First attempt at a Stout - Need some help

You can add flavo(u)ring like chocolate in the form of additional chocolate malt or light chocolate malt as a steeping grain, cocoa powder in the boil, or cocoa nibs in late primary or secondary. Vanilla should be added through either a tincture of vanilla extract, a whole vanilla bean, or just by adding the paste from the inside of the bean. Coffee can be added at the end of the boil (rare), or you can cold steep a quart or so and add it to the end of primary fermentation. The amount you use on any of these will probably depend on your recipe and batch size. The more info you post below the better.


Carbing is easy. After you hit Final Gravity use a calculator like this: http://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

 

First, read this... www.howtobrew.com. It will tell you in detail how to carbonate beer (with a measured amount of a sugar). Calculators help too, as inchrisin mentioned. As for experimenting with "flavoring," many first batches have gone down in flames because people thought they could improve on something they hadn't even done before. My recommendation is to resist the urge, and brew the kit as is.

 

Tips:
Pitch an adequate amount of healthy yeast http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/
Aerate/oxygenate adequately
Temp controlled fermentation
And patience to let the beer finish fermenting out
Proper sanitation for everything that touches the beer after the boil to before you pour it down your throat

 

My advice is as VikeMan said, get your process down first, then expand upon that later. I've seen far too many beginning homebrewers try to start with cherry, chocolate, vanilla, coconut, etc stouts before and see them mess something up and have no idea what happened. I know it can be boring to brew a basic stout or pale ale, but that is how you learn.

 

Sure, better than risking a whole batch I'd say. But for a first batch, I'd still say get the basic process down first. Part of that process is bottling, which will probably cause a little stress the first time you do it. I can't in good conscience recommend complicating it, but it's your beer!

 

Another vote for not doing flavorings early on in your brewing endeavors. Too easy to screw it up. Masks potential flaws that you would otherwise be able to identify, etc.

Myself, I find it much more interesting to experiment with how different grain bills, yeasts, and hop schedules effect a beer.

As just a matter of preference, I would advise that you are careful on your late hop additions too. Its easy to make an unbalanced beer if you don't.

 

You're proposing to flavor your stout using a methodology that is unusual (flavoring each bottle vs. a batch flavoring), so it is very difficult for anyone here to say how much coffee, etc. that you should add to a bottle. If the person at your homebrew supply store suggested it has done this method before, then I'd run with his suggested amount. Otherwise, if you think that you'll use this method again, then you can experiment with a different amount in each bottle and do a taste comparison to determine the ideal amount for future batches.