Cooper's Stout

So I had the first couple of pints of this last night and I must say it is brilliant. I made the kit up with Medium Spraymalt (dry malt extract) and reduced the brewlength to 20l (most kits are 23l as standard). Reducing the length tends to give the brew more body, and this is certainly the case for this beer.

I'd describe the taste as a little more malty than Guinness, but a similar level of hop flavour and bitterness. I overprimed the barrel a little (not deliberately) which means it's quite lively out of the tap. To poor a pint you have to open the tap very very slightly and let it trickle out slowly until the last bit when ou can open the tap up more to get a good head on the top. This is the first of my brews that retains its head for a substantial amount of time, but I don't really care about the sort of thing much.

The only taste problems are that the overpriming has left it a little more carbonated than I would like and there is still a slight 'chemically' after taste to it. For the next brew, I'll try treating the water with a campden tablet to get rid of any nasty chloramines. There is also a hint of a fruity aftertaste (banana?) which I've read can be caused by fermenting too hot, so I'll watch that in the future.

Photo to follow...