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Wife and I are taking a well earned break spending a week at her dad's holiday apartment on the beach at Coolangatta. Anyway while away I am taking the chance to have a few craft beers. So far the 6 packs of Newtowner IPA was crap, Newy Pacific Lager also crap and some Pacific Pale Ale from Black Hops again crap. Seriously compared to my keg AG brews they are rubbish. I know self promotion is no recommendation but I was expecting more from the beers. No body, a lot of perceived bitterness and too much reliance on the hops to carry the beer's flavour rather than balance of hops and malt. So then I bought an old favorite that is making a resurgence of popularity in NSW the good old silver bullets of Resch's Pilsner and that was worse. I now know how good I have it making my own beer and having it on tap. I can make it exactly how I like it. Even better a keg costs less than a 6 pack of craft cans.

yes I suppose There are reasons that certain yeasts go with certain styles of beer. when I used to brew coopers original lager with supplied yeast I was really brewing and drinking an ale. the same as all the newcommers that don't realise until they come on here. my missus uncle has been brewing original lager and draught for years to recepie even pays more for carbonation drops rather than normal sugar. at 70 trying to explain to him he was really making ale and a draught is only really a beer on tap I gave up he is well and truly happy thinking the way he does and stuck in ways.

Well there are many ways to skin a cat Jamie. You certainly don't need to buy yeast everytime you do a batch. You have many options 1. Pitch onto yeast cake 2. Keep the yeast cake slurry in a sanitised jar and measure out and pitch a certain quantity 3. Make starters and over make the starter saving a portion of the yeast everytime to make more starters. 4. Use a portion of your recipe to make a starter with slurry and pitch the lot into the main batch All of these ways you are not buying yeast everytime.

Is this even beer? This is my first attempt at making a very pale coloured beer with Gladfield Lager Light malt and a bit of Munich making up the malt base. Once again using M12 voss kveik. The beer also received a good dose of Riwaka and Nectaron hops - 50g each. After this first and early tasting I can say this is also my LAST attempt at making a very pale coloured beer! I might as well be drinking hop-flavoured water! To be fair, served ice-cold on a hot summer's day this would actually be quite a refreshing beer but generally, it's just not my thing...

Stouts and dark beers really benefit from aging. Put half of them in a dark place and forget about them for about 6 months. They will be smashing beers by then. The thing about botting is you need quantity. so you have beers to drink now, beers that lager and beers that age. Not sure about other brewers but i would think most long time bottlers would have 100's of bottles full at any one time. Some deliberately left to age. I know at one stage I have 300 tallies and the same number of stubbies all full with different beers and sitting on dark shelf doing their thing. Just waiting to be ready. The good thing this process can be speed up if you go to kegs at some stage in the future as kegs condition faster.

You could do bulk priming for the bottles. Cuts down the time. I never had a flies issue but my knees reduce my standing time so towards the end of my bottling time I was BP. Kegs are MUCH better, particularly with an upside down fridge where it's just a straight lift up into the fridge instead of a bend over lift. But I do have some bottles, probably still too many, but I usually brew 20 21 L so there's enough for a couple of bottles and they get stored in the cupboard to mature. Not surte I need 120 of them though...

Nice work

Since Yeasterday there is new Wheat Beer in my fermenter: 50% Pale Ale malt 50% Wheat malt Wyeast 3068. And my Best Bitter is ready to be bottled.

Yep it all inclusive except for the fermentables. I have used 1 kg of LMD, BE1, 2 and 3 and dex with them. Think the 1kg of dex and a 200g of maltose works best for my taste. Also i keg so i am not adding the 0.5% ABV in the bottling.

O have made loads of ciders. I have used apples, jiuces, cans and the MJ pouches. Personally the MJ pouches are the best option. Dont worry about the yeast. Just grab a pouch and brew it. All will be good. I generally use a 1kg of dex and 200g of malodextrine to give it a bit of back sweetness but the pouches do have some back sweetner to put in a few days before bottling. The lime and elderflower is the pick for mine.

other then carbonation what i should expect from 2 weeks bottling ? it's 4 days now since i bottled my milk stout beer and today i open one and it's very carbonated and i tasted the beer it's look OK so i wonder if this should be ready or i should expect even better beer after 10 days ?

that was a few minutes after pitching, trust the yeast - it knows what it's doing

me: not sure anything is happening... timelapse: IMG_6275.MO me: excellent! (ps also helps stop the temptation to "touch" it/open the lid in the early days)

if you're ever wondering if fermentation has begun.. pop your phone's camera on timelapse mode, leave it for half an hour and watch the results. i've been doing this after pitching yeast and trust me, it happens a lot sooner than day 3.

