Stevodevo Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Hi all, Really hot weather lately, so without a fridge to keep things cool I'm sitting on my hands a bit until I can pick up a cheap fridge and temperature controller. I'm hoping that will change soon, so I'm starting to think again about my next brew again. I'm thinking of either the Celebration Ale or an English Bitter based on some of the Extra Smooth Bitter recipe variants. Something like: 1.7KG English Bitter Kit 1KG Light Dry Malt 200gr Molasses 21 or 23 litres? My question is, can anybody suggest a commercial beer that would come close to comparing with the English Bitter recipe? Doesn't have to be exact, but I'd like to get a taste for what the end product will be like if that's possible. I aslo have the SMOTY ale in my sights as well, but maybe next time I think. Thanks, Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 I can't help you with any commercial beers that taste similar to the EB kit, but do you have laundry tubs or something similar you can sit the FV in with ice blocks/frozen soft drink bottles? I tried this method on my latest brew and it's worked a treat keeping it down around 17-18. Just a thought.[biggrin] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 Hi Stevo. Here's one made commercially up in your neck of the woods... Sunshine Coast Brewery Review They make an EB along with quite a few others. They have a website under construction >> HERE <<. I hope that helps. [biggrin] Anthony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordEoin Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 Just brew it, it's an awesome kit [wink] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 I agree with the Good Lord; just brew it. I think it is one of Cooper's best kits and it is unlikely you will be disappointed. I have ordered some ingredients and if they arrive on time then I hope to be brewing one on the weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ash Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 Hi Steve, I did a English Bitter in Feb this year when the temp was like it is now in Qld have been drinking it over Xmas 10 mths in bottle,works for me.Don't know any commercial that you could compare it with.Have done 2 Celebration Ales prefer the English Bitter.Don't know why,maybe i'am not fully hopped up yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotm Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 Love the EB kit. [love] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 I'm in Victoria and it's not that hot where I brew but we still get a few hot days. However, my method might work for those battling the heat up north. A old fridge lying on it's back. The thermostat is set to 18 degrees and I just need one bottle of ice per day and the brew sits on 18 degrees. Maybe up north 2 or 3 bottles would do the job. The insulation of the fridge is a great help. (The grey bucket is just there to direct the hot air from the fan when it comes on.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevodevo Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 Thanks for the replies. With all the votes for the EB kit, I'm gonna go that way. Question to those who have brewed the EB... did you go with the extra LDM and Molasses or just the straight kit. I love the colour of the beer on the kit, so I'm leaning towards leaving the molasses out first time around, and just going with the recommended 500gr of LDM. I actually went to the bottle-o yesterday and picked up a bottle of celebration ale and a Newcastle Brown to compare. The celebration ale is a nice drop, so I reckon that will definately go on the to do list. From what I can gather the Newcastle Brown doesn't get great reviews, but I thought it had a certain something I liked. So if it's an example of a pommy bitter, and the coopers EB kit is better than that I should be pretty happy I reckon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 I have brewed the EB kit a couple of times, and both times it turned out a very nice drop. I didn't add molasses to either of them, just malt and a small amount of hops. On the subject of English bitters, I tried this beer last night at the pub called "My Wife's Bitter" [lol] It's brewed by Burleigh Brewing or whatever they're called, it was a pretty nice beer too once it warmed up a bit and the flavours came through. The back label was on upside down too, not sure if that was done on purpose or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevodevo Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 Hey Kelsey, Do you submerge the FV in water along with the frozen bottles of water in the tub or just pop the bottles up against the FV? I've done it the first way in water a couple of times when I make my small 5L batches of cider in demijohn bottles and it seems to work OK - although I find it hard to tell what temp the thermometer is sitting on for some reason? The large volume of water in the tub seems to buffer the temp better than when I just sat ice bottles up against the FV. I've thought about doing it with the DIY kit, but get worried about having the tap full of tap water for the whole couple of weeks. I wonder if that's an unfounded concern? I suppose I could always just do primary in a plain plastic bucket, then rack to the DIY kit for bottling. Other methods I've tried is with wet towels and a fan along with frozen water bottle and that was OK in September/October. What I was finding as temps got hotter, I'd go to work for 9 hours and the ice bottles were all completely melted when I got home. FV temps were really see-sawing up and down, whereas I'd like to keep it more constant. Plus it was getting to the stage my freezer couldn't keep with freezing 2-3 2L bottles every day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewtownClown Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 ... Newcastle Brown doesn't get great reviews' date=' but I thought it had a certain something I liked. So if it's an example of a pommy bitter, and the coopers EB kit is better than that I should be pretty happy I reckon.