Jump to content
Coopers Community

Cool recipes for an Australian Pale Ale Can in a Craft Fermenter?


DonPolo

Recommended Posts

I've got an Australian Pale Ale can, some Carapils and some Cascade and Centennial Hops.

Still only got the 12L Craft Fermenter.

Just wondered if there we any views. I saw a recipe on here that used a 1.3 pale ale craft can and 250mls unhopped pale malt extract and some cascade hops. It did a hop boil for 5 minutes with 12.5g Cascade then another boil for 5 minutes with another 12.5gm. Then a dry hop with 25gm Cascade at around four days.

I figured I could use the 1.7kg can to approximate the 1.550kg craft can + extract and could put up with a bit more bitterness. Wack in some steeped Carapils for a little better head retention etc.

I can go and get some LDM, halve the can, use the whole can whatever. Interested in any views.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi 

What you have described is a bit like a half batch of the Brew 'A' recipe.  It is for the normal fermenter, but has two cans of Australian Pale Ale plus 1.5kg Light Dry Malt and some hop additions.  Check it out for inspiration.  

I think yours would work.  It will have a higher ABV, like the Brew 'A', but that's fine if it is what you are after.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Shamus,

I'll tinker around with it and see what happens.

Brew A with 2 x 1.7kg cans plus the 1.5kg lME in 23 litres is showing an IBU of 40 and ABV of 7.1% on the recipe on the website.

Using the Ian H spreadsheet for an 11L brew of 1 x 1.7kg Aussie Pale Ale can plus 200g Carapils and a hop boil of  10 mins for 10g Centennial and 5 minutes for 10g Cascade I get an ABV of 5.3% and an IBU of 50.2 which seems OK.

Any tips on volume of water for the boil? At this stage I was just going to steep the cracked carapils in about 2L 70 degree water for about 30 minutes, strain, add the Centennial and boil for 5 minutes then add the Cascade and boil for a further 5 minutes. Then I was going to cool the pot down in a sink full of water then add it to the brew.

Sound OK?

I could add some extra sugar of some kind to boost the ABV but I'd have to purchase that extra.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Donpolo

I too have the craft fermenter, I made something similar about a month ago.

1x 1.7kg Coopers Pale Ale can.

250g LDM.

15g each of Amarillo & Galaxy.

Made to 11L.

Now that I think about it, Carapils may be a better addition than the LDM. I don't think it needed the LDM.

I'm still fairly new to the brewing scene, but I remember thinking it was a pretty good Pale Ale. I am always looking for new things to try in the little craft fermenter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK Brew is in.

In the end I just put in 15g of Centennial and 15g Cascade in for 3 minutes before the end of the boil. According to the Ian H spreadsheet that should give it an IBU of around 46%. However I'm not sure about some of the the effects of my methodology about doing the boil (see below).

Still being a relative noob at this, for the boil I put the hop pellets into a large tea strainer that I've used for late hopping before.

Unfortunately after I was pouring the boil into the FV I noticed that there was a large green sludge from the hops. Clearly the tea strainer didn't strain out much of the hops. Most of the sludge went into the wort. I'm now not sure what effect there will be from a lot of the hops sitting in the boil when it was cooling down. Hopefully it is a good thing? Don't know.

 I also poured the can extract straight into the FV and didn't hit it with hot water. Just poured in the cooled boil which by now was down in the 20sC. I'm hoping that the yeast does its thing and chews through the can extract anyway. I'm also hoping that most of the hop sludge will precipitate out in the trub in the FV and/or at the bottom of the bottles.

It didn't seem worthwhile testing the OG since at least half of the extract hadn't dissolved yet.

Anyway, all an educational experience.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

Hi Donpolo

Based on my limited experience, I think it will be fine.  It doesn't sound like you committed any brewing sins.

The hop sludge will mostly collect in the trub.  You probably still had a fair bit in the tea strainer anyway.

Yes in the end there was quite a bit because it obviously swelled up. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

It's not really ideal or beneficial having boiled hop matter end up in the fermenter but it probably won't cause any major issues either. It will just drop out into the trub. The yeast will ferment the brew fine though even if the extract wasn't fully dissolved.

Ta!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

It's not really ideal or beneficial having boiled hop matter end up in the fermenter but it probably won't cause any major issues either. It will just drop out into the trub. The yeast will ferment the brew fine though even if the extract wasn't fully dissolved.

Ta! I've also got it at about 18 degrees is that alright? Kit yeast. It says that 21-27 is ideal but I'm thinking I'd better keep it between 18-20 is that right?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So day three and this is the krausen. Hardly a Krausen I would say because it has so far only been about a cm thick. Bubbling away though. Perhaps it isn't that thick (yet?) because the extract wasn't all in suspension but in a layer on the bottom. 

A bit concerned about a couple of spots in the photo.

How do you tell it may have got an infection and/or when?

I've got no reason to think that there should be an infection but I have seen posts here where people have done everything they could to sterilise every think and something went wrong.

