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What’s in my fermenter today? Coopers Craft Bilby Chocolate Porter. I forgot how good drinking Chocolate smelt! if anyone from Coopers reads this, please continue the Craft recipe packs! Even though I do All Grain now and develop my own recipes, I love doing these kits! I get to try different styles, they are easy to make and the fermenter is easy to manage! Sometimes I might not want to brew a big batch (they tend to be all grain), so these kits are perfect! the beer sitting on top is another Craft kit - Californian Riptide IPA, another great kit! cheers

Thanks mate! Truthfully I need others to taste them to get a second and third opinion but I do think they a great!

So here are two of my finished brews A Coopers Beer pack Raspberry Wheat from a few weeks ago ( with real raspberries as explained in a previous post), taste is very light. Would be nice in summer and a bit more carbonation & an AG Irish dry stout that tastes very close to its commercial inspiration! Sadly I didn’t have any Nitro this time. cheers

Yep that’s the go mate! I switched to mostly ikegger kegs (10 litre ones) so this was spare, I don’t dispense out of it. I still transfer to another keg using the same Spunging valve setup. It is so I can clear the beer! anyway good luck mate!

I think the less hoppy beers where Malt and yeast is the taste - AG works! with partial mash some of the flavours are predetermined- even with partial mash, for example I don’t know what hops are used in the extract and what grains. Partial mash (that’s why I tend to use the Coopers Craft recipes) can add some flavour, but with all grain if it taste like crap I know it’s my fault! i love recipe development so All Grain works, however the extract kits Coopers put together allow me to taste beers that I would never think of making (afterall it was Coopers that introduced me to Saison for example). Sorry for the ramble but I think sometimes home brewers get fixated on trying to produce commercial clones really cheaply, but there is a whole world of beer out there and I personally think extract, partial mash and All grain have their place! Again sorry about the rave! Maybe one too many Lemon Thyme and blueberry Saisons cheers

Yes Greens is correct it’s an old 9 litre keg with a spunging valve. The product tube is slightly smaller so I don’t pick up the trub. i use it so I don’t have to cool when doing AG - I use it like a hot cube and when the pool was full I would just throw the keg in! and sometimes with the Coopers Craft recipes that require stuff to be boiled I tip the boil pot into this and then cool with water and sometimes even drop it in the freezer! Just need to remember not to sit it on sensitive things like frozen fruit. im waiting for my big one to come back from a mate so I can modify it to do the same! It saves water because I don’t need the counterflow chiller! I even sometimes use my Ikegger 10 litre kegs for 10 litre batches!

This weeks brews in the fermenter - an AG ESB ( my recipe large fermenter & my first try with Wyeast smack pack), small fermenter - AG British Bitter using Coopers Premium Ale Malt & Coopers Schooner. The under pressure steel fermenter Coopers Craft Earl Grey IPA. I’m currently drinking my Lemon Thyme and Blueberry Saison + I have an AG Golden Ale and a Coopers Craft Californian Riptide Pale Ale. All of which are very different and rather nice!

A few weeks off brewing - to catch up a Guinness clone all grain, the Coopers Raspberry wheat beer (as explained before it will have real fruit) & last week I had a can of MR Beer Amber Ale - so I threw a batch together with some Coopers Premium Ale grains & some cascade hops. It’s has been fermenting under pressure. I had to put the Raspberry Wheat in a Coolbag with ice ( still plus 30 in April!) cheers

This weeks Beer is an English Bitter called Drop-in Tisbury Local, my first attempt at an English Bitter so shall see how it goes! I’m using Coopers Schooner as the base malt it’s a 10 litre batch which will be “Hot cubed” in a 10 litre keg and chucked in the pool to cool! Saves water! cheers

I’ve used Liberty Bell a fair bit for pale Ales and I like it! Nice clean and clear!

Thx - so far so good! Just kegged it yesterday

Today an all Grain Irish dry stout (10 litre)dand a Mr Beer Pavalova IPA. In retrospect I should have put the stout under pressure and the IPA in the Craft fermenter. Kegged an All Grain Golden Ale and a modified Mr Beer 134 Saison with Lemon Thyme and Blueberry

This week an all Grain Pale Ale with Cascade hops & a 134 Saison with a twist lemon Thyme & in a few days Blueberry!

It’s a Small Batch fermenting under pressure

Just about to put a FarmHouse Saison into the fermenter

I’ve got an All grain Pale Ale - tastes remarkably like the Coopers Commercial version! I also have a lower ABV Pale Ale made from extract and malt with some Galaxy and Simcoe. Finally I’ve just finished a small batch Pale Ale fermented under pressure. Been away from this forum for awhile - glad to be back!