You have no need to worry, but don't try to scrape the "yummystuff" back into to the wort. However in future, after pitching the yeast leave it to do its thing unmolested . Just stand back and observe and no unnecessary lifting the lid to have a look.

I find the mouthfeel a little crisper/sharper than US05. Find it makes the hops stand out even more. Try it if you get a chance mate.

we print a lot of menus at work and my boss today was like '$13 for a pint of craft beer isn't too bad' and i'm there thinking that is not something i'm willing to pay at the moment now i'm having fun making my own

Pale ales and IPAs mate. It works really well. I'm a big fan.

Agree with Ben. If you are going to overpitch then the neutral yeasts US05, Notty, BRY97's and New World Strongs are the ones to do it with. The taste is negligible for those compared to others. And just to give a plug to MJ. After using New World Strong for a few times. I don't think I will touch the other neutral ones again. Love that yeast.

You won't get a good gravity reading to work out your ABV but in reality mixing isn't necessary. The yeast will find the sugar. Mix the sugar. And eat the sugar. If you dissolve the kit and kilo don't pour the hot sugar on the yeast. Fill the fermenter with cold to almost your literage and then tip it in so you don't kill the yeast.

Hi RD44, had the rack and trays for a few years now but pretty sure they were from a catering supplies store on Ebay.

Dear diary, I haven’t forgotten you. I have been researching and researching crystal malts and hops, to tweak the recipe. But a post is coming. Here are two live teaser shots...

MJ's Berliner Weisse may be good with pineapple and cocnunt

Can I ask where you got those pizza racks from mate, they look awesome ?

Brewed up a ginger beer, as per the recipe thread on this website. I literally poured straight on top of the slurry from my previous ginger beer that I just kegged, and an hour later there is fermentation going on. I can’t believe how easy it was to brew this. I’m only doing 5 litre batches and fermenting in a spare 5 L keg at 20-25psi and ambient temps. SG on first batch was 1070 and finished around .996 in just five days! SG on this batch was a bit lower at 1055. Not sure why

I've never done a fake lager with Nottingham but I'd think proper lager yeast would result in a bit of a different flavour. There are differences between lager strains as well, having done essentially the same recipe with W34/70 and 2001 Urquell yeast, the two beers did taste different to each other. I wouldn't be concerned about sulphur, it goes away usually before it's even ready to bottle or keg it. I often get the aroma during active fermentation but it doesn't last. Diacetyl isn't an issue either if proper procedure is followed. I've done dozens of lagers over the years and not once have had a diacetyl problem.

I've done the latest lager using Nott yeast and fermenting at 15 deg c. Day 2 and there's already a lot of action. Looking forward to being able to drink a beer after it's carbonated Used 200g of LCM and 25g of a teabag of Pride. First time I made up my own brew enhancer and also used a combo of LDME and DME. Smells beeeeeutiful! This should be the best I've done so far.

I wouldnt necessarily call them good value. Can definitely get ingredients cheaper, but its a good way to not have to worry about creating a recipe and potentially give something you wouldnt usually brew a crack.

I used 10 grams of Brewer's Gold I grow in my garden, for 60 minutes. That is the very first hops I have got. I planted it just last year. And 30g of Hallertau Hersbrucker for 15 minutes. Predicted IBU is about 10, as I do not know real AA of my BG. But it tasts beautiful and is bitter similar to Cascade, so I guess it is about 5% I belive, wheat beer needs more aroma then bitterness, so IBU about 10-15 shoud be good enough. I chilled wort to 16C and could not get lower temp., as my tap water is about 14C now. Then I left fermenter in garage, where there is 13C now. After 20 hours I moved it to my workshop with 19C. Then after 2days I will rise temp. to 20 and then to 21, and will try not to exceed 22. That is the plan.

