Shamus O'Sean Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 A bit similar to @Aussiekraut's topic What's the favourite beer you make. Except mine is about 2023 and your best may not be your favourite. For me, it is a bit of a 4-way tie. Plus almost identical to my favourite beers to make: Coopers Original Pale Ale Coopers Sparkling Ale Hoegaarden Belgian Wit Bent Spoke Crankshaft IPA I scored all of these brews 9/10. Click on the recipe name for a link to my tasting notes and follow the links back to the recipe if you want. If I had to pick one, it would be the COPA. Just such a nice brew and so close to the genuine article. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDT2 Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 Maybe Red IPA as I mentioned earlier in a different thread or the Aussie Lager but I enjoy them all cause they are all different styles so I enjoy them for what they are! My least favourite was the Brown Porter I made, I think it was the London Ale yeast which I didn’t really like as it gave a taste aroma I didn’t like. It was meant to give oak notes which I didn’t get or I just don’t like oak! It overpowered the malt I used S04 previously much nicer which let the malt sing! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aussiekraut Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 I don't know which one might be best. The ones that stood out were probably the Vienna Lager and the Märzen. But the one I am the happiest about is probably the last batch of mid-strength pale ale. I think it turned out very nicely, with a good body, nice fruity hop notes, good head retention and a very good balance. If there is a "best", it probably is it. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tricky Micky Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 Gotta say Al's @iBooz2 AG COPA recipe - my first and one and only all grain brew was an absolute pearler. Just a beautiful beer. My favourite so far. And I am partial to the TC Preachers Hefe extract recipe. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidM Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 Nut Brown Ale for Me, backed up with bunch of very nice Pale Ales. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NBillett09 Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 Mine would be either the Coopers Barley Crush or the Eclipse/Galaxy APA. I enjoyed the whole 23L of the APA, I have only had a couple bottles of the Barley Crush (ages for 10 months or so) but it was excellent! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red devil 44 Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 Balter XPA Clone or Hoegaarden, both superb in my brewery. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltop hops Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 Not my recipe but was a beauty. It was also the one that I lost half a keg of! Wanna do more similar brews, sometimes hop wise less is more. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Back Brewing Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 (edited) 4 minutes ago, Hilltop hops said: Not my recipe but was a beauty. It was also the one that I lost half a keg of! Wanna do more similar brews, sometimes hop wise less is more. I spoke to him about that one and now I've dipped my toes into AG this is one I'm going to brew and yes by all reports it's a ripper Edited January 6 by Back Brewing 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltop hops Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 1 hour ago, Back Brewing said: I spoke to him about that one and now I've dipped my toes into AG this is one I'm going to brew and yes by all reports it's a ripper Yep its a beauty, like @PaleManmentioned I'm also gonna brew more traditional ales moving forward. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pale Man Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 On 1/5/2024 at 8:58 PM, Shamus O'Sean said: A bit similar to @Aussiekraut's topic What's the favourite beer you make. Except mine is about 2023 and your best may not be your favourite. For me, it is a bit of a 4-way tie. Plus almost identical to my favourite beers to make: Coopers Original Pale Ale Coopers Sparkling Ale Hoegaarden Belgian Wit Bent Spoke Crankshaft IPA I scored all of these brews 9/10. Click on the recipe name for a link to my tasting notes and follow the links back to the recipe if you want. If I had to pick one, it would be the COPA. Just such a nice brew and so close to the genuine article. When you brewed your Sparkling @Shamus O'Sean how many bottles of Pale Ale did you culture from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamus O'Sean Posted January 7 Author Share Posted January 7 29 minutes ago, Pale Man said: When you brewed your Sparkling @Shamus O'Sean how many bottles of Pale Ale did you culture from? Hey PM, For the Sparkling, I harvested the yeast from a previous Coopers Original Ale done with the Coopers Commercial Ale yeast. So it had plenty of yeast. The yeast for the COPA was harvested from a batch of Coopers 2022 Vintage Ale. For the 2022 Vintage, I harvested the yeast from 6 stubbies, but did a 2-Step starter to make sure it had plenty of yeast. I have done previous Vintage Ale's with just the 6 stubbies and culturing as per the Coopers video. Although they fermented slowly, they eventually finished with low final gravities. I assume that doing a culture from 6 stubbies gets you about 200 billion yeast cells. A 23 litre batch of Sparkling Ale, with an OG of around 1.055, is best to have 250 billion yeast cells pitched in it. I suggest harvesting from 8 stubbies and doing a culture will give you a bit more than enough cells. 