Does a dark beer really hide a beginner's mistakes
The advice is half right, and the half that's wrong matters
Every beginner gets told to brew a stout first because dark beers hide your mistakes, and there's real truth in it, which is probably the reason it gets repeated so often. What nobody mentions is exactly which mistakes a dark beer hides, because there are two very different sorts of fault in a homebrew and a stout only helps with one of them.
What a dark beer genuinely covers
Roast malt and a firm bitterness are loud flavours, so anything subtle that goes slightly wrong underneath them will simply not be noticed. A little bit of unwanted sweetness, a slightly low carbonation, a batch that finished a touch higher than it should have, all of that disappears under a Coopers Original Stout in a way it never would under a pale beer. Colour helps too, since a stout that's a bit hazy just looks like a stout.
What it doesn't cover, and this is the important part
Sanitation faults aren't subtle and a dark beer doesn't touch them. A sour or vinegary note from a fermenter that went in dirty will come through a stout just as clearly as it comes through a lager, and so will the harsh solvent flavours you get from fermenting too warm. Those two faults account for most ruined batches, so being told that a stout forgives everything is advice that can genuinely cost somebody their first brew.
You'll see it claimed that a stout carries you through a sanitation slip nine times out of ten. That isn't true, and believing it is how a good first batch ends up going down the drain.
Where a pale beer is actually the better teacher
There's a decent argument for going the other way. A clean pale beer such as Coopers European Lager shows you everything, and if your first batch of it comes out clean then you know your process is sound rather than merely hidden. That's worth something, because you'll find out on your second batch either way, and finding out early is cheaper than finding out later.
So which one should you actually brew first
Brew the beer you want to drink, because that's the only answer that survives contact with a whole carton of it. If that's a stout then a stout is a fine place to start and you'll get a good result. Just don't let the forgiving reputation talk you out of the two things that matter most on a first batch, which are getting everything properly clean and keeping the ferment in the range printed on the tin.
Shop related products
- Coopers Original Stout 1.7kg. Dark and roasty, and generous with a beginner's rough edges.
- Coopers Original Real Ale 1.7kg. A traditional ale that sits between the two extremes.
- Coopers European Lager 1.7kg. A clean pale beer that will show you exactly how you went.
- Coopers Original Draught 1.7kg. The everyday Australian draught style.
Did you know we also keep no rinse sanitiser, Brew Sanitize, bottle brushes and heater belts in the shop. The cleaning gear in particular isn't on the website, so ring us on (08) 8536 4333 and we'll check the shelf.
The rest of it is in our beer supplies collection.
Our homebrew adviser Brewhilder will talk you through your own setup if you would rather work it out that way.
Read next
- Why your lager tastes bready instead of crisp
- Dark malt extract instead of sugar, what changes in a stout
- Where banana and clove in a wheat beer come from
I'm self taught at all of this, and cleaning gear properly is the part I'm fussiest about, which probably tells you something.
Cheers,
Candeece
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