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What's in Your Fermenter 2023?


Shamus O'Sean

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48 minutes ago, jennyss said:

His & Hers now in the fermenters. On the left is my husband's Woolworths Lager, and on the right is my Coopers Innkeeper's Daughter Sparkling Ale. The wet towels and a fan are keeping the brew at 22deg on a 35deg day. And it's only the second month of Spring! The torch is for checking the beers at night 😆.

His & hers.jpg

Good to see production is booming Jenny, the Coopers Innkeeper's Daughter Sparkling Ale is a nice brew.

Enjoy 🍺

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22 hours ago, jennyss said:

His & Hers now in the fermenters. On the left is my husband's Woolworths Lager, and on the right is my Coopers Innkeeper's Daughter Sparkling Ale. The wet towels and a fan are keeping the brew at 22deg on a 35deg day. And it's only the second month of Spring! The torch is for checking the beers at night 😆.

His & hers.jpg

I love how you went from "Hi, this is my first brew" to steeping grains, adding various malts and hops. I see a few people come, ask a question and then disappear, never to be heard of again. At least not in the forum. We don't know how many give up after a batch or two and how many stick with it. You stuck with it and watching your journey is good to see. You have well and truly started your descent into the rabbit hole. Keep it up. I'm looking forward to reading about your first all-grain batch 🙂 

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20 hours ago, Malter White said:

I find the WW extracts a good, inexpensive base to experiment with. The included yeast makes beer but I usually use a different yeast to get better results.

I remember a video, I think it was @King Ruddager, who did a split batch of a Woolies kit, one half as per instructions, the other pimped up. The conclusion was that the as-per-instructions version was better than the pimped-up one 🙂 

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1 hour ago, Aussiekraut said:

I remember a video, I think it was @King Ruddager, who did a split batch of a Woolies kit, one half as per instructions, the other pimped up. The conclusion was that the as-per-instructions version was better than the pimped-up one 🙂 

Well taste is subjective and that may have been the case for KR. The Facebook page for WW "Larger" has many followers that swear by doing a toucan with mango and passionfruit pulp. I tried it and it wasn't too bad but it didn't fit the hype for me. I've done a couple since with one can and Galaxy hops and achieved something I preferred more. I subbed out the kit yeast for Coopers yeast and Morgan's Lager yeast which give a better result, IMO.
As a once off, I also did just 1 tin, 1kg dex and a steep of 15g PoR hops. Total cost was under $14. It was very drinkable. It's not something I'd make often but totally acceptable at a bargain price.

Edited by Malter White
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On 10/15/2023 at 6:58 PM, Brauhaus Fritz said:

Today was a triple first. First brew starting off in the Fermenting fridge and first time I used a can of Coopers Real Ale. Added one BE2, 500g of LDM. Also used wifey’s Thermomix for the first time to mash 200g of Caramalt for 30 min on 64 degrees and then boiled the wort for 10 minutes and made a hop stand of 15g each of Galaxy and Zappa hops. I am planing of dry hopping later with another 25g each , or maybe a bit more Galaxy. Tastes quite nice so far. OG 1048. Pitched and fermenting at 20 degrees. So far no action. I think I will call this one “Nanook’s Real Ale ( contains no yellow snow)”

IMG_8243.jpeg

Today is day 7. Sitting on 1014. dry hopped it with 30g of Galaxy (all I had left), 20g of Citra and 15g of Zappa. 

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9 hours ago, Back Brewing said:

Just before we left for 2 weeks away I put down a legbreaker FWK I have Amarillo hops and Strata hops if I put 30g of each as a dry hop 4 days before kegging would they work or use what they recommend 

I've got plenty of each I was thinking of using them up

I think Amarillo and Strata would go well in that brew.  Maybe even go to 50g of each.

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I made a Nut Brown Ale today.  Never sure whether to post under What's in Your Fermenter because it is mostly mixing up a couple of cans or Brew Day What Have Ya Got because it included a partial/mini mash.

Based on Coopers Nut Brown Ale recipe, with some tweaks:

  • 1.7kg Coopers Dark Ale
  • 1.5kg Coopers Light Malt Extract
  • 1kg Vienna Malt (added for extra AVB plus extra volume)
  • 400g Crystal Malt
  • 200g Brown Malt (added for colour and flavour and because I have a couple of kilos of it that I rarely use)
  • 10g Cashmere and 10g Spalter Select in a 30 minute boil for an extra 8-9 IBU's (aiming to keep the IBU's up across the extra 5 litre volume)
  • 1 pkt Coopers Dark Ale and 1 pkt Coopers Lager yeast (they are reportedly the same yeast)

I was aiming for 28 litres with an OG of 1.050, but I got to 26 litres and checked the SG and it was 1.050 already, so I did not add the extra 2 litres.  The partial mash was not as efficient as predicted.

