What's in Your Fermenter 2022?

[Malter White]

22 hours ago, jennyss said:

Brew No. 12 now in the fermenter: A Coopers Australian Pale Ale extract mixed with Coopers Brew Enhancer No.2 and 500g Coopers Light Dry Malt. 

Steeped 1x12g 'tea bag' Brigalow Galaxy hop pellets and 15g Mangrove Jack Gold Cluster pellets in 2 cups boiling water. For the Cluster pellets I made a bag from sterilised Chux tied with carpet cotton. Added the pellets and steep water and brought the brew up to 23L. 

Unfortunately we added too much warm water at the start, and the brew started at 24/26 deg! I rushed in a floor fan, wet towel and ice bricks and 30 minutes later the brew is down to 20/22 deg - phew!

SG 1047

 

You've come a long way in your short time brewing, Jenny. The fact you're now making additions and you knew what to do when the temp was too high shows this.
24/26 degrees isn't extreme but yes it's nice to have it in the low 20s range.
FYI - if you don't have string on hand you can cut a strip off the Chux and use that to tie up the hops.
Cheers.

[jennyss]

On day 3 of my Coopers Pale Ale brew in the FV I couldn't resist checking the SG to see how fast the yeast is working on all the goodies. It is down to 1008 already from a start of 1047! Had to taste it - most of the sweet bready taste from day 1 is gone, but there is not much hop flavour at this stage. Is that usual? Does the hop flavour develop later? If not I will be disappointed. (The hop steep was 12g bag of galaxy  and 15g of Cluster.)

[Classic Brewing Co]

4 minutes ago, jennyss said:

On day 3 of my Coopers Pale Ale brew in the FV I couldn't resist checking the SG to see how fast the yeast is working on all the goodies. It is down to 1008 already from a start of 1047! Had to taste it - most of the sweet bready taste from day 1 is gone, but there is not much hop flavour at this stage. Is that usual? Does the hop flavour develop later? If not I will be disappointed. (The hop steep was 12g bag of galaxy  and 15g of Cluster.)

It may develop more taste in time @jennyss & even maturing in the bottles but in reality 27gms infusion is not a lot of hops but that's OK. There are other ways to add the hops, on about day 4-5 when fermentation is slowing down & the krausen is reducing & of course you can dry hop which is just chucking the dry hops in the fermenter.

Either way is good, some of us do both but in time you will develop which works best for you. 

The other end of the stick is if the beer is left too long in the bottles you will achieve 'hop fade' which is just the term for slowly losing the flavour.

It sounds like it is all going well.

[jennyss]

3 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

'hop fade'

That's interesting @Classic Brewing Co. With my first brew with added hops I was excited by the taste for the first 3 weeks of drinking;  then I thought just that - 'hop fade'. How can that be avoided?

[Classic Brewing Co]

2 minutes ago, jennyss said:

That's interesting @Classic Brewing Co. With my first brew with added hops I was excited by the taste for the first 3 weeks of drinking;  then I thought just that - 'hop fade'. How can that be avoided?

Drink faster 

Seriously a lot of this will come with experience because as you add more hops at different times with different methods you do get a longer lasting quality of bitterness & flavour to your beers.

Here is a bit of info, you may pick a bit out of this.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=all+about+extract+home+brew+hopping&qpvt=all+about+extract+home+brew+hopping&FORM=VDRE

[JoeB7]

A can of Canadian Blonde just kept giving me that "You never take me anywhere" look from a GF.

So I did a KnK with BE2, Galaxy T-bag & Coopers pale ale harvested yeast.

Also Saturnalia came early . My bro's hand me down. He got a G40 with all the bells & whistles.

 

Edited October 31, 2022 by JoeB7

[Popo the Reprobate]

3 hours ago, JoeB7 said:

Saturnalia came early

Haha

 

Congratulations on the hand me down.  They go alright.