Yes BrewFather has a free version for android.

4 days and most beers would be a bit immature but for stouts I think that's way too early. Hang in there and give it another couple of weeks at least. Many stout brewers leave it a couple of months - they will make one in maybe April to drink in winter. I did a coffee stout. At about a week I gave it a try and it was a bit 'meh!' then 2 more weeks in the bottle I was wondering if I could drink it. At 6 weeks it was smooth as silk. Now it's nectar and I'm having trouble NOT drinking it. The difference was, early on, it was like I could taste every flavour, individually, which, even though I like strong coffee, was a bit much. As it aged the flavours blended in making it rich and creamy. I wanna get a nitro tap and gas and make it again for keg.

I've heard nothing but praise for Nott and never had an issue. Very fast on the ferment to FG as well.

I think it depends on your expectations. I used to play with a guy that thought he was a pro so he spent the whole time frustrated with his poor play. I expect to play poorly so I get excited when I hit a good shot.

You’ll have a more balanced flavour profile, better carbonation and aroma and just better beer. It’s hard to wait but with beers like stouts...longer the better

yes I like the us05 got bootmaker pale ale with that instead of kit yeast going right now but I might give Nottingham a try with an English bitter absent the kit yeast and add some malt and hops.

Haven't counted them but I usually get about 10-12 months out of a cylinder. I usually carbonate soda water with more gas than beer though which would use it a little faster than just beer.

Now I think I need 2 more kegs.

As a pressure fermenter I get free CO2 all the time. I run a line from the gas post of the FV to the liquid post of a cornie then set the spunding valve on the cornies gas post so the cornie fills to the pressure set on the spunding valve, usually 15psi. I then use that for the closed transfer to the serving keg. Usually I can push the guts of the 43 litre batch into the kegs. I am saving loads of CO2. Before this I used a second gas bottle to do it and it would run out pretty quick. It is surprising how much gas a fermenting 40+ litre batch makes.

thanks after just purchasing a whole heap of amber flip tops and re buying things the dog ate since brewing last time it feels like a big expense but I can do half in bottle and half in kegs it gets bit annoying doing all those bottles with sugar and making sure flies don't go in them before fill or close lid

I got them shipped. You might be able to take your pick if you go there directly. Good luck with picking a setup

got myself a new fermenter on weekend and decided to keep the box around for the cat. If I didn't have a cat and left it there the missus would crack it but since its being put to good use no one cares. the moral of the story is? none at all really i just found a way not to get rid of it.

I have 14 kegs now I think I have enough. All up net zero cost buying and flipping brew gear sure has it benefits.

Coopers Recipe Spreadsheet - November 2020 Hi Team Latest Coopers Recipe Spreadsheet is attached. November 2020 ROTM added: Eclipse Australian Pale Ale & Pinnacle Pale Ale. Click on the recipe name in red for pdf's of these recipes. Coopers Recipe Spreadsheet V2.10.8.xlsx Spreadsheet functionality: You can click on the recipe name to jump to the recipe on the Coopers website (for those in au only) The little triangle icons beside each column title are auto-filters and can be used to sort the spreadsheet by the respective column You can also use the drop boxes of the variables in each column to show those variables you want to see. For example, under Difficulty if you choose the Easy variable then only those recipes rated as Easy will be displayed Or under Can 1, if you choose OS Real Ale only those recipes that have the Original Series Real Ale (as the main recipe can) will be displayed. Unfortunately I am not clever enough to be able to show those recipes where Can 2 is a Real Ale Any queries? Post them to this thread. @Marc V

@pilotsh Pilot - and all others wanting to do partials - @ChristinaS1 Christina has provided a really great description of process over on - page 74

@pilotsh- Pilot - great description of Partial and Steeping here for you... Great stuff @ChristinaS1 Christina!

MEP - mate do you follow the "what's in your fermenter thread' ? - lot's of good discussion over there... I haven't been following that thread closely but I will from now on, thanks mate.

