use of a lighter extract is simply so it will dry out. The darker extracts tend to finish more sweet due to more unfermentable sugars being created from the kilning.
If you want the kit to be a little stronger like a foreign extra stout, just make it to 4gal.
To fit in a quick brew for a buddy I did the extract version of the Dry Irish Stout and it is a very solid beer. There is no mistaking it for anything other than a stout when you drink it and most people that try it are shocked to find out it is only ~4% ABV.
If I could bump it up to 6% somehow and have still taste like a stout that would be what I’m looking for.
You could start with the Dry Stout kit and add 3 lbs dark LME.
You could start with the Dry Stout kit and add 3 lbs dark LME.[/quote]
What do you mean by LME light malt extract the NB dark malt extract?
The cherry stout kit has as OG of 1.053 as opposed to the 1.042 for the Dry Irish Stout.
What percent alcolhol should that come out to be then?
The cherry stout:
A classic dry stout, black in color, with the sharp bite of roasted barley and laced with cherry extract.
It uses the dark malts so it will be a bit sweeter I assume.
So I guess I could either try this which a little sweeter or use a mix of gold and dark extract like someone suggested.
– 3 lbs Dark dry malt extract (60 min)
– 3.15 Dark malt syrup late addition (15 min)
Thank you so much everybody for the help!!!
%Alcohol by volume can only be known after the final gravity is known. You can get a rough estimation simply by using the OG and and estimated FG, but that truly is a rough estimation, nothing more.
Not all beers have the same final gravity, and final gravity can vary between different brewers making the same beer.
I wouldn’t use the dark extract because I think it’ll sweeten the final product. And I wouldn’t use light extract because you need the right ratio of roast barley and extract to have the proper flavor. If you don’t want to make the kit at 4gal, look up the ingredients and buy enough of them all to extend the batch.
If you look at the details of the malt extract it’ll tell you how many points per gallon it’ll give (eg - 1 lb of Dark LME will give you 1.036 in 1 gallon of water). If you ignore the steeping grains which add very little gravity the Dry Irish Stout kit has 6 lbs of Light LME, if you add the 3.15 lbs of Dark LME you get 1.066 as an OG.
Do you just want a 6% beer or are you looking for a bigger stout than the Dry Irish? Subtle but depending on the answer you can get there different ways. (eg - just adding sugar) Also remember as you up the gravity of a beer you may want to consider if the bitterness will still be balanced in addition to what Tom pointed out about the amount of roast barley that might be needed.
Just an opinion from when I was getting going with extract is that bigger isn’t always better. I learned more for doing the kits as intended, drinking them, deciding what I wanted more or less of and then making small modifications.
[quote=“Flip”]
Just an opinion from when I was getting going with extract is that bigger isn’t always better. I learned more for doing the kits as intended, drinking them, deciding what I wanted more or less of and then making small modifications.[/quote]
I know it is hard to do, but if you are a new brewer, stick with the kits as designed until you have the basics down. By brewing actual recipes, getting a system down and being sure you are doing it correctly, then is the time to deviate, not before. Please don’t take this the wrong way, but if you do not yet know what LME and the relationships between the starting and finishing gravities and % alcohol content, you are not likely to be all that pleased with how you make a beer stronger. I am not saying what I did was right, but I brewed about 30 batches my first year, all extract kits, and did my best to follow the recipes to the letter. I only had a couple batches that I did not think was pretty great. Now that I have moved to all grain (and spent tons of time on this forum) I have the knowledge and confidence to understand recipes and tweak them as needed.
I should follow the extract kits which stout kit would you recommend. Tastes mostly like a dry stout but just a bit stronger
I rather not do one that is just 4% lighter beer.
There is: what are the %alcohols for these?
Breakfast stout
Rye Stout,
Coffee stout,
Oatmeal stout,
Sweet stout,
Cherry stout,
Imperial stout,
chocolate milk stout,
thanks
[quote=“crud99”]I should follow the extract kits which stout kit would you recommend. Tastes mostly like a dry stout but just a bit stronger
I rather not do one that is just 4% lighter beer.
There is: what are the %alcohols for these?
Breakfast stout
Rye Stout,
Coffee stout,
Oatmeal stout,
Sweet stout,
Cherry stout,
Imperial stout,
chocolate milk stout,
thanks[/quote]
If you click on the link for each kit, and then click “additional information”, it will tell you the “estimated” starting gravity. For example the Rye is 1.044 and the Imperial Stout is 1.086.
Everyone that brews this kit will get a slightly different FG, but for the sake of time, lets assume that for most you get in the range of 1.016-1.018 for a FG because they all have a fair amount of unfermentable sugars, being dark. It is quite possible the Imperial Stout will not go below 1.024, but it might.
As indicated above, (SG-FG) * 1.33 = % alcohol (approximate)
So using the Rye Stout as an example - (SG 1.044 - FG 1.016) = .0028 * 1.33 = 3.8% alcohol
I estimate that the imperial stout would be about 8.3% Run the numbers and see if you get the same thing.
You can do the math on the rest
