Easy / Awesome dark beer!

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When I made this recipe before, since it was a test recipe I only made 2 liters. I just made it again, a full gallon. This time I'm going to try to inject nitrogen into the beer for a "true" Guiness style complete with creamy head using a seltzer bottle with a nitrogen charger in place of the co2. I'll let you know how that turns out in just over a week when the nano brew is ready. I'm really excited to find out.

Hi, I just made this recipe and thought it turned out pretty tasty. How did it go injecting nitrogen into the beer? I'd like to make it again, but prefer it to have some fizz. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!

I used a 1 liter seltzer bottle with a nitrous oxide cartridge. Upon dispensing, it made a huge mess, big foam everywhere. Once it settled the beer was awesome. It obviously needs some work on the technical side because the natural occuring carbonation of the beer mixed with the nitrous oxide was too much gas. Next time I'm going to try to bleed it off, maybe by inverting the bottle and then letting some gas out.

I have another idea, but it involves a new product I'm testing for sale. Details forthcoming....

[Spiff]

I tried this and got an unpleasant (= messy) surprise.

So, I made a double batch (two 2-liter bottles), and I added about a third of a package of brewer's yeast (dry) to the wort after it had reached room temperature.

Mistake #1: THAT WAS WAY TOO MUCH YEAST!

Although I left the usual amount of air space at the top of each bottle, the fermentation was so vigorous, foam began oozing out of both bottles, leaving pretty big puddles of wasted beer around the base of each bottle.

Mistake #2: So, I thought I'd better open the bottles and pour off some of the liquid to give the foam someplace to go rather than through the EZ-Cap opening. This led to a HUGE foamy geyser. I'm talking about two feet, at least. Luckily, I had the bottles in the laundry-room sink at the time.

So, my advice is to use a very small amount of brewer's yeast when making beer in two-liter bottles. I thought by using just a third of the package, I would be safe. But I would now recommend only 1/8 tsp. maximum. And still, allow for plenty of room at the top for someplace for the foam to go.

You may also want to try starting the fermentation at a lower temperature, such as in a cool basement, and then moving the bottles to a higher temperature once you determine it's safe to do so.

But anyway, the beer tastes very good, just like a stout should (I used Extra Dark DME). Unfortunately, I just have about 50% of what I had expected to have. And it's not carbonated enough for my liking.

So, I can't wait to try this recipe again, with the modifications I've identified.

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When I made this recipe before, since it was a test recipe I only made 2 liters. I just made it again, a full gallon. This time I'm going to try to inject nitrogen into the beer for a "true" Guiness style complete with creamy head using a seltzer bottle with a nitrogen charger in place of the co2. I'll let you know how that turns out in just over a week when the nano brew is ready. I'm really excited to find out.

Hi, I just made this recipe and thought it turned out pretty tasty. How did it go injecting nitrogen into the beer? I'd like to make it again, but prefer it to have some fizz. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!

Injecting the nitrogen was a mess. It foamed up everywhere. Would have been great if you like to use the head as a whipped topping.

[brewnut]

Getting ready to try the recipe. Once I've opened the can of malt and yeast packet I plan to store it in the fridge. Yeast should be fine; I'm guessing the LME should be good for a while too but not sure for how long (hopefully won't be around long enough to worry about storage!)

[brewnut]

Tried this recipe (modified) with mixed success. Was my first attempt at EZ Caps brewing so knew I would likely need to tweak as I experiment and learn.

Sort of blended the recipe with general EZ Caps beer brewing instructions as follows:
- 3.5 liters water
- 1/4 can (approx. 1 cup) Muntons LME (Irish Stout) - already hopped from what I understand
- 1/4 cup DME (dark)
- 1/4 package (approx. 3/8 Tsp) of yeast that came with Muntons LME

Followed the EZ Caps brewing instructions and filled 2 two-liter bottles about 85% full and capped.
Within hours bottles started to form foam on top of black liquid. By the next day very tiny bubbles were rising to the top where a large foam head had formed in the bottles. Rubber (latex?) material in cap was buldging outward and slit became evident from the buldge. Bottles soon were tight-as-a-full-tick! They stayed that way for about 3 days then the foam began to subside; a sludge sediment started to build in the bottom of the bottles. I did not disturb (shake) the contents and let sit for two weeks. Location in house was the utility room which temp ranged in the mid-to-upper 70's.

At the end of two weeks I placed one bottle in the fridge and waited 1 day before opening. Wow! Talk about Stout! Had a great stout flavor but the bitter edge (hops?) was a bit more than I would have liked - maybe I'll back off on the LME (hopped) and add a little more DME? Also noticed that the bottle stayed fairly carbonated during the week - as long as it lasted. Drank about 3/4 of 1 liter for my first sample and felt little to no buzz which meant very low alcohol %. Guess I need to get a hydrometer if I want to measure actual alcohol content rather than just on a buzz scale - ha!

Took the second bottle at the end of the third week and made the mistake of opening prior to fridge. Was going to swap the cap. Unscrewed slowly and let the gas escape but as I lifted the cap off the bottle foam suddenly erupted and started gushing from the bottle!!! Screwed the cap back on quickly and placed what was left in the fridge for overnight. Next day late I opened and all was well except for some loss of liquid. This bottle had less of the bitter edge and slightly better flavor - maybe letting ferment longer than 2-weeks was important. Second bottle lasted about a week but since I had cracked open prior to fridge I noticed it turned very flat at the end of the bottle. I actually pored about a cup remaining down the drain (to help the septic tank) - just couldn't take it that flat. Again - no real buzz effect so not sure what went wrong regarding fermenting.

Any insight on how to up the alcohol % would be appreciated. Should I have used more yeast? More DME? Let sit longer? 3-4 weeks or more? Temp a little higher? 80's? Overall I was pleased with 1st attempt at such a simple approach but will definitely need to tweak to get a better overall result.
Thanks for any feedback and Cheers!

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Since you had a very active fermentation, adding more yeast would not effect the alcohol level. The sure fire way to get more alcohol is to add more sugar, in the case of beer that means grain sugars either dried or liquid malt extract.

Taking a hydrometer reading before and after the fermentation is the only way to really know the alcohol level.

If the beer goes flat you can add some sugar to the drink and let it sit at room temperature. The yeast survivors will kick in and make more fizz.