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Reactivating Coops Commercial Ale Yeast


ash

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Hi Brewers,

Q1,Do many of you do the Coops Reactivating Yeast. Q2,Does it make a nice & noticable difference.

Q3,What beer do you use,Pale,Mid,Sparkling Ales.

Q5,Do you reactivate the slurry from your FV.

 

Cheers & Beers

Dave

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I only use it if I want to replicate a coopers beer as their yeast plays a major part in the flavour profile. I don't like to drink Coopers Pale Ale but it has the healthiest yeast as it is lower alcohol and the bottles are younger on the shelf than the Sparkling Ale.

 

If you wish to keep using it you should definitely harvest your slurry.

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Hi Brewers,

Q1,Do many of you do the Coops Reactivating Yeast. Q2,Does it make a nice & noticable difference.

Q3,What beer do you use,Pale,Mid,Sparkling Ales.

Q5,Do you reactivate the slurry from your FV.

 

A1/ Yes

A2/ It makes a huge difference depending on the beer you are making. I usually do it when trying to make something similar to the CPA. As Muddy said, the yeast is unique and is a major factor of the recipe.

A3/ Generally a Pale Ale. However, if I have no yeast around here and I am in need, I'll nick down to the bottle shop and grab myself a 6 pack [innocent] Surprising it is a good alternative for an Ale when you want something generic and quick.

A5/ Hrrrmm where's Q4?... [rightful] Yes.

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I reculture from Pale Ale, and mostly use for Amber and IPA's.

 

Reused for the first time last weekend, but was lazy and just reused the yeast cake. An IPA onto an Amber Ale's yeast cake, so should be ok.

Excuse my ignorance Mark but when you reuse do you just make up your brew in the FV.leaving the previous sluge in.[innocent]

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I reculture from Pale Ale, and mostly use for Amber and IPA's.

 

Reused for the first time last weekend, but was lazy and just reused the yeast cake. An IPA onto an Amber Ale's yeast cake, so should be ok.

Hrrmmm obviously you over pitched your yeast then. Chances are it will be fine but using the whole yeast cake is certainly over pitching. I'd suggest to wash or rinse your yeast for best practice. However, if you are lazy then you can get away with running off about 200ml to pitch into the next brew.

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I reculture from Pale Ale, and mostly use for Amber and IPA's.

 

Reused for the first time last weekend, but was lazy and just reused the yeast cake. An IPA onto an Amber Ale's yeast cake, so should be ok.

Hrrmmm obviously you over pitched your yeast then. Chances are it will be fine but using the whole yeast cake is certainly over pitching. I'd suggest to wash or rinse your yeast for best practice. However, if you are lazy then you can get away with running off about 200ml to pitch into the next brew.

BillK i would like to learn more about this,is their a link or thread i could look into thanks

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Hi guys.

 

I've just finished reading PB2's pinned note on how to reactivate Coopers commercial ale yeast, & I have a couple of questions left unanswered from that thread.

 

1). Once you have your 4 stubbies of re-cultured yeast, how much of that do you need to pitch into your pending 23L brew? All 4 stubbies, or just 1 per 23L?

 

2). Do you pour the whole contents of the yeast filled stubbie(s) into your pending brew or am I missing something here?

 

Beer.

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I reculture from Pale Ale, and mostly use for Amber and IPA's.

 

Reused for the first time last weekend, but was lazy and just reused the yeast cake. An IPA onto an Amber Ale's yeast cake, so should be ok.

Hrrmmm obviously you over pitched your yeast then. Chances are it will be fine but using the whole yeast cake is certainly over pitching. I'd suggest to wash or rinse your yeast for best practice. However, if you are lazy then you can get away with running off about 200ml to pitch into the next brew.

 

My understanding is overpitching can have two major affects, less ester production and greater attenuation (hence lower mouthfeel/thinner).

 

Happy with lower ester production in a 50 IBU brew and final gravity is 1010 so shouldn't be too thin.

 

Definitely not something I would do with a weizen but I think fairly safe with an IPA.

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I reculture from Pale Ale, and mostly use for Amber and IPA's.