Some of the ingredients, grain was steeping on the bench behind me

IMG_3978.JPG.70e8f8c649db46155bab374721088280.JPG

Partial/mini mash wort undergoing the boil, the little chain leads to the mesh hop ball in the wort

IMG_3979.JPG.adc6e8d29ee827a71cb3d39aa8909323.JPG

Cans softening in hot water in the sink

IMG_3980.JPG.362155619a41f05d9d4fe94fc90832ea.JPG

Yeast pitched - fitted Krausen Kollar just in case.

IMG_3981.JPG.4e1881a5ca669e55387c472792341fd9.JPG

Edited by Shamus O'Sean
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48 minutes ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

I made a Nut Brown Ale today.  Never sure whether to post under What's in Your Fermenter because it is mostly mixing up a couple of cans or Brew Day What Have Ya Got because it included a partial/mini mash.

Based on Coopers Nut Brown Ale recipe, with some tweaks:

  • 1.7kg Coopers Dark Ale
  • 1.5kg Coopers Light Malt Extract
  • 1kg Vienna Malt (added for extra AVB plus extra volume)
  • 400g Crystal Malt
  • 200g Brown Malt (added for colour and flavour and because I have a couple of kilos of it that I rarely use)
  • 10g Cashmere and 10g Spalter Select in a 30 minute boil for an extra 8-9 IBU's (aiming to keep the IBU's up across the extra 5 litre volume)
  • 1 pkt Coopers Dark Ale and 1 pkt Coopers Lager yeast (they are reportedly the same yeast)

I was aiming for 28 litres with an OG of 1.050, but I got to 26 litres and checked the SG and it was 1.050 already, so I did not add the extra 2 litres.  The partial mash was not as efficient as predicted.

Some of the ingredients, grain was steeping on the bench behind me

IMG_3978.JPG.70e8f8c649db46155bab374721088280.JPG

Partial/mini mash wort undergoing the boil, the little chain leads to the mesh hop ball in the wort

IMG_3979.JPG.adc6e8d29ee827a71cb3d39aa8909323.JPG

Cans softening in hot water in the sink

IMG_3980.JPG.362155619a41f05d9d4fe94fc90832ea.JPG

Yeast pitched - fitted Krausen Kollar just in case.

IMG_3981.JPG.4e1881a5ca669e55387c472792341fd9.JPG

Immaculately presented as always Shamus.

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10 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

I made a Nut Brown Ale today.  Never sure whether to post under What's in Your Fermenter because it is mostly mixing up a couple of cans or Brew Day What Have Ya Got because it included a partial/mini mash.

If it's not the sheriff will be along shortly to let you know 🙂

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On 10/28/2023 at 8:23 PM, Shamus O'Sean said:

I was aiming for 28 litres with an OG of 1.050, but I got to 26 litres and checked the SG and it was 1.050 already, so I did not add the extra 2 litres.  The partial mash was not as efficient as predicted.

Some of the ingredients, grain was steeping on the bench behind me

Did you steep some grains separately to the partial mash, Shamus, or are you using the words interchangeably here?

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Ok I have a Bearded Dragon Ale FWK in the fermenter 6 days. I made to 19.5 litres with  Verdant IPA yeast slurry 5 weeks old. 

Well the sleepy bugger seems to have stalled on 1.019 consistent from day 5 and 6. Even after temp rise and little tap on the ever remaining krausen yesterday no progress. 

In comparison this brew has finished in 5 days with a fresh pack of yeast or 3.5 days with slurry. 

I've added an old coopers r 007 ale yeast 1 year 9 months since packaged and refrigerated for at least a year my end.

Because of the krausen that doesn't disappear after I sprinkled the packet I had to gently stir it through the krausen and disrupt the krausen to sink.  The brew spoon was sanitised. 

I know I have risked oxidisation but if left alone the brew was gone along with its 45 dollars. The highest it's ever finished was 1.010 and lowest 1.007 with same yeast.

It's done now but anything anyone else would have done differently?

Edited by Uhtred Of Beddanburg
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@Uhtred Of Beddanburg I have observed on some peoples rapt pill fermentation graphs that occasionally yeast seems to stall for a couple days before kicking off again. I don’t know whether that’s accurate or just the pill having a moment.