Double pale ale Krausen.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ha I too thought that maybe the residue indicated a krausen that quickly went up and down. But then I remembered that yesterday when I was putting the plug in the sink, the FV rocked back and forward and brew almost went up to the limit of the lid. So that probably explains the residue line.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

Ah, well that explains that then ?

Still looks normal if not a bit green but that's probably the hop matter that ended up in there.

Good point about the green matter. There are still a few finer points that I'm missing out on. For example when a recipe says 'hops in at flame out' I guess that means when you turn the heat off you add the hops. Then they infuse like a hop tea while the wort is cooling down. Is that right?

I guess ideally you put the hops in a hop sock or something. I have seen recipes where they say put the hops or grains in 'a kitchen cloth pulled straight from the pack'. I have few reservations; 

a. a lot of the kitchen cloths e.g. chux are coloured - I would not have thought that boiling something with a dye in it was such a good idea

b. how do you tie them? - just gather them up and knot them or tie them with some kitchen twine or something? 

c. I have some muslin in a draw. It looks clean but I am not sure if there is any residue from straining whey out. I don't want to wash it in detergent because of residues but I also don't potentially to have milk/whey residue involved in the process.

Also, what is the reason people put extract/other fermentables into the boiling wort? I know it is not the same as the average Coopers kit and kilo recipe but those don't seem to require the fermentables to boil, just some hot water at the beginning to dissolve the can extract.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's what flameout additions are yes. 

You don't have to contain them, just use a kitchen strainer to pour the wort through to trap them behind. Or a stocking. 

Hops are boiled in wort because boiling in plain water makes them harsh, or can do at least. The extract itself doesn't require boiling, it's simply added for hops. You'll notice that not all of the extract is boiled either, just the required amount to get the boil wort SG to around 1.040. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

That's what flameout additions are yes. 

You don't have to contain them, just use a kitchen strainer to pour the wort through to trap them behind. Or a stocking. 

Hops are boiled in wort because boiling in plain water makes them harsh, or can do at least. The extract itself doesn't require boiling, it's simply added for hops. You'll notice that not all of the extract is boiled either, just the required amount to get the boil wort SG to around 1.040. 

OK makes sense about the extract/fermentables. I'm still a bit skeptical about the straining of the hops though. I my case I used a fine mesh 'giant metal tea bag' and I would say at least half the hops got through. I suppose another straining might have made a different though. What do you think about the 'kitchen cloths' thing?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

It would work but I prefer the straining method. A strainer by itself may not stop all of it but if you lined it with a stocking or just stretched the stocking over the fermenter you'd stop almost all of it

 

Yep fair enough. On this occasion, I'm just going to have to hope most of it drops down to the trub. Looks like I may have to wait to bottle after about two/three weeks anyway unless it is ready to go next Saturday. I watched a video today and the guy looked like he knew what he was doing. All the hops went in without straining then he syphoned the wort out into big bottle fermenter. I'm thinking he tried to leave some of the sediment behind but that wasn't clear. Following fermentation, he again syphoned the brew into another bucket where he bulk primed it and once again syphoned the beer into the bottles. You could see that the finished product was a little bit cloudy but no more than any of my brews.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If I do a stove top hop boil or steep I put the hops straight in the liquid to do what they do.

Then I strain through on of my Tea Infuser Balls into a jug first

1368712587_Teainfuserball.jpg.f5feca676a46cb16a4637ae89688707d.jpg

 

Then through a finer Tea Infuser straight into the fermenter

1811257562_Teainfusercup.jpg.c83451747f1ef11a8e87385ef428ed66.jpg

 

Not sure why I really worry about the second strainer (maybe it's my OCD) because if I dry hop I use the Infuser Ball which will let the smaller particles through anyway.  I guess the boil/steep is a more active process and really stirs up the hops, whereas dry hopping is fairly gentle, so not much hop material is agitated out.

Also cold crashing keeps all but the last bottle I fill clear as.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah cold crashing ... I wish! I have one of those Tea Infuser Balls that I usually use for cold crashing. This the first time I used it for a hop boil. Even though the boil was only 3 mins then flame out, it didn't work very well. As you say, a more active process. 

Next time I'll probably do the straining thing, perhaps through a stocking lined sieve. By the way how would one wash/clean a stocking/cheese cloth etc so as not to get a detergent residue? Boiling?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Early days (here's me trying to sound like a veteran brewer, but really just a newbie) I strained with a stocking lined sieve.  I just washed the stocking under warm tap water.  Soaked it in some Starsan before using.  However, only reused the stocking a couple of times before chucking.  Don't know about cheese cloth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A lot of people look like they know what they're doing in YouTube videos, but it doesn't mean they do. ? Boiled hops are of no use in the fermenter and will only increase the trub level so there's little point dumping them in.

Boiling stockings is fine for sanitising them but you can always spray them with starsan if you're worried about it. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...