' Ditch's Stout ' With A Differance .....

[Ditch]

Eoin; Why not just invert a 'messy' bag, rinse it off in the sink and use it again ..... and again, and ...

[EoinMag]

Eoin; Why not just invert a 'messy' bag, rinse it off in the sink and use it again ..... and again, and ...

Well I've had it grow a bit of mould in the bottom of the bag and didn't feel great about reusing them when mouldy, I do reuse them as much as possible.

[kay-jay]

hi

"Ditch" The thing you need to be prepared for ~ and ye patently Not! ~ is the fact that this brew, if it behaves like it does when I make it, will indeed burst up through the silly and pointless air lock. What's more, it's also perfectly capable of lifting even a partly cracked open lid. Seal that lid down? God alone knows what might happen! Armageddon!!!

when i said prepared i meant expecting! i do however have a 33litre fermenter. do you reckon this will be able to contain the brew spew or is it still gonna do a vesuvius on me carpet??

cheers

KJ

[tubthumper]

I made mine in a 25ltr fermenter exactly like the ditch recipie It only got tot op of lid but never lifting it when the lid was on if I took the lid off it just subsided back down to top of beer maybee 1/2 inch so if nyou put lid on and wait tillyou got a good head then removelid and it wont spew.
but that may be due to my water ( croydon ,Thames water) very very hard water.
so see how it goes I put it in a trug but I didnt need it .

[Ditch]

may be due to my water ( croydon ,Thames water) very very hard water.

Damn! That could be it! My water's incredibly soft ~ and, coming from a mountain spring source, god knows what difference there might be from you lots various suppliers? I mean, we are getting varied reports from pretty much the exact same process here, aren't we?

So, what's the one major variable? Fact that one man lives in London while the other may be in Manchester. Different bloody waters!

I reckon that might be it, Thumps


Meanwhile; 33 Ltr FV? Yeah. I'd say ye'd be safe with that. Watch it though. Between 24 and 48 hours seems to be the point she'll go off.

[dedken]

This was my fermentation at it's Zenith. Perhaps, as tubthumper says, it's the Thames Water effect.

[tubthumper]

next time I will try with the tescos ashbeck water as its only 98p for 5litres it wont cost too much and Ill see if it makes much effect on the taste. as for the blowing who cares really just make sure it cant get too far like in a trug or some such you should be ok

[Ditch]

Dedken; My somewhat experienced eye tells me that's just past the " Brain " effect and has just started advancing toward the full on Blow. But, she never blew. Hmmm.

I'm becoming increasingly convinced it's something to do with the water. I'll be interested to hear what difference 'Thumper reckons a different water makes to the taste too.


Incidentally, lads; Tonight I kegged my latest couple of FV's. This stuff is dead regular " Ditch's Stout ". Bog standard recipe. Only, this time I'd slung in a single mug of organic sugar. Golden coloured looking stuff I pick up at a local health food shop. I guess it's unrefined too then?

Anyway ..... OMFG! We Are talking 'Chocolate'! This is the best " Ditch's " I've tasted in months. Temperature could have something to do with it? I'd have been drinking it at about 22 F. But, it had that promise of what I started drinking last Summer.

And, yes, ye haven't misunderstood me there. I took it from the FV's tonight. Put it in the kegs. Then started drinking it from the kegs. F*cking gorgeous!

Frankly? I found that last batch, with a Kilo, (or what ever it was), of the same sugar in too strong in alcohol and with no favours to the flavour. It was Very heavy. 'Thick'? Having tasted a sip of this new batch, I was glad to drink off the last pint of the old keg and start what promises to be a lovely couple of weeks with this new batch.

On Tuesday I'll start another couple of FV's. These too will definitely have a mug of that sugar thrown in. I don't know about the strength yet ~ haven't had an evening on it. But, it's got to be a bit stronger than the original " Ditch's Stout " and, if it matures (as and when I give it a chance to!) to develop the chocolate, coffee, what ever else subtleties of the summer brewed DS? I think I'll make this my official, new recipe!