Sounds to me like you did the right thing, other than just waiting I don’t know what else you could have done!

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After a few beers on Sunday I started to harvest some lager yeast from the bottles. Put the bottle in the fermenting chamber and forgot about it until this morning. My intention was to use an extract tin of lager with it but I didn't have time to get to the shops to buy one.
The only extract I had on hand was a Coopers APA. The yeast starter was active and smelt fresh, so this evening I've added the lager yeast to an ale tin brew.
I searched the recipe spreadsheet and couldn't see any recipes that use lager yeast with APA.
Has anyone used lager yeast with APA?
Were you happy with the outcome or am I in for an unpleasant result?

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2 hours ago, NBillett09 said:

@Uhtred Of Beddanburg I have observed on some peoples rapt pill fermentation graphs that occasionally yeast seems to stall for a couple days before kicking off again. I don’t know whether that’s accurate or just the pill having a moment.

Sounds to me like you did the right thing, other than just waiting I don’t know what else you could have done!

I really hope so mate as am trying to restock as rebuilding keggerator.

 

41 minutes ago, Malter White said:

After a few beers on Sunday I started to harvest some lager yeast from the bottles. Put the bottle in the fermenting chamber and forgot about it until this morning. My intention was to use an extract tin of lager with it but I didn't have time to get to the shops to buy one.
The only extract I had on hand was a Coopers APA. The yeast starter was active and smelt fresh, so this evening I've added the lager yeast to an ale tin brew.
I searched the recipe spreadsheet and couldn't see any recipes that use lager yeast with APA.
Has anyone used lager yeast with APA?
Were you happy with the outcome or am I in for an unpleasant result?

A pale lager is a propper style of beer I'm sure it will be drinkable. While brewing kits it was my intention to do this as you have. 

Looking forward to the results

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2 minutes ago, Uhtred Of Beddanburg said:

A pale lager is a propper style of beer I'm sure it will be drinkable. While brewing kits it was my intention to do this as you have. 

Looking forward to the results

I don't have high expectations for this one. As I didn't know how it would turn out, all I did was add 1kg of dextrose and made it to 19 litres. No hops or extra malt.

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10 hours ago, Kegory said:

Did you steep some grains separately to the partial mash, Shamus, or are you using the words interchangeably here?

Hi Kegory, I mashed the Vienna, Crystal and Brown Malt together in the one pot.  The mash had a SG of about 1.073 once finished.  That does not mean much, because it was diluted once I added all the water to the fermenter.  However, it at least shows that the mash created sugars.

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11 hours ago, Malter White said:

After a few beers on Sunday I started to harvest some lager yeast from the bottles. Put the bottle in the fermenting chamber and forgot about it until this morning. My intention was to use an extract tin of lager with it but I didn't have time to get to the shops to buy one.
The only extract I had on hand was a Coopers APA. The yeast starter was active and smelt fresh, so this evening I've added the lager yeast to an ale tin brew.
I searched the recipe spreadsheet and couldn't see any recipes that use lager yeast with APA.
Has anyone used lager yeast with APA?
Were you happy with the outcome or am I in for an unpleasant result?

Don't prepare for an unpleasant result, just prepare for a beer that tastes nothing like the APA. I've done a side-by-side once, with the same beer brewed as an ale and as a lager and the difference is quite staggering. 

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12 hours ago, Malter White said:

After a few beers on Sunday I started to harvest some lager yeast from the bottles. Put the bottle in the fermenting chamber and forgot about it until this morning. My intention was to use an extract tin of lager with it but I didn't have time to get to the shops to buy one.
The only extract I had on hand was a Coopers APA. The yeast starter was active and smelt fresh, so this evening I've added the lager yeast to an ale tin brew.
I searched the recipe spreadsheet and couldn't see any recipes that use lager yeast with APA.
Has anyone used lager yeast with APA?
Were you happy with the outcome or am I in for an unpleasant result?

Yeah done that more than once tarted up with some hops. It won't be unpleasant. Just as @Aussiekraut said it won't taste like APA but it will be beer 🙂

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10 hours ago, Aussiekraut said:

Don't prepare for an unpleasant result, just prepare for a beer that tastes nothing like the APA. I've done a side-by-side once, with the same beer brewed as an ale and as a lager and the difference is quite staggering. 

I've been enjoying some crisp lagers recently and was planning on doing another but my forgetfulness and lack of time meant I had a ready yeast starter but not a lager extract. Thanks for your encouragement, @Aussiekraut @Greenyinthewestofsydney & @Coopers DIY Beer Team. I'm much more relaxed now.

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