[JoeB7]

On 10/29/2022 at 4:11 PM, jennyss said:

Brew No. 12 now in the fermenter: A Coopers Australian Pale Ale extract mixed with Coopers Brew Enhancer No.2 and 500g Coopers Light Dry Malt. 

Steeped 1x12g 'tea bag' Brigalow Galaxy hop pellets and 15g Mangrove Jack Gold Cluster pellets in 2 cups boiling water. For the Cluster pellets I made a bag from sterilised Chux tied with carpet cotton. Added the pellets and steep water and brought the brew up to 23L. 

Unfortunately we added too much warm water at the start, and the brew started at 24/26 deg! I rushed in a floor fan, wet towel and ice bricks and 30 minutes later the brew is down to 20/22 deg - phew!

SG 1047

 

What yeast did you use Jen?

[Shamus O'Sean]

I made the Coopers 2022 Vintage Ale today.  Fermenting with Coopers Commercial Ale yeast harvested from 6 stubbies of Aust Pale Ale.  I did a 2 step starter to make sure I had enough yeast for this 1.065 OG brew.  I checked the SG at 21 litres and it was a bit high.  I was able to squeeze in another litre and still be at my target OG of 1.065.

I thought about subbing out most of the Dark Crystal Malt for Light Crystal Malt.  Many of my Coopers copies have come out darker than the commercial version.  In the end I just went with the recipe on the website.  The wort looked very dark.  On well, I will still make beer. 

[jennyss]

14 hours ago, JoeB7 said:

What yeast did you use Jen?

@JoeB7, I used the packet of yeast which comes taped under the lid of the Coopers extract. I googled 'what yeast do Coopers use with Australian Pale Ale brewing extract, and posts on a couple of sites say  'Safale US-05'.  What are your favourite yeasts for your brews? 

I am still putting my toes in the water with trying out hop additions. I think it will be a while before I stray away from yeast  which comes with an extract. 

[Classic Brewing Co]

1 hour ago, jennyss said:

@JoeB7, I used the packet of yeast which comes taped under the lid of the Coopers extract. I googled 'what yeast do Coopers use with Australian Pale Ale brewing extract, and posts on a couple of sites say  'Safale US-05'.  What are your favourite yeasts for your brews? 

I am still putting my toes in the water with trying out hop additions. I think it will be a while before I stray away from yeast  which comes with an extract. 

@jennyss the yeasts supplied with Coopers Extracts are completely adequate & will do the job. 

US-05 is great for Ales & you will note that the pack is 11.5gms & will get to work & make great beer.

A lot of us use it often & find it to be a favourite, there are many other great yeasts, all designed with a specific purpose & of course require different fermenting temperatures. The only downside is you have to buy them but usually they are only $4-00 - $7.00'

It would be worth experimenting with it for a Pale Ale & you can judge for yourself.

American ale brewer’s yeast producing neutral and well-balanced ales, clean and crispy. Forms a firm foam head and presents a very good ability to stay in suspension during fermentation. Ideal for American beer types and highly hopped beers.

https://fermentis.com/en/product/safale-us-05/

https://www.beercraftr.com/beer-yeast-list/

Edited November 1, 2022 by Classic Brewing Co

[JoeB7]

15 hours ago, jennyss said:

@JoeB7, I used the packet of yeast which comes taped under the lid of the Coopers extract. I googled 'what yeast do Coopers use with Australian Pale Ale brewing extract, and posts on a couple of sites say  'Safale US-05'.  What are your favourite yeasts for your brews? 

I am still putting my toes in the water with trying out hop additions. I think it will be a while before I stray away from yeast  which comes with an extract. 

I will buy a yeast for something special but will use up a couple of tin yeasts on the KnK's i do as they start piling up. I very occasionally will harvest from the coopers bottles if I remember to before just swigging them from the bottle  

[Tricky Micky]

What's about to go into my fermenters is a double batch of this KL recipe of a 150 lashes clone.....