I'm excited about this one!

[pokerswazi]

Adding sugar isn't the best way to make a stonger brew. Surely it throws out the balance of the original kit and sugar isn't the best thing to add to any brew at any time. I guess this is why the now famous "Ditch's" is made with DME. If you want a stronger brew but with the extra flavour, why not try 2 cans of kit made up to 20l with the usual 1kg DME? will be a lot more expensive and really will take longer to mature but I'm sure it will be better too. Would be a good one for laying down now and saving untill Christmas...

[trucker5774]

Adding sugar isn't the best way to make a stonger brew. Surely it throws out the balance of the original kit and sugar isn't the best thing to add to any brew at any time. I guess this is why the now famous "Ditch's" is made with DME. If you want a stronger brew but with the extra flavour, why not try 2 cans of kit made up to 20l with the usual 1kg DME? will be a lot more expensive and really will take longer to mature but I'm sure it will be better too. Would be a good one for laying down now and saving untill Christmas...

That would also make it twice the hops and probably a bit too bitter. For more strength, more extract would probably be the way to go if not using sugar.

[Ditch]

Surely it throws out the balance of the original kit and sugar isn't the best thing to add to any brew at any time

Quite right. Only, we have to temper this idea with the fact that Coopers tell ye to add Their choices of fermentables. That course would then produce exactly what Coopers want ye to taste.

This is where " Ditch's Stout " comes in. Because it deviates from the Coopers standard. What I'm saying is that I deliberately 'threw out the (original, Coopers favoured) balance' and nudged their kit a little more toward how I like it.

Some don't like the 100% carbon copy recipe of 'Ditch's Stout', because it's not a strong beer. This thread was started because I decided to try making a stronger version. To be honest? I used way too much sugar and whilst I at first thought the cerebral carnage was a laugh; It got a bit old. I was glad to finish the last of that last night. Before it finished me. Noel never got invited because I realised it was all strength and piss poor taste.

Now, the one I have in front of me now? Sweet! Bog standard 'Ditch's Stout', only I slung in a mug of sugar. This stuff is Great! Smooth and chocolatey coffee tones! Mmmm! Yeah! Just took a swig, to remind myself. I shuddered with delight!

I think this could be the next big thing in my brew room

[tubthumper]

I'd have been drinking it at about 22 F.

surely you mean C not F as it would be -5 c and that would be frozen ( nice and alcholic though)

[jason123]

Surely it throws out the balance of the original kit and sugar isn't the best thing to add to any brew at any time

I thought whether right or wrong that sugar would give you the alcohol without the flavour if using the glucose, so that when you have a recipe you really like you can keep the flavour and then use sugar to get the alcy content your after without affecting the flavour too much. Having I been believing in Bo**ocks all this time

I always use a different sugar in my kits from Muscovado dark or light to Demerera and any others which might happen to be cheap or on special at the supers.

I say give the more exotic sugars a go and see what they can offer

[sonicated]

i do however have a 33litre fermenter. do you reckon this will be able to contain the brew spew or is it still gonna do a vesuvius on me carpet??

I use a 33 litre fermenter and it's fine. The krausen hits the top but doesn't come out of the airlock.

[kay-jay]

hi,

cheers sonic!
did the stout today, stood my 33 liktre fermenter in a floppy builders bucket (3 quid from asda) as a precaution. luckily i held off on this kit just long enough to hear ditch's reviews of his new version......so with that in mind i also used a kg of dme and a half cup of sugar.
og was 1.044 hoping it will get down to 1.006 or better for a 5% plus brew! tasted the wort from trial jar and it tastes very much like sweet coffee with a hint of a chocolate flavour. if these flavours are still prevalent after the ferment...rock and roll!

from ditch's posts it sounds like this brew can be enjoyed young...happy days!