Second brew day was completed at 2:00PM.

1 x 1.7kg Coopers Stout Hopped Extract Can
1 x 1.7kg Coopers Dark Ale Hopped Extract Can
2 x Kit Yeast
0.5kg Dark Dry Malt
0.5kg Dextrose
0.25kg Maltodextrin

Fermentation Vessel in refrigerator – temperature probe taped to side of vessel in insulated holder

Boiled adjuncts in 4L of water for 10 minutes. Sat both cans in hot tap water for 10 minutes to loosen contents before tipping into FV. Rinsed cans in 2L of boiling water and added boiled adjunct mixture. Filled to 23L with cold tap water and aerated well periodically with large spoon. Temperature was too high, packed with ice bricks to get temp down to 30.4C. OG measured as 1.068 (target 1.065) and pitched both packets of kit yeast. Put lid and valve on FV and moved to refrigerator with heat belt wrapped to crash temp to 18.5C. Once at 18.5C set temp to 18.5C using KegKing temperature controller. Plan to leave for 14 days before taking SG reading. Target FG (according to the Kit & Extract Beer Designer spreadsheet) is 1.017 with a 6.7%ABV.

Keg King temperature controller – controls fridge and heat belt

2:00PM temp was 30.4C.
2:30PM temp was 28.4C.
8:30PM temp was down to 18.5C (target brew temperature)
9:00AM 26/4/15 – Significant airlock activity (bubbles every 1-2 seconds), krausen has started to form
6:00PM 28/4/15 – Airlock activity slowed to bubbles every 5-10 seconds
9:00AM 29/4/15 – No airlock activity
2:00PM 2/5/15 – First SG reading taken. 1.022. Drank sample (of course) and it was black and bitter with a hint of wateriness. But not unpleasant. Certainly none of the cidery undertones of my first brew effort.
5:30PM 6/5/15 – SG reading 1.022, fermentation has either stalled or completed. Turned set temperature up to 21C to try to get things started again and plan to take a reading on Saturday 9/5/15. If SG is stable again will rack to secondary, bulk prime, and bottle. Drank sample again, and wow, huge improvement on just four days ago. Smooth rounded mouth feel, no alcohol harshness and the wateryness is gone. Here’s the sample taken today:

10/5/15 – Took SG reading of 1.021. Concluded fermentation has stopped. Leaving set to 18.5C until Wednesday 13/5/15 and then will cold crash till Saturday 16/5 and will then bottle.
8:00AM 13/5/15 – Temperature controller taken out of circuit and fridge set to lowest temp.
16/5/15 – Turned off refrigerator and let FV come up to ambient.
17/5/15 – Racked off to secondary. Bulk primed with 115g of brown sugar dissolved in 200mL of boiling water then bottled into 750mL PET bottles. Yield was 22L (29.5 750mL bottles).
23/5/15 – Had first bottle. Very flat, no head to speak of, very dark, caramel and burnt flavours. A little watery and a very slight hint of a cidery twang. You can see a poured glass below.

1 Week after Bottling

30/5/15 – Cracked second bottle tonight. Little carbonation (as expected) but head was excellent and lasted to end of glass. No noticeable cidery tang and it may have been my imagination but it was a little smoother than last week. Lovely and dark and bitter and intensely satisfying. Alcoholic too, 1 750mL bottle is more than enough for me. Image of poured glass below.

Stout two weeks after bottling – nice head!