Extract - Endeavour Aussie Pale Ale (150 Lashes clone) Instructions.pdf

[Classic Brewing Co]

9 minutes ago, Mickep said:

What's about to go into my fermenters is a double batch of this KL recipe of a 150 lashes clone.....

Extract - Endeavour Aussie Pale Ale (150 Lashes clone) Instructions.pdf 875.02 kB · 1 download

Sounds good Mick.

[Shamus O'Sean]

9 hours ago, Mickep said:

What's about to go into my fermenters is a double batch of this KL recipe of a 150 lashes clone.....

Extract - Endeavour Aussie Pale Ale (150 Lashes clone) Instructions.pdf 875.02 kB · 6 downloads

I think it will be nice, Mick.  But I do not think it will be spot on a 150 Lashes clone.  Seems to need a few more hops (Cascade & Nelson Sauvin).

[Tricky Micky]

9 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

19 hours ago, Mickep said:

What's about to go into my fermenters is a double batch of this KL recipe of a 150 lashes clone.....

Extract - Endeavour Aussie Pale Ale (150 Lashes clone) Instructions.pdf 875.02 kB · 6 downloads

I think it will be nice, Mick.  But I do not think it will be spot on a 150 Lashes clone.  Seems to need a few more hops (Cascade & Nelson Sauvin).

Thanks Shamus, I've got some cascade and Nelson in the freezer. Should that be included in the boil ?  I'm really cautious these days with  hop quantity and boil times when using a these pre-hopped kit tins as I'm not a fan of too much bitterness. I think from memory you had a process where you'd cool the hop boil down once it had finished with the addition of Cold water - have I got that right? I may have got that wrong though. Cheers mate.

[DavidM]

Coopers XPA 

Thought I'd give this one a go, didn't have a few bits but made it up with what I had on hand.

Can of Pale, 1.2k Light dry Malt

400g Light Crystal Malt, Steeped for 30 min. 25g Centennial and 12g Lemondrop Hops boiled for 10.

Will dry Hop with the same amounts on about day 6

 

Pale Ale: Can of Pale and 1k Light dry Malt

320g Carapils (end of the bag), steeped for 30. 40g Bravo (end of bag) hops boiled for 15

Will dry hop this one with 30g PoR, day 6

And the Wife's Lager!

 

 

[Tone boy]

4 hours ago, Mickep said:

Thanks Shamus, I've got some cascade and Nelson in the freezer. Should that be included in the boil ?  I'm really cautious these days with  hop quantity and boil times when using a these pre-hopped kit tins as I'm not a fan of too much bitterness. I think from memory you had a process where you'd cool the hop boil down once it had finished with the addition of Cold water - have I got that right? I may have got that wrong though. Cheers mate.

Hey Mick,

Not sure on Shamus’s process, but yes you could add some cold water after flameout to bring the temp down to 80 degrees quickly. 
This will reduce the bitterness from the hops already in the boil, and any new hops you add shouldn’t add too much bitterness below 80 degrees. Then you can do your hop step for 20 minutes or so below 80 degrees C.

Not sure what the IBU’s on the wheat kit are, but they’d be pretty low at a guess. Most wheat beers have pretty low bitterness 

Or you could dry hop the cascade and Nelson - would still be good.

It’ll be a nice beer either way.

Happy brewing bud

[Classic Brewing Co]

5 hours ago, DavidM said:

Thought I'd give this one a go, didn't have a few bits but made it up with what I had on hand.

Can of Pale, 1.2k Light dry Malt

400g Light Crystal Malt, Steeped for 30 min. 25g Centennial and 12g Lemondrop Hops boiled for 10.

Will dry Hop with the same amounts on about day 6

 

Pale Ale: Can of Pale and 1k Light dry Malt

320g Carapils (end of the bag), steeped for 30. 40g Bravo (end of bag) hops boiled for 15

Will dry hop this one with 30g PoR, day 6

And the Wife's Lager!

Good to see some action David, I need to get some going myself, I think probably tomorrow.