@Norris! I am like your wife: I don't like hop bite. Hop bite is mainly due to myrcene and polyphenols. I have read about a couple of strategies to reduce it. One option is try and reduce their extraction via temperature and the other is to get the yeast to help. For the past few brews I have been dropping the temp to 15C (soft crashing) before adding the dry hops, then dropping the temp down to 1C after 48 hours. Seems to work well. I have also tried adding the hops after the CC, or at the start of the CC, but find that mutes the flavour too much. Dry hopping at soft crash temps seems like a happy medium to my taste buds....The other strategy is to add the dry hops while the yeast are still active, but I have not tried this....But you cube, so I am not sure how useful any of this info is. Cheers, Christina.

@Norris! and @Beerlust Regarding hop stand temperatures, besides the issue of how many IBUs are being extracted at a given temperature, there is also the issue of which aromas are being extracted. Like Lusty, I have been dropping the temp to 80C, to avoid gaining bitterness. But I was just reading in Scott Janish's book, "The New IPA. He reported on a study comparing different hop stand temperatures. It found 95C favours the extraction of citrus, fruity, and spicy aromas whilst 85C favours floral and herbal aromas; 75C scored lowest in all categories except for woody notes. Personally I am not so interested in emphasizing woody notes, and am more interested in citrus/fruity and floral/herbal. Given this info I might experiment with increasing the temp of my hop stands a bit....I can always take the extra IBUs into account in my recipe. Amarillo is both citrusy / fruity and very floral, so it would be good at either 95C or 85C, depending on the goal. Amarillo is so yummy. Too bad it is so expensive (at my LHBS). Cheers, Christina.

Het @michealgewilson Others suggest Tip 500grams of Light Dry Malt (LDM) into the sanitised fermenter Add 1L of boiling water, straight from a kettle Fit fermenter lid Pick up fermenter and swirl for 15-30 seconds or however long it takes to dissolve as much of the LDM as possible. I find this works reasonably well. The Coopers LDM seems to be finer and harder to dissolve than some other LDM's. Getting it all dissolved is important for reading an Original Gravity (OG). However, the yeast will eventually get to all of it, even if it is in lumps. So do not stress too much.

Coopers, encourage home brewers to use the yeast from naturally conditioned Coopers ales. The same ale strain is used across the range - Mild Ale, Pale Ale, Dark Ale, Sparkling Ale, Best Extra Stout and Extra Strong Vintage Ale. There are numerous documented techniques, with varying levels of complexity, for re-activating the yeast in naturally conditioned beer. The method described below may leave some readers, experienced in growing yeast cultures, aghast. \u201cWhat! No stir plate, no malt, no alcohol swabs, no nutrient, no way! However, for Coopers yeast, it works... Method 1. Buy a six pack of Coopers Original Pale Ale and place upright in the fridge for about a week for the yeast to settle. 2. Mix about 600ml of boiling water and 4 tablespoons of dextrose/sugar in a pyrex jug, cover with cling-wrap and leave to cool in the fridge for about 30mins. 3. Open 4 bottles and decant the beer into a jug, leaving behind the yeast sediment - about a couple of centimetres. 4. Pour the sugared water equally into each bottle, cover with cling-wrap and secure with a rubber band. 5. Shake the bottles then place them in a dark spot at a temperature in the mid 20\u2019s. 6. Give the bottles a shake in the morning and at night to keep the yeast in suspension. 7. After around 2 to 3 days the yeast should become active and begin forming a head. 8. Pitch the active yeast into a brew immediately or store in the fridge for about a week. Just remember to pull it out of the fridge to warm for couple of hours prior to pitching. Some additional points to keep in mind; - start with more yeast by using all 6 bottles, - buy beer with the freshest yeast (ie. latest \u201cBest After\u201d date), - lower alcohol content is better (mild ale or pale ale), - it\u2019s okay to hold the culture at slightly higher temps to promote a quicker reactivation, - one sanitised vessel (approx 1 litre) may be used rather than separate bottles, - make sure the culture smells okay before pitching, - buy another 6 pack for each culture and - don\u2019t forget to drink the decanted beer [biggrin] [biggrin] Update: Recent additions to the range of our naturally conditioned Coopers Ales are Celebration Ale and Session Ale.