[/quote'] Apples and Oranges. Newcastle Brown Ale isn't a Bitter, it's well, a Brown Ale. A Northern English Brown Ale to be specific. English Bitter here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Hey Stevo, I have it submerged in water. I don't think resting frozen bottles against the FV would really do much at all. When it's submerged in water, the bottles obviously cool the surrounding water and in turn the fermenting wort. I just have the thermometer stuck onto the FV higher than the water level in the tub for easy reading. I'm not sure if the taps on the DIY FV's are different to the older style ones but with my taps there's no real chance of the water getting into the tap when it's closed. I'll give it a spray with some Starsan when I get to taking a hydro sample and then bottling though just to be on the safe side. I've also used the wet towel method, but I found it doesn't get the temp low enough when the weather gets up to the 30s. It worked alright last summer when it was mild, but this year it only got it down to 24 as opposed to 16-18 in the tub. I've been using whatever I can find - frozen soft drink/juice bottles, freezer blocks, I even went to the shop and bought a bag of ice the other day and threw that into the tub as well. I think once it gets past the first few days of fermentation then it isn't as critical to keep it low, although I still am trying to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevodevo Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 Apples and Oranges. Newcastle Brown Ale isn't a Bitter, it's well, a Brown Ale. A Northern English Brown Ale to be specific. English Bitter here Thanks for the links NewtownClown - that's pretty much given me the answer to my original question. The style guidelines give commercial examples at the bottom of each style, and I'm pretty sure my local had the Boddingtons Pub Draught cans when I made the wrong call and went for the Newcastle Brown yesterday. Damn, if there's ever an uneducated split decision to be made you can count on me to get it the wrong way around! All good though, I'll stop off on the way home and try another in the name of beer education! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevodevo Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 A old fridge lying on it's back. The thermostat is set to 18 degrees and I just need one bottle of ice per day and the brew sits on 18 degrees. Hi Jack, Laying the fridge on it's side give you a heap of room hey. I'm confused though... do you mean you have the fridge actually running - on 18 degrees? Just wondering what the purpose of the fan and ice block are if the fridge os working? Thanks, Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevodevo Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 I have it submerged in water. Thanks Kelsey - I might have a crack at that method and like you say, just Starsan the hell out of the tap whenever I need to use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PB2 Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 The beer I had in mind when developing this kit was Adnams Bitter [love] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 No problem[biggrin] I had read about this method before but our old laundry tubs were of the concrete variety and leaked. So there really wasn't any point haha.. but we had them replaced earlier this year with brand new stainless steel ones so I thought I'd give it a crack and I'm happy with the results. I just need to acquire a few more soft drink bottles so they can stay in the freezer longer at a time. I have had the thought of trying to make some sort of covering for the tap next time but I'm not sure what would work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevodevo Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 The beer I had in mind when developing this kit was Adnams Bitter [love] Thanks PB2 - that's perfect! I do believe DM's sell that one, so I'll keep an eye out for it. And just to be pedantic, you mean just the plain kit with the recommended 500gr of LDM right? Not your Extra Smooth Bitter recipe in the How to Brew section? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevodevo Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 I have had the thought of trying to make some sort of covering for the tap I was just thinking about that too... maybe a really small cork or rubber bung? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PB2 Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 you mean just the plain kit with the recommended 500gr of LDM right? Yessir [joyful] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 G'day Stevodevo, My fridge is just an esky really, no motor. I've installed an a electrical thermostat (reptile box variety) which switches on the power to the fan heater when the temperature goes below 18 degrees. I used this method last time I brewed in a much hotter climate, but then I used plastic bucket of ice. I just change the ice every morning and the temperature never varies from 18 degrees. The heater only runs for a short time due to the insulation. Hardly uses any power at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 I was just thinking about that too... maybe a really small cork or rubber bung? Yeah I think you'd need something that goes over it rather than fits in it. That way (theoretically) the water doesn't come in contact with any part of the tap that the beer will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevodevo Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 My fridge is just an esky really, no motor. OK that makes sense. It's really interesting actually. I originally had the thought to make a big esky out of coldroom wall and wondered if ice blocks would keep things cool enough... I figure if it was good enough for the grandparents' fridge it should still do the job if I got enough ice blocks in. The other thing I like about that idea (now that I saw yours on its side) is that I could could probably make a nice merbau box around it and dual purpose it as a seat on the shaded undercover part of my deck. I've been wondering where I'd fit another fridge, so this might be the answer :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wal Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 you mean just the plain kit with the recommended 500gr of LDM right? Yessir [joyful] +1 Thanks for the replies. With all the votes for the EB kit, I'm gonna go that way. Question to those