SteveM17 Posted November 18, 2020 Share Posted November 18, 2020 Hi All, Getting ready to put down a batch of Coopers XPA from the Recipe page. Just wondering if anyone has any additional advice on getting the best result from past experience? Is the recommended hop allocation enough? I have 100 grams each of Simcoe and Lemondrop, so can add extra if needed. I'm not planning on using the Coopers commercial yeast, but have the following on hand: US05, Nottingham, Lallemand New England. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted November 18, 2020 Share Posted November 18, 2020 No advice on the hops from me but from a yeast go the new England. Although Notty and US05 are good yeasts they dont bring much to the table as they are very clean, unless fermented outside of their respective ranges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Journeyman Posted November 18, 2020 Share Posted November 18, 2020 34 minutes ago, SteveM17 said: I have 100 grams each of Simcoe and Lemondrop, so can add extra if needed. I wouldn't increase the hops until you've made it once. The recommended amounts are decent for emulating the XPA. The lemondrop in particular may be something you want to go easy on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tone boy Posted November 18, 2020 Share Posted November 18, 2020 I just read the recipe and it calls for soaking the grains overnight in cold water. Would that be the best way to utilize those grains? I thought it was best to steep them in hot water (about 70 degrees) For 20 minutes or so. Or does the water temp not matter? would there be a flavor difference between the cold water steep and a hot water steep? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stickers Posted November 18, 2020 Share Posted November 18, 2020 8 minutes ago, Tone boy said: I just read the recipe and it calls for soaking the grains overnight in cold water. i've done a couple of overnight steeps of light crystal and the end result is nice smelling malty liquid. am still too new to answer any specifics but it certainly saves a lot of time and effort on brewday. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamus O'Sean Posted November 18, 2020 Share Posted November 18, 2020 Hey @SteveM17, This was one of my most favourite brews. I stayed with the recipe. Photo below: The one piece of advice I got, but did not follow, because the LHBS gave me the wrong grains, was to use Caramalt instead of Crystal Malt. Caramalt is a very light crystal malt. Caramalt will give you a colour closer to the commercial version. Not a big issue though. I guess you have already got your ingredients, so do not stress about a couple of points of EBC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassius Posted November 18, 2020 Share Posted November 18, 2020 12 hours ago, Tone boy said: I just read the recipe and it calls for soaking the grains overnight in cold water. Would that be the best way to utilize those grains? I thought it was best to steep them in hot water (about 70 degrees) For 20 minutes or so. Or does the water temp not matter? would there be a flavor difference between the cold water steep and a hot water steep? The argument against hot steeping is that it can introduce astringency/harshness, but I think this is generally for darker steeping grains. I've done both cold and hot multiple times and never noticed a difference in the finished beer. I prefer hot steeping as I don't need to remember to start the cold steep the night before, or take up space in the kitchen fridge overnight. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveM17 Posted November 19, 2020 Author Share Posted November 19, 2020 Thanks for the advice guys! Will go with the New England yeast and kept the rest standard. I do have the regular Crystal malt but will keep the caramalt in mind for next time Shamus. Really looking forward to seeing how this one turns out. Should be a good drop for the festive season. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottGill Posted January 1, 2021 Share Posted January 1, 2021 Looking at doing this brew in about a weeks time, although the recipe is a little unclear about how much Simcoe hops add during the brew, it simply says to "add 1 of the Simcoe and Half of the Lemondrop hop pellets". Is this a spelling mistake or am I just not reading it right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamus O'Sean Posted January 1, 2021 Share Posted January 1, 2021 2 hours ago, ScottGill said: Looking at doing this brew in about a weeks time, although the recipe is a little unclear about how much Simcoe hops add during the brew, it simply says to "add 1 of the Simcoe and Half of the Lemondrop hop pellets". Is this a spelling mistake or am I just not reading it right? Pretty sure they mean 25g of Simcoe and 12.5g of Lemondrop. Back when this Recipe of the Month came out, it was supplied with 2 bags of Simcoe each weighing 25g. Hence the reference to "1 of the Simcoe" being 25g. The other 25g of Simcoe and the other 12.5g of Lemondrop go in the dry hop. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottGill Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 Awesome thanks Shamus! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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