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stquinto Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 On 1/5/2024 at 11:25 PM, Tricky Micky said: Gotta say Al's @iBooz2 AG COPA recipe - my first and one and only all grain brew was an absolute pearler. Just a beautiful beer. My favourite so far. And I am partial to the TC Preachers Hefe extract recipe. I’m with @Tricky Micky on @iBooz2’s COPA, as well as @kmar92 ‘s version. Best AG by a country mile, my neighbour and his son say so too. I reckon 6 weeks in the bottle or 4 in the keg is the sweet spot. I wanted to “master” a Duvel clone, bit they’re consistently too sweet . I’m taking a step back as they’re too bloody strong too For the Coopers kits, Regency Red is a blinder, as well as the Saison , and also Ashes Ale. I like the Vintages too At the risk of brown-nosing, I haven’t had a bad one from a kit. 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tricky Micky Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 9 hours ago, stquinto said: At the risk of brown-nosing, I haven’t had a bad one from a kit. You're obviously shamelessly after some freebies there Sainter @stquinto - count me in. Frank you there? Seriously though that COPA Al @iBooz2 does is an absolute ripping beer. I have been doing a lot of the Preachers Coopers kit lately and gotta say at about 3-4 weeks in the keg it's singing. Got a cuppla FWK's in the kegs at the same time and the Hefe wins hands down. I will have a crack at the Regency Red, as well as the Saison. I will be in touch with our brewing friend @kmar92, and see if he'll part with his COPA recipe as well. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tricky Micky Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 15 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said: Hey PM, For the Sparkling, I harvested the yeast from a previous Coopers Original Ale done with the Coopers Commercial Ale yeast. So it had plenty of yeast. The yeast for the COPA was harvested from a batch of Coopers 2022 Vintage Ale. For the 2022 Vintage, I harvested the yeast from 6 stubbies, but did a 2-Step starter to make sure it had plenty of yeast. I have done previous Vintage Ale's with just the 6 stubbies and culturing as per the Coopers video. Although they fermented slowly, they eventually finished with low final gravities. I assume that doing a culture from 6 stubbies gets you about 200 billion yeast cells. A 23 litre batch of Sparkling Ale, with an OG of around 1.055, is best to have 250 billion yeast cells pitched in it. I suggest harvesting from 8 stubbies and doing a culture will give you a bit more than enough cells. So Shamus @Shamus O'Sean, what you're effectively saying is someone has to take a bullet and drink 8 Coopers Sparkling Ale in a mad rush. Geez the heavy lifting we have to endure. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamus O'Sean Posted January 8 Author Share Posted January 8 11 hours ago, Tricky Micky said: someone has to take a bullet and drink 8 Coopers Sparkling Ale in a mad rush That's one option. Or: Share the lifting with a friend or two Drink a couple a night, recap the dregs in each bottle, and put them back in the fridge until you are ready to make the yeast culture 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tricky Micky Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 1 hour ago, Shamus O'Sean said: That's one option. Or: Share the lifting with a friend or two Drink a couple a night, recap the dregs in each bottle, and put them back in the fridge until you are ready to make the yeast culture Party pooper. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennyss Posted January 8 Share Posted January 8 20 hours ago, Tricky Micky said: 200 billion yeast cells. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerdo Posted January 9 Share Posted January 9 On 1/7/2024 at 6:12 PM, Shamus O'Sean said: I assume that doing a culture from 6 stubbies gets you about 200 billion yeast cells. How do you manage to count them all? I tend to lose count after about 5 or 6 billion. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classic Brewing Co Posted January 9 Share Posted January 9 20 minutes ago, Beerdo said: How do you manage to count them all? I tend to lose count after about 5 or 6 billion. Me too, BTW @Beerdo how's @Malter White doing, haven't heard from him for a while 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pale Man Posted January 9 Share Posted January 9 Can't complain about any of them all beautiful. I reckon the pick though would be an All Grain Stout that tasted very similar to Coopers I brewed. It was a cracker. I wasn't trying to clone it just turned out that way. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kegory Posted January 12 Share Posted January 12 Lucky 13, the Irish Red Ale. I blame the yeast (Wyeast 1084, the only time I've used a liquid yeast so far). They say brewers make wort, yeast makes beer. I can't argue with that. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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