Hello everybody, this is my first post. My next brew I was planning on copying one of Oliver and Geoff's tricks and using a stubbie of Coopers Pale Ale as my yeast source. The rest of the recipe was going to be either 2 Coopers Real Ale Kits or a Coopers Real Ale & a Coopers Bitter, and a little teabag type thing of fuggles "finishing hops".
any comments on the recipe? anybody else tried using coopers yeast before? ought I to use one of the kit yeasts as well? is it a bad idea to 'mix' kits?
2x Coopers kits + Coopers Pale Ale Stubby
-
jahsausage
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Tuesday Nov 30, 2004 12:41 pm
I thought I was logged in at the time I posted the above
this is me here everbody!
wooohooo. yay beer.
I see nothing wrong with what you are doing with mixing the kits. However, the yeast pitching is a little different. I'd advise that you just use the coopers dry yeast. If you just chuck a bottle of pale ale in, your yeast are going to have to multiply a lot, which many brewers believe gives you off flavors. I'd just chuck both packets of yeast from the kits in and watch a good vigorous fermentation take off. If you must use the yeast from a bottle of cooper's, then you should culture it up a bit and make a starter, theres all sorts of places to find directions, so I wont go into it, but you basically make 1L or so of your wort and grow the yeast up to a viable pitching number in that, then chuck it into the fermenter.
-
Oliver
- Administrator
- Posts: 3424
- Joined: Thursday Jul 22, 2004 1:22 am
- Location: West Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
I've done this before and ended up with a very bitter, syrupy beer.
I think that db is right that you won't need any more hops. If you think about it, you're really making a beer that's going to be twice as hoppy as it otherwise would be, because you'd normally add unhopped malt to one kit to make the same volume.
If I were doing this again, one kit would be a lightly hopped one like Draught or Lager, not two Real Ales, as it was a bit too bitter (despite what the early tasting notes say!). I also added 600g glucose, for an alcohol content of about 5.3%
As for the yeast, by all means use the dregs of a stubby, but chuck in the two yeasts from the kits, too. As has been suggested, I think that the more yeast the better with this little baby.
Cheers,
Oliver
I think that db is right that you won't need any more hops. If you think about it, you're really making a beer that's going to be twice as hoppy as it otherwise would be, because you'd normally add unhopped malt to one kit to make the same volume.
If I were doing this again, one kit would be a lightly hopped one like Draught or Lager, not two Real Ales, as it was a bit too bitter (despite what the early tasting notes say!). I also added 600g glucose, for an alcohol content of about 5.3%
As for the yeast, by all means use the dregs of a stubby, but chuck in the two yeasts from the kits, too. As has been suggested, I think that the more yeast the better with this little baby.
Cheers,
Oliver
I'm curious about this chuck the yeast in attitude
Doesn't this create odd flavours having two different types of yeast working in the beer (packet and whatever they use in Coopers Sparkling)
Is it possible to put too much yeast in a beer, or is it just that the sachells give you the minimum you need to get it working?
Doesn't this create odd flavours having two different types of yeast working in the beer (packet and whatever they use in Coopers Sparkling)
Is it possible to put too much yeast in a beer, or is it just that the sachells give you the minimum you need to get it working?
-
Dogger Dan
- Posts: 3168
- Joined: Thursday Aug 26, 2004 10:43 am
- Location: Lucan, Ontario, Canada
Kozzi:
Not really to respond to the flavour changes, one will dominate, no, you can't over chuck your yeast, well you can but it won't do anything. To quote Mr. C Sagan, "There are billions and billions of ". They will multipy until the can support no more then go dorment. That is what you see at the bottom of the fermentor, dorment yeast, I would suggest that this more than just one or two packets no. SO like I said, no you can't over pitch.
I must admit, I am rather casual when it comes to brewing, if I was trying to match something then I would be much more fussy
Dogger
Not really to respond to the flavour changes, one will dominate, no, you can't over chuck your yeast, well you can but it won't do anything. To quote Mr. C Sagan, "There are billions and billions of ". They will multipy until the can support no more then go dorment. That is what you see at the bottom of the fermentor, dorment yeast, I would suggest that this more than just one or two packets no. SO like I said, no you can't over pitch.
I must admit, I am rather casual when it comes to brewing, if I was trying to match something then I would be much more fussy
Dogger
"Listening to someone who brews their own beer is like listening to a religous fanatic talk about the day he saw the light" Ross Murray, Montreal Gazette
-
jahsausage
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Tuesday Nov 30, 2004 12:41 pm
In the past i've made double coopers bitters and they've been quite bitter but definitely not in a bad way. the reason I was going to do a bitter and an ale together is because the double-biiter brew tasted "too dark" for me.
