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Daily diary of a virgin (first ever) home brew!


pilotsh

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Brew 008: Thursday 30th July: 276 hours (11.5 days) since pitch.

Brew Temp: 20.5C.

Comments: Unplugged heat belt to allow settling. Testing and probably bottling tomorrow.

Photo(s): Nil

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Brew 008: Friday 31th July: 307 hours (12.79 days) since pitch.

Brew Temp: 20.1C.

SG: 1010.5 another drop! Such a slow ferment!

Appearance: Clearing golden straw. Less fizz than previous days.

Nose: Peach, nectarine, apricot, mandarin, orange.

Palate: Lemon rind, stone fruit, hints of buttered toast!

Comments: Will wait a few days as SG keeps trickling down!

Photo(s): 
 

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Brew 008: Monday 3rd August: 380 hours (15.8 days) from pitching to bottling.

Brew Temp: 20.1C

FG(SG): 1009.5. Therefore brew 008 is 4.53% ABV. A real bottle of Coopers Pale Ale is 4.5%.... spot on with the real yeast! 🥳

Appearance: Beautiful golden straw. Light fizz.

Nose: Raw dough, stone fruit. Hints of Honey and Mango.

Palate: Peach, nectarine, stone fruit. Hints of pineapple.

Comments: Great result with the Reactivated Coopers Pale Ale bottle yeast. Can't wait to taste the finished product. Also, the trub was not thick like the dry yeast trubs: this was nice and loose, so I look forward to some better bread with it! 😀

Photo(s): 

 

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Been off site for a bit Pilot - what's the latest - Brew 005 not showing you that Liquid Malt is the best way forward yet?

Done a cracking brew with all three:  Cooper Kit + Liquid Malt Tin + BE Pack.... to see how that goes?

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1 hour ago, Bearded Burbler said:

Done a cracking brew with all three:  Cooper Kit + Liquid Malt Tin + BE Pack.... to see how that goes?

Not yet:

Still have 4 brews in stock at home:

9: Euro Lager with Notty Yeast:

10: Coopers Stout

11: ROTM Belgian Chocolate Stout

12: ROTM Lamington Stout

Brew 7 (English Bitter LDM) will be ready on 15th Aug, so I'll be able to compare it with Brew 6 (English Bitter Liquid Malt) then. I'll be sure to post back here!

 

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ok i'm on my first batch - just the pack in coopers kit - it's thursday night and i'm going to hold off bottling until saturday morning. i've used a heat belt to keep it in the 20-22 range for 12 days now and pretty sure the gravity is now stable. also living in melbourne in a draughty rental house so the nights get pretty cold. my question.. do i turn off the heatbelt for the 36 hours between now and when i bottle or try to leave it in the same range i fermented it in?

(thought better to post in this thread than start a new one to ask something that's probably pretty obvious)

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1 minute ago, Stickers said:

ok i'm on my first batch - just the pack in coopers kit - it's thursday night and i'm going to hold off bottling until saturday morning. i've used a heat belt to keep it in the 20-22 range for 12 days now and pretty sure the gravity is now stable. also living in melbourne in a draughty rental house so the nights get pretty cold. my question.. do i turn off the heatbelt for the 36 hours between now and when i bottle or try to leave it in the same range i fermented it in?

(thought better to post in this thread than start a new one to ask something that's probably pretty obvious)

If the gravity is stable you can turn it off. The cooler temps will actually help all the particulates drop out of suspension, resulting in clearer beer. People with temp controlled set ups will normally drop the temp right down to normal fridge temps to "cold crash" the beer at the this stage. This also helps the trub stay nice and compact when bottling and in turn stays in the FV rather than your bottles.

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1 minute ago, Lettucegrove said:

If the gravity is stable you can turn it off. The cooler temps will actually help all the particulates drop out of suspension, resulting in clearer beer. People with temp controlled set ups will normally drop the temp right down to normal fridge temps to "cold crash" the beer at the this stage. This also helps the trub stay nice and compact when bottling and in turn stays in the FV rather than your bottles.

cheers, done 🙂

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Saturday 8th August: Brew 009 pitched!
 

Malt: Canned- Coopers European Lager Can. BB date on can: 11/10/21.

Extra Ingredients: 1kg Coopers Brew Enhancer 3 (1023g) and 125g of Cooper Brew Enhancer 1.

Water: Unfiltered tap water.

Preparation: Malt Can added to off-the-boil water, dissolved, stirred in Brew Enhancers, disolved and added to FV. 

Yeast: Lallemand Nottingham Yeast 11g Sachet. BB date: 09/2021

Pitching Method: Rehydrated in 35C water (cooled from boil first), after 15 minutes added a splash of wort, mixed and poured into FV.

Initial Wort Temperature: 21.4C

Temperature Control: No cooling. 35W heat belt not attached. Inkbird Temp controller for temp display, target 13.5C

Initial Sample SG (OG): 1038.5. Can instructions indicated 1038, but I have added 120g of BE1 which is why it bobbed around 1038.5. Brew spreadsheet indicated 1041, but that was with "Cooper Bavarian Lager" (Coopers European Lager was not in the list)

Photo(s):
 

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Brew 009: Wednesday 12th August: 96 hours (4 days) since pitch.

Brew Temp: 19.2C. Steady. Nice and cool, laundry door stays closed! 😀

Comments: Normal Progress, Krausen starting to collapse, but the wort has nice continuous bubble activity.

I still don't know why I fit the collar: not once in 9 brews has there been any "over-bubbling"/fire-works: it's a bit disappointing actually.... 🙄

Photo(s): Nil

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Brew 009: Thursday 13th August: 118 hours (4.92 days) since pitch.

Brew Temp: 19.3C. Steady

Comments: Normal Progress, Krausen collapsed, the wort has nice continuous bubble activity. Bready smell around FV.

Photo(s): Nil

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Brew 009: Friday 14th August: 142 hours (5.92 days) since pitch.

Brew Temp: 19.6C. Steady

Comments: Normal Progress, Krausen collapsed, light bubbling activity in wort. Might test the SG tomorrow.

Photo(s): Nil

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On 8/13/2020 at 10:22 AM, NewBrews said:

@pilotsh next brew....

leaves collar off...

sticky mess all over floor...

no longer disappointed...

just bloody furious 

😂

In anybody's experience which brews froth/boil over the most?

Edited by pilotsh
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Brew 009: Saturday 15th August: 167 hours (6.95 days) since pitch.

Brew Temp: 19.9C. Slow increase due to a nice sunny day and cozy apartment temperature of 21C. It'll drift down again to about 19.4C overnight for sure.

Comments: Normal Progress. (Instructions say 10 day check, but I will check SG tomorrow morning for taste).

Photo(s): Nil

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Brew 009: Sunday 16th August: 184 hours (7.66 days) since pitch.

Brew Temp: 20C. Steady. After a few sunny days the apartment is steady at 19-21C, day and night.

SG: 1011

Appearance: Cloudy straw with plenty of fine fizz.

Nose: Bark. Dough. Lemon and Orange

Palate: Pawpaw. Bitter Lemon, orange rind.

Comments: Needs a little longer to mellow together. Will test SG again Tuesday.

Photo(s): 
 

 

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Edited by pilotsh
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Brew 009: Coopers European Lager with Nottingham Yeast- Monday 17th August: 205 hours (8.54 days) since pitch.

Brew Temp: 19.8C. Steady.

Comments:  Change in title format to stop have to going back to notes to see which brew is which.

Photo(s): Nil
 

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