LazyDave Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Being a '1 kilo of sugar' and 'maybe the occasional malt' kinda guy, I have gone ballistic and kinda followed the Coopers Sparkling recipe. I found it hard to contemplate 2.5kg of sugars in a brew, thank god I have genuine coopers stubbies to hold these potential mini volcanos. But I am very excited, am praying to the Beer Gods, and currently drooling... Here's my 'close as I could get' recipe... Sparkling Ale Premium + Yeast 290g raw sugar 1720g LME 500g Light Dry Malt Powder (Coppertun) 25c temp No SG readings I hope this will be my best beer in the world ever, comments please? Although if i've made a serious error, maybe tell me in a week after I've at least tasted it [love] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidP19 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Wow, 2.5KG of fermentables, yeast is going to be working overtime to chomp through all that! I will say a prayer to the Beer Gods for you [lol] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PB2 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Wouldn't hurt to throw another sachet of yeast in, if you have it handy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LazyDave Posted February 16, 2011 Author Share Posted February 16, 2011 Thanks, all is well this morning - it frothing and fizzing and smelling delish. I've costed this recipie at $35, ($45 if I paid full price for everything) which is rather high for my liking, so hope I can avoid extra yeast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 You may get a bit of a shock if you are a 1kg sugar guy. With over 2Kg malt in it I'd love to hear the outcome. Please update this post when you have tried it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LazyDave Posted February 16, 2011 Author Share Posted February 16, 2011 Yes Bill, I will let you know. However I was following the given recipe (almost). If I ever reproduce CSA I will be this happy [biggrin] I recently made the SA with my usual 1kg of sugar only, it is 10 days in the cupboard and comparison taste tests seemed similar, but lacked the taste of the alcohol strengh of a real CSA. The extra fermentables are hopfully going to achieve this. PS: I'm realy glad this message isn't a spelling test - ouchy [rightful] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LazyDave Posted February 20, 2011 Author Share Posted February 20, 2011 Bottled today after 6 days, all tastes fine. Took a risk and over-primed the bottles. Used 375ml coopers stubbie bottles and gave them 3.5g raw sugar each. Also used 750ml bottles and gave them 7g - hope that's not too much, but I wanted the strengh. They are stored in the shed just in case lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PB2 Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 Dave, NOoooooo.[pinched] Fermentation may not have finished at 6 days and added to that you have increased the priming rate. What FG did you get? The priming rate is for the amount of CO2 only. You have potentially created bottle bombs. Adding to that, you have bottled into glass, including 375ml bottles that are intended for one use only.[pinched] [pinched] Chill one down at two weeks and check for fizz level. Then check another one at 3 weeks. If they become too carbonated it may be best to discard what remains. Do not let the bottles get above 30decC, as pressure increases with temp'. All this would not be a big deal if bottling into PET because the pressure can be released easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muddy Waters Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 You're playing with fire there Dave. You want to get your alcohol content from in the FV not in the bottle (apart from the incindental 0.5% of course.). So to quote PB2, but in a bigger font, I say: [pinched] [crying] [pinched] [crying] [pinched] Dave, Noooooooooo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LazyDave Posted February 21, 2011 Author Share Posted February 21, 2011 Ah whoops, I didn't think it was such a big deal - the guide says 8g of primer per litre, for a 375ml bottle that makes 3g of sugar? It's very warm here, the FV sat in 25-32c for a good 6 days and all went as usual, the brew had settled for at least 2 of those days with no fizzing. Day 4 had traces of fizz only, so it seemed right. Figured the coopers bottles were best as they would be slightly stronger than normal, my 750ml bottles were guenuine XXXX oldies. But not much I can do but pray I guess? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty A Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Just sit one in the fridge in 2 weeks time, and then another in 4 weeks time and if they a fizzers BE CAREFUL. Also if I am a little worried about them I normally put them in a plastic container so if there are any incidents you dont have a massive mess to clean up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LazyDave Posted February 21, 2011 Author Share Posted February 21, 2011 Nice idea Matty, I have been trying to figure a solution for the odd bomb, that could be the winner. I often thought of masking the bottles up like they did in the war with windows lol, or a rubber sleeve or something. I know PET are more sensible, but they don't fit into my routine very well - they dont fit my bottle rack for drying, they fall over or blow about in the wind - many reasons. Tried it didn't like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borris Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Hi Dave, The best solution I can offer for the odd bottle bomb, to paraphrase PB2, would be to use your hydrometer and only bottle when gravity is stable over two days. I'm aware that some don't have a hydrometer or don't like to go to the trouble of using it, so failing that I'd wait at least 14 days for a big brew like that ferment out fully and I would NEVER over prime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LazyDave Posted February 21, 2011 Author Share Posted February 21, 2011 Hi