Coopers XPA Clone-ish...

[ozlizard]

42 minutes ago, Journeyman said:

That's not the XPA, it's the Exbeeriment one

Ha ha well it's a very nice colour anyway! So how do you reckon they get the cloudy beer in the can version of the XPA?

[Journeyman]

2 hours ago, ozlizard said:

Ha ha well it's a very nice colour anyway! So how do you reckon they get the cloudy beer in the can version of the XPA?

Probably just yeast in the can? The pub version is quite clear except start and end of keg.

[ozlizard]

23 minutes ago, Journeyman said:

Probably just yeast in the can? The pub version is quite clear except start and end of keg.

Ahh yes I believe they do add yeast and sugar when they can it. Well I don't want to risk making bottle bombs so I am thinking the addition of some oats will achieve the same result and improve the mouthfeel.

[Instigator]

This the commercial XPA on tap. It's even on an XPA coaster.

The XPA will be my next brew. Hopefully I can do it justice.

[Naughty Corner Brewing]

On 3/4/2020 at 6:20 PM, Instigator said:

This the commercial XPA on tap. It's even on an XPA coaster.

The XPA will be my next brew. Hopefully I can do it justice.

Make sure you get a fairly light crystal malt. I can’t recall what was listed I the recipe but the ROTM pack had probably a medium crystal in it. I found it somewhat darker and sweeter than the commercial.

I used a light crystal last time I brewed it and got a much closer representation of it.

[Cassius]

Gonna do something similar to the Coopers XPA as my next brew and had a couple questions:

1. Looking for a substitute for Lemondrop. Various sources are suggesting Amarillo or Centennial. I'm happy with either as I can use the leftovers in other brews, but does anyone have advice on which may be closer, aroma-wise?

2. Is a 37.5g dry hop going to be enough? I've never made an XPA before but had imagined it might be closer to double that.

3. The recipe calls for an overnight cold steep of the grains. Given my schedule this weekend, it would be great if I could do a quicker steep of the grain. I know that the cold steep is to avoid acrid tastes but is there a way to do something between an overnight cold steep and a 30 min hot steep? Maybe a.....warm steep, for a few hours?

TIA, Cassius

[Journeyman]

Maybe use warm or even hot water for the steep? But the aroma of the overnight is very good.

I used Citra in my 1st attempt - worked well I thought. 2nd 1 I used mosaic but will be getting lemondrop shortly on next visit to Adelaide and plan to try again.

The dry hop certainly had plenty of aroma when I was bottling so 37.5 should do it I think.

[Naughty Corner Brewing]

On 3/11/2020 at 1:48 PM, Cassius said:

Gonna do something similar to the Coopers XPA as my next brew and had a couple questions:

1. Looking for a substitute for Lemondrop. Various sources are suggesting Amarillo or Centennial. I'm happy with either as I can use the leftovers in other brews, but does anyone have advice on which may be closer, aroma-wise?

2. Is a 37.5g dry hop going to be enough? I've never made an XPA before but had imagined it might be closer to double that.

3. The recipe calls for an overnight cold steep of the grains. Given my schedule this weekend, it would be great if I could do a quicker steep of the grain. I know that the cold steep is to avoid acrid tastes but is there a way to do something between an overnight cold steep and a 30 min hot steep? Maybe a.....warm steep, for a few hours?

TIA, Cassius

1. Lemondrop is definitely a key ingredient to the Coopers XPA flavour. If you sub it out it won’t really be like the Coopers version. Perfectly acceptable substitutes for an XPA are likely to be Citra, galaxy, Amarillo, centennial, and enigma. Pretty much anything that you would use as a late hop.

2. Depends on the AA% of it, but I dry hop doesn’t really add much in the way of bitterness. If you wanted to increase it, Id be more inclined to add it to the boils of the steeped grain wort for the last 20 or 15 minutes.

3. A warm steep will be fine, just make sure the water is below 80 degrees Celsius. Give it a couple of hours. However if similar to hot extraction vs cold extraction of coffee.

Hope it turns out well,

Cheers

Jamie

[Journeyman]

16 hours ago, NewBrews said:

2. Depends on the AA% of it, but I dry hop doesn’t really add much in the way of bitterness. If you wanted to increase it, Id be more inclined to add it to the boils of the steeped grain wort for the last 20 or 15 minutes.

3. A warm steep will be fine, just make sure the water is below 80 degrees Celsius. Give it a couple of hours. However if similar to hot extraction vs cold extraction of coffee.

The recipe has a 15 min boil of 25 g Simcoe and 25 g lemon drop as well as the same amount as a dry hop.

I've tried cold extracted coffee... 3 times because of baristas with pony tails who insisted THEIRS was better. I will not spoil beans that way again.  Mind you, I had a craft beer barman in Bendigo who managed to persuade me 3 times that THIS saison was much better than the previous ones he'd offered. I won't do that to my mouth again.

I think sometimes I give people too many opportunities.

[Naughty Corner Brewing]

12 hours ago, Journeyman said:

The recipe has a 15 min boil of 25 g Simcoe and 25 g lemon drop as well as the same amount as a dry hop.

I've tried cold extracted coffee... 3 times because of baristas with pony tails who insisted THEIRS was better. I will not spoil beans that way again.  Mind you, I had a craft beer barman in Bendigo who managed to persuade me 3 times that THIS saison was much better than the previous ones he'd offered. I won't do that to my mouth again.

I think sometimes I give people too many opportunities.

I ended up increasing them both and got quite a good outcome the second time. Third time was a partial mash and dropped the  boil to 20, added 15 at flameout and 15 as a dry hop and it was sensational.

As for cold brew coffee, great as an iced long black or iced coffee in summer.

[Journeyman]

11 hours ago, NewBrews said:

I ended up increasing them both and got quite a good outcome the second time. Third time was a partial mash and dropped the  boil to 20, added 15 at flameout and 15 as a dry hop and it was sensational.

As for cold brew coffee, great as an iced long black or iced coffee in summer.

I'll try that once I get the order I just placed.  (the 3rd time)

I'm happy to use a cooled espresso shot or 3 to make iced coffees but the cold pressed stuff from the hipsters has no appeal for me - I think you have to have the heat to get the essential oils out of the beans.