[Shamus O'Sean]

7 hours ago, Mickep said:

Thanks Shamus, I've got some cascade and Nelson in the freezer. Should that be included in the boil ?  I'm really cautious these days with  hop quantity and boil times when using a these pre-hopped kit tins as I'm not a fan of too much bitterness. I think from memory you had a process where you'd cool the hop boil down once it had finished with the addition of Cold water - have I got that right? I may have got that wrong though. Cheers mate.

Hey Mick, Sorry for the late reply.  You might have already done your brew. There are a few typo's in those instructions.

Anyway, for my 150 Lashes clone, I boiled 5g each of Amarillo, Cascade and Nelson Sauvin for 8 minutes.  4 minutes into the boil I added another 5g each of the same hops.  Right on 8 minutes I killed the heat and added enough cold water (as @Tone boy mentioned) to drop the temperature to 75°C.  Next I dropped in 15g each of the same hops for a 15 minute hot steep.  The hops were all in stainless steel hop balls, so I removed them after the 15 minutes and added the hop tea to the FV.  I didn't do a dry hop with this brew, but there is no reason why you could not.  The brew is tasting very nice.  I should do a side-by-side taste test with the commercial version.

[stquinto]

Knocked up a quick Saison, from the Coopers recipe. Can’t get the Hefe Wheat kit so I made do with a Munton’s Wheat kit.  45 minutes from starting to sanitise the FV and boiling water to soften the tins, to pitching! Amazing! Admittedly the Saison is a straightforward brew (I really like it though), but still…
Coincides with SWMBO helpfully pointing out that I had too much stock when I showed her the progress on the keezer (rookie mistake, I know, I know…).

That what happens when you leave the house for some retail therapy

[stquinto]

On 10/31/2022 at 6:32 AM, jennyss said:

That's interesting @Classic Brewing Co. With my first brew with added hops I was excited by the taste for the first 3 weeks of drinking;  then I thought just that - 'hop fade'. How can that be avoided?

Hey Jenny, good on you with the brews.

I found that with some of the “enhanced”Coopers recipes that were a bit hop-forward, got the hop fade after 3 weeks (especially if they were dry hopped). A lady on this forum, Christina, pointed that was pretty normal and went into some chemical stuff that was beyond my frazzled brain cells. 
In a nutshell: dry hopped ones will fade unless they are refrigerated (it says so on the Coopers recipes if it’s a keeper or not). Alternatively make half batches. You can also choose recipes that use hops when boiling etc. 
There are a lot of folks on this forum who know much better why. But I do know this: it’s mighty disappointing when you get a lovely, fresh, hoppy beer and you think “I’ll keep hold of a few of these”, and go back to them and they’ve become a bit washed out. Not bad, but not what they were…

Good luck!  

[stquinto]

… oh, and one more point, put more hops in

[stquinto]

On 11/1/2022 at 7:25 AM, Shamus O'Sean said:

Many of my Coopers copies have come out darker than the commercial version

Funnily enough mine too - not the commercial versions as I can’t get them here, but much darker than the pictures on the recipe. I’ve got a ‘22 vintage three weeks into the bottle. I deliberately under-primed as I like to keep them up to (and sometimes beyond) a year. They really keep on changing, beautifully complex beers. 
Much as I love AG and my Grainfather , if I don’t have a half day to spare I can knock up a kit and bits in under an hour. 
I also tend to leave it in the fermentor for 2 and sometimes 3 weeks, and leave them in the bottle or keg for a month or so before getting stuck in. Several months for a sour or a Trappist style.

That’s why it’s good to have a decent stock to tide you over

[jennyss]

7 hours ago, stquinto said:

oh, and one more point, put more hops in

Yes, will do @stquinto. I did google 'hop fade' and came up with Christina's earlier very knowledgeable entries on this topic. There is a lot of fascinating and debated information about 'hop fade'; including that the aroma escapes/soaks into the plastic lids! But how do craft breweries with their hop dominated beers get away with this?