Botanic Ale ROTM

[Coopers DIY Beer Team]

Botanic is the best Seasonal we've done so far (in my opinion), such a well-balanced beer. The juniper is coming through more, now that the cans have got a bit of age on them and the Nectaron dry hop character is starting to drop off. I'm enjoying the "journey". Just wish I'd managed to keep more of my 3-carton allocation limit... 

[Brauhaus Fritz II]

8 hours ago, Coopers DIY Beer Team said:

Botanic is the best Seasonal we've done so far (in my opinion), such a well-balanced beer. The juniper is coming through more, now that the cans have got a bit of age on them and the Nectaron dry hop character is starting to drop off. I'm enjoying the "journey". Just wish I'd managed to keep more of my 3-carton allocation limit... 

you can still get some here in Sydney

[jennyss]

I was  glad to find this thread via google today. I am making my Botanic Ale tomorrow, so it was very interesting to read all your comments. I will add a second yeast pack which was lurking in the frig - an R3426 which I think must have come with a pale ale tin.  I'll resist the temptation to add more than 25g Juniper Berries in the steep. The recipe also reads that the Nectaron hops get added right at the beginning, and with no boiling or steeping. 

Any other last minute hints will be gratefully received.!

[Shamus O'Sean]

6 hours ago, jennyss said:

I was  glad to find this thread via google today. I am making my Botanic Ale tomorrow, so it was very interesting to read all your comments. I will add a second yeast pack which was lurking in the frig - an R3426 which I think must have come with a pale ale tin.  I'll resist the temptation to add more than 25g Juniper Berries in the steep. The recipe also reads that the Nectaron hops get added right at the beginning, and with no boiling or steeping. 

Any other last minute hints will be gratefully received.!

Hi Jenny,

I could not really detect the Juniper Berries in my version of the Botanic Ale.  However, I brewed it to 27 litres by adding extra Light Dry Malt and some Table Sugar.  And I left the Juniper Berries at 25g.  If I brewed it again, I would go up to 35g of Juniper Berries for my 27 litre volume.

In you case, if you have extra Juniper Berries, I would use 30g in a 23 litre brew.

Good luck with the brew whichever way you decide to go.

[therealthing691]

On 5/14/2024 at 12:37 AM, stquinto said:

Hello all,

I could finally source some Nectaron hops and I'm looking forward to making this one.

I had a couple of questions about the recipe:

I can only get hold of Coopers Original Pale Ale and not the Bootmaker Pale Ale kit. I understand that the Bootmaker is more of an American Pale Ale., so I assume is a bit more hoppy Should I adjust the hop profile to compensate when using the Original ?

According to the recipe :

 

Add the 50g of Nectaron Hops to the FV (we recommend wrapping them in a mesh cleaning cloth, pulled straight from the wrapper).

When do you take them out ? I tend to leave my FV for about 2 weeks before kegging or bottling.

Bottles kept unrefrigerated should improve in the short term.

Should I keep the keg or bottles in the fridge to preserve the hoppiness like an IPA or will they be ok for two or three months ? I saw elsewhere from @Coopers DIY Beer Team that is was recommended to keep them in the fridge.

 

Thanks in advance !

 

 

i have a 1kg in the freezer nice hop

[jennyss]

7 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

In you case, if you have extra Juniper Berries, I would use 30g in a 23 litre brew.

Thanks @Shamus O'Sean, I do have a 50g packet, so I will up the amount of juniper berries to 30g for my 23L brew.

[stquinto]

I'm two weeks late on this one @jennyss, I imagine you've already made the brew.

The recipe as is works out fine. For the first one I steeped 15g of Citra in with 25g juniper berries, with a can of Coopers Draught. For the second batch I did a 48g steep of Centennial in with 20g of juniper berries, with a can of COPA. For the third I just did 25g of juniper and the can of COPA (not extra hop steep). This one my son made so I got him to make a 25 litre batch as my Coopers Commercial yeast goes like the clappers (and ferments down to about 1.006), also I would have got grief for encouraging him to knock up a > 6% brew !

I can't get the Brew Enhancer 3 (or indeed the Bootmaker can) so I made it up with 500g malt powder, 300g dextrose aqnd 200g maltodextrin. That seems to be the consensus for BE3. And the extra hop steep it to compensate for the other kits being slightly less hoppy.

I've kegged some and bottled some. I posted a photo of a bottled version yesterday. It was awesome ! I had only put the bottle in the fridge for a short time as it's getting cooler here in Europe now, the slightly warmer temperature meant there was no chill haze (aesthetics only) but the flavour of the beer was far more pronounced. Ales tend to be served less cold in Northern Europe (a reputation for that...) and if it's not the middle of summer it's quite appropriate IMHO. Also it had bottle-aged for 3 months.

This is by far the best KnK I've done in a while, although there is competition from other recipes. 

I'm going to go for another one this week, probably a steep of something with maybe 30g of juniper.

Edited 3 hours ago by stquinto
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