Road test : Irish Dry Stout by Ezy Brew

The Ezy brew range of beer kits are made and distributed by ES Brewing, and have achieved quite a following in the homebrew community. This Irish Dry Stout is the first of the range to undergo a revamping and I’m sure it will prove to be a hit.

This beer could not be better named, Ezy Brew and it is at that. Pour in the kit, add water to make up 22L and add the yeast Safale S-04, then sit back and watch it ferment.

In making it up to 22L we achieved a starting gravity of 1.052, and after fermentation was complete a finishing gravity of 1.016 giving us a 5.1% alc beer after priming.

Now for the tasting: we tried this stout both straight out of the fridge and a second one which had been out for the fridge for 20mins, and found that the second one (which had been allowed to warm slightly) gave us better flavours and aromas.

Packed with flavour this stout contains much more than just the usual roast malt and coffee, although they are there, they play a background role to an organic soy / savoury taste that is also quite sweet and with a nutritious thickness to it so you know you’ve had something filling.

The aroma is a mix of dark roasted malt, with hints of coffee and bitter chocolate that matches well with this very dark but clean beer.

Ok now down to the nitty gritty:

Time – 10 min to sterilise the fermenter and tools, 10 min to make up the batch and 5 min to clean up. Priming and bottling took 30min and clean up took 15min.

Total Time – 70min plus 18 days fermenting and conditioning

Cost – kit $34 – yeast $4.75 - bottles $32 (you need 32 650ml bottles)

Total Cost $38.75    (or $70.75 with bottles)

Changes I would make next time would be to only make it up to 20L giving it a higher alcohol and changing the yeast to WLP 004 Irish Ale Yeast.