And I would hope that the hop-bag would add more aroma and flavour than bitterness to the brew. I've already got a cheap-skates imperial stout aging in the garage which I made from 2 coopers stout kits but only made it up to 12 litres. that little baby turned out to be a 6.6% monster, but because it was all malt it doesn't taste too bad. Is going to need a fair swag of aging though!
And I would hope that the hop-bag would add more aroma and flavour than bitterness to the brew. I've already got a cheap-skates imperial stout aging in the garage which I made from 2 coopers stout kits but only made it up to 12 litres. that little baby turned out to be a 6.6% monster, but because it was all malt it doesn't taste too bad. Is going to need a fair swag of aging though!
wooohooo. yay beer.
-
Dogger Dan
- Posts: 3168
- Joined: Thursday Aug 26, 2004 10:43 am
- Location: Lucan, Ontario, Canada
db,
I haven't dry hopped with fuggles, frankly I'm not too partial to the hop, I've found that fuggles has a pretty intense grassy flavor that I don't really like, but you may. anyways...
When do you add the dry hops to the fermenter? Do you chuck them in primary before/during fermentation or after racking/after primary fermentation is done?
THe latter is preferable if it's aroma that you're after.
As far as flavor goes, you need probably a 5-15 min boil to add hop flavor. THe little hop teabags dont likely contain enough hops to add enough flavor to match an IPA style. ANd you need big bitterness for an IPA, probably 40-60 IBU, I dont know what JS IPA is, but it's probably in that range. Or you could make an IPA like mine, big OG (1.070-1.080) and an IBU to match each gravity point.
jah,
How did you only get 6.6% from 2 cans in 12L? Thats a pretty low attenuation. I get an OG in the neighborhood of 1.09 which should give you nearly 10%. It seems like there would be lots of sugar left, just be careful that you don't get bottle bombs.
I haven't dry hopped with fuggles, frankly I'm not too partial to the hop, I've found that fuggles has a pretty intense grassy flavor that I don't really like, but you may. anyways...
When do you add the dry hops to the fermenter? Do you chuck them in primary before/during fermentation or after racking/after primary fermentation is done?
THe latter is preferable if it's aroma that you're after.
As far as flavor goes, you need probably a 5-15 min boil to add hop flavor. THe little hop teabags dont likely contain enough hops to add enough flavor to match an IPA style. ANd you need big bitterness for an IPA, probably 40-60 IBU, I dont know what JS IPA is, but it's probably in that range. Or you could make an IPA like mine, big OG (1.070-1.080) and an IBU to match each gravity point.
jah,
How did you only get 6.6% from 2 cans in 12L? Thats a pretty low attenuation. I get an OG in the neighborhood of 1.09 which should give you nearly 10%. It seems like there would be lots of sugar left, just be careful that you don't get bottle bombs.
-
jahsausage
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Tuesday Nov 30, 2004 12:41 pm
nah it was 12 litres 1080 -> 1034 for the stout, thats a pretty high final gravity but i've found that the coopers kits have a tendency to finish relatively high and i've never made anything that concentrated before.
As for whether fuggles were a good choice for hop, they were just lying around in the brew cupboard. this brew is kind of a "cheapie" that i'm making because I am going christmas shopping this week. I'm quite interested to make a big IPA at some point though, might be the next brew after this one.
(cheers for all the help and comments everybody by the way)
As for whether fuggles were a good choice for hop, they were just lying around in the brew cupboard. this brew is kind of a "cheapie" that i'm making because I am going christmas shopping this week. I'm quite interested to make a big IPA at some point though, might be the next brew after this one.
(cheers for all the help and comments everybody by the way)
wooohooo. yay beer.
db,
I've just sampled an IPA I did. After four weeks in bottle it's pretty good. I love the James Squire so I'd thought I'd try one. It doesn't taste much like the squire but it's pretty good regardless. Recipe as follows
1.7kg Cascade Imperial Voyage Pale Ale kit
1.5kg Liquid Amber Malt Extract
500g maltodextrin
12g Goldings hops (10 min boil)
7g fuggles hops (10 min boil)
Liquid Ale yeast.
I boiled everything together and then added 6g fuggles hops straight to the fermenter. The grassy aroma really comes out. The beer itself finishes with a nice bitter hit like the squire.
Marty
I've just sampled an IPA I did. After four weeks in bottle it's pretty good. I love the James Squire so I'd thought I'd try one. It doesn't taste much like the squire but it's pretty good regardless. Recipe as follows
1.7kg Cascade Imperial Voyage Pale Ale kit
1.5kg Liquid Amber Malt Extract
500g maltodextrin
12g Goldings hops (10 min boil)
7g fuggles hops (10 min boil)
Liquid Ale yeast.
I boiled everything together and then added 6g fuggles hops straight to the fermenter. The grassy aroma really comes out. The beer itself finishes with a nice bitter hit like the squire.
Marty