2nd Brew Ever - Ale this time

[Dragon]

Hey all,

I have been enjoying my first ever brew over the last few weeks. It was a simple Coopers Lager with 1kg sugar and some saflager yeast. It turned out ok, and is improving every week as it matures. I am hoping to improve with my 2nd attempt and am trying an Ale.

Was at the super market today and picked up:

Coopers Australian Pale Ale 1.7kg
500g Coopers Light Dry Malt
1kg Coopers Dextrose

Am heading to the HBS tomorrow to grab some Safale yeast.

I need a recipe for a niice Ale using the above plus anything else you might suggest, please help me out. Cheers.

[Kevnlis]

Even easier than using safale yeast. Grab a bottle of CPA from your local Dan Murphys or where ever you find it and pour the beer off the top, leaving just a bit in the bottom with the yeast. Fill with ~600ml of cooled boiled wort (something like 2 tablespoons should be enough). Leave it at room temp for a couple days with a bit of cling wrap over the top. Make up the wort and the pitch the contents of this bottle stright into your wort.

It is a lot easier than it sounds, and well worth the extra little bit of effort IMHO.

[Dragon]

Cheers Kev, will try that. Anything else I should add to the above or is the 500g LDM / 1kg Dex an ok mix?

[homebrewer79]

Anything else I should add to the above or is the 500g LDM / 1kg Dex an ok mix?

This is a personal preferance but I would either use all malt or use 1kg LDME and 500g dex, and maybe chuck some cascade hops in there somewhere too

[Kevnlis]

The CPA kit as your recipe stands with the 500g malt and 1 kilo dextrose when fermented with the recultured yeast is a great drop and I would not bother to change it at all. I have done this exact thing many times and it always comes out great!

[chadjaja]

I can second that. I'll stuff around with grains and more complex extract brews but the simple CPA, BE2, Coopers bottle yeast is one of the best house beers imo. It flies out the fridge when mates are around.

[tazman67]

+1 for that. Easy tasty brew to make and drink.

[homebrewer79]

I don't doubt it would make a great beer, but as I said it's a personal preferance, I think I'm starting to become a bit of a hop head

[Pom]

Kev.
I have a CPA kit in the shed I have been wanting to put down and im very interested in trying this recultured yeast. But as im a little confused on how to do it.
I get the pouring off the beer and leaving a little beer in the bottom.

Fill with ~600ml of cooled boiled wort (something like 2 tablespoons should be enough)

Is the two tablespoons the amount of beer you should leave?
600ml of cooled boiled wort, is this the CPA can mixed with say 4l of water and boiled (with or without disolverbales?) or the whole wort made up to 23l and if so which is the best way to store what is left of the boiled wort until the recultured yeast is ready to use.(in the fermenter with airlock in and filled?)
I don't know if ive got this completely ass about.
please forgive the pom in me.
Cheers Rob

[drsmurto]

600mL of cooled boiled wort can be made form 60g of LDME in 600mL of water, boiled for 10-15 mins and then cooled back to below 30C. Add the dregs from at least 1 CPA stubbie (the more the better, i generally start from a minimum of 3 - hey, its an excuse to drink CPA) and then seal it up and let it ferment out shaking the bottle everytime you walk past it.

If it was me, i would then repeat this with 2L of wort (200g of LDME in 2L water) to get the yeast population up.

[Pom]

Thanks Drsmurto
Thats exaclty what I needed will have a crack.

[Kevnlis]

Sorry, what I mean was 2 tablespoons of dry malt in the 600ml of water. This will give you roughly the gravity you need to get the yeast back into shape and ready for fermentation of your batch.

[Pom]

Ive had a go.
Put 3 CPA stubbie dregs into cooled wort of 600ml water and 60gms ldme covered jug with clingfilm.
Will see how it goes.
Is there any way of know if it has recultured before i add it to the brew?
cheers again Rob

[Kevnlis]

Yeah you should be able to watch it krausen and then fall back. Probably take a week or so to be ready to pitch.

[Pom]

watch it krausen and then fall back

Could you explain what "krausen" is and what falling back means.

I have been away working for three days and have just got back and had a look at it. It has gone slightly cloudy, with a light froth on top and a small layer of yeast and or sediment in the bottom. Does this sound like its doing what it should?

[warra48]

watch it krausen and then fall back

Could you explain what "krausen" is and what falling back means.

I have been away working for three days and have just got back and had a look at it. It has gone slightly cloudy, with a light froth on top and a small layer of yeast and or sediment in the bottom. Does this sound like its doing what it should?

Yep, the light layer of froth on top is the kraeusen (and that's the correct spelling), and the layer on the bottom is your new yeast. You could build the starter up further by adding some more wort, made the same way as the initial wort for your starter. Once that's fermented out, cold chill the lot in the fridge for a couple of days, this will drop most of the yeast out of suspension. Pour off about 90% of the liquid, give the rest a good swirl to resuspend the yeast, and pitch it into your brew.

[Pom]

cheers kev.
The froth has died down now. I was hopeing to us it this weekend to put down the Coppers APA but I might bolster it a bit by adding so mort wort like you suggested and then chill it down.
I think I will put it off till next weekend to give it all a little more time.
When I add more wortdo I need to poor off the excess liquid first or just add more wort to the whole thing?
Also will the it be ok stored in a plastic bottle (say 2l) if so should I seal with a cap or just some cling film.
Thanks again for explaining those terms for me.
Cheers Rob

[Kevnlis]

2L bottle with cling film is fine, chance of explosion if you use the cap

[Pom]

Kev.
Should I pour of the excess liquid from the first wort or incorperate the lot in the second reculture?

[Kevnlis]

Chill the wort to flocculate all of the yeast, then decant the wort off the yeast, allow to come to room temp then pour the fresh wort onto the yeast.