 

Reused for the first time last weekend, but was lazy and just reused the yeast cake. An IPA onto an Amber Ale's yeast cake, so should be ok.

Hrrmmm obviously you over pitched your yeast then. Chances are it will be fine but using the whole yeast cake is certainly over pitching. I'd suggest to wash or rinse your yeast for best practice. However, if you are lazy then you can get away with running off about 200ml to pitch into the next brew.

 

My understanding is overpitching can have two major affects, less ester production and greater attenuation (hence lower mouthfeel/thinner).

 

Happy with lower ester production in a 50 IBU brew and final gravity is 1010 so shouldn't be too thin.

 

Definitely not something I would do with a weizen but I think fairly safe with an IPA.

 

Not only what you have written here Mark but the biggest concern when over pitching is Autolysis which in turn brings undesirable off flavours.

 

Autolysis is the main thing brewers are concerned about when over pitching.

 

Beerlust, you really should research other areas/forums etc as well as here for correct and complete information. People, including myself, can only tell you what they know and if they are unaware of some aspects then you only get a part of the story. HERE is some basic information on pitch rates. I suggest reading it to kick start your research [rightful]

 

If you wish to know more about Yeast then the best reading I have found on Yeast is the self titled book by Chris White and Jamil Zainasheff.

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Hiya BillK. (Or shall ye been known now as the guy with the small block chevvy grain milling machine?) [lol]

 

Thanks for the link & the input.

 

I actually do research & view a lot of online material outside this forum in an aid to improve the overall standard of the beer I brew. I only do it to a point though. I simply don't wish to devote excessive amounts of time to homebrew.

 

My reason for interest in PB2's pinned note on re-cultivating Coopers Commercial Ale yeast is/was because it seemed (on the surface) to be a fairly easy way to produce a good quality yeast & potentially lower my brewing costs as a consequence of following the advice.

 

I'm really about simplifying my brewing techniques as much as humanly possible. I honestly can't see myself becoming a brewer who has test-tubes of differing yeasts in storage awaiting future use.

 

This is the only forum I actively participate in & ask questions on, & the advice given to me by those on this forum thus far has already started to influence my brewing in many positive ways.

 

For that I am already thankful. [joyful]

 

Beer.

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A thought...

A few of the more experienced brewers on here re-use the yeast in the FV.

What about the yeast in the homebrewed beer bottles? Can we do the same as with the coopers yeast, thereby removing the need for washing?

Iwas thinkin along the same lines as you Adam[cool]

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there is alot less work in "rinsing yeast" from the FV than stepping up Yeast collected from the bottle.

 

You can rinse and pitch in a day or so, where as if you are re-culturing you will need about a week.

 

The processes are completely different.

 

also, if you are rinsing your yeast you have a fair idea of viability and yeast health... from a bottle of beer its quite a bit of guesswork. How old is the Yeast? how healthy? etc

 

of the two options (and I do use a stirplate and step yeast up) rinsing is quicker but stepping up is more fun. both have their uses and are applicable to different situations.

 

Yob

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This convo is great stuff. [cool]

 

For Yob &/or BillK. . .

 

Taking in what's just been said, if you were to begin reproducing genuine Coopers Commercial Ale yeast, & then maintaining a steady supply of that, how would you go about that?

 

Where would you start?

 

How would you maintain viable/usable levels?

 

If at all, what would be your cycle of maybe having to outsource "fresher" (for a better word) commercial sourced yeast to maintain purity/strength/quality?

 

Beer.

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TBH and this sounds pretty simple but all these questions are answered by simply buying a fresh 6 pack every time you want it then just reculture and step up to the desired amount needed. It's not a hard process and this way you get the closest generation of yeast and the best yeast available every time. Not to mention you also get more bottles for the collection (assuming you bottle of course) and a pretty good excuse to drink the produce [wink]

 

However, if you are not interested in achieving the freshest and closest strain (albeit pretty close) then you can rinse and reuse the yeast over and over and if done correctly you can get almost unlimited brews from the one recultured by:

 

Reculture yeast and split into 4 test tubes.

Step up and use 3 tubes in the next 3 brews.

Step up remaining tube and split into 4 tubes.

Repeat the above.

 

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