Borris, thanks for that. I can't get my head around 14 day brews, I would be absolutely paranoid about infection. I would have liked to leave this longer if possible, but the activity was dead for 2 days and small white clouds had started to develop on top of the brew. Maybe this is ok, but it still freaks me out. I use tank water, not town water, so I am constantly on gaurd re infections. The tank water is run through a 1 micron filter however. I have had a few infected beers, and with a thousand and one reasons for that, tank water doesn't help the detective work lol. But the elongated brew is something I realy want to try - maybe it's time for an experiment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borris Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 [biggrin] I just don't know what to say to that Dave. I suppose boiling your brew water would be the best place to start. Then you've got to chill 20 odd litres of brew water to pitching temp whilst keeping it sanitary. I'm on town water and haven't had the need to do that before but someone else may be able to tell you where to start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LazyDave Posted February 21, 2011 Author Share Posted February 21, 2011 Yeah I guess not too many of us are tank water people. And I can tell you that most of my infected brews are during rainy periods, meaning the tank is getting stirred up and therefore all the crap from th borrom is all through the water - I have noticed this through trial and error, and now no longer brew during rain times. And yes the boiling of 20 litres and cooling is improbable, but I was told 1 micron filters will vanquish all known bugs, except when it rains? [pinched] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muddy Waters Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 If I was using tank water I'd definately be boiling it first. You could get a big pot (18L) and fill it and boil it the day before brewing then just leave it to cool. You could do a couple of smaller batches and bottle it to make up your volume. Not a lot of effort just a bit of pre-planning. As for plastic bottles not fitting on your drying rack ther really isn't a great need to dry them. I just store mine with the lids on and give them a blast with no rinse sanitiser before bottling. But I guess you've got to use what suits you [cool] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LazyDave Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 11 days in the cupboard - no bombs exploded yet - have drank two - (oops lol) very freakin malty! No signs at all of excess fizz. Missing the aroma (extra hops needed), and cloudyness, but I have a cunning plan for that - keep it to myself for now [bandit] Everything else is pretty close - it's defo strong! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andris Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 I think its too early to tell how it "turned out" - aroma and taste will change a lot as it matures - should mellow out and even some hops aroma can arise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kearnage Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 Missing the aroma (extra hops needed), and cloudyness, but I have a cunning plan for that - keep it to myself for now [bandit] Everything else is pretty close - it's defo strong! Hey LazyDave, if you are trying to get close to the real thing, aroma hops are a no-no, there are none in Sparkling Ale, just POR bittering. The flavours come from the yeast. As for the cloudy part - just tip your bottles a little before pouring and you have a perfect cloudy but fine sparkling ale... I have just tasted my Sparkling Ale (as per recipe) at FG today - awesome! I had to add the kit yeast as the commercial reculture I made conked out at 1030 (again!) Bottling tomorrow. Cheers Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LazyDave Posted March 5, 2011 Author Share Posted March 5, 2011 Thanks for the info, looks like POR is on my shopping list. I really (x3) wanted to avoid that culturing business lol, but I'm here to learn grrrrrrr - back to school for me [pouty] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kearnage Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 Dave, the good news is that the Sparkling Ale kit is already bittered with POR so you don't really need to buy any if using the kit. The yeast re-culture isn't that hard work, I've just found I often don't end up with enough healthy yeast and have to salvage with the kit yeast. The end beer still tastes good to me though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LazyDave Posted March 7, 2011 Author Share Posted March 7, 2011 That's interesting to me Kearn because I can certainly smell a big difference between the real thing and the kit. I have done the kit on its' own (just 1kg of raw sugar) as well as with this monstor brew (2.5kg of fermentables) and there is definately no trace of the aroma you get from the Coopers Red that you buy off the shelf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kearnage Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 I agree. It's not possible to make something exactly the same and as good as the Sparkling Ale from a kit. You can make a damn good beer that's similar though. The bitterness comes from the POR hops, the flavours from yeast derived esters. It's my favourite brewery's flagship product, so I'd be disappointed if I could make something exactly the same in my shed from a can. The commercial yeast is essential if you want to get close to the aroma of the real thing. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muddy Waters Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 I agree with Kearnage that the commercial yeast is essential. No extra hops are required. I used to love it as per suggested recipe but have found it too sweet lately. My next one I'll put down with less malt using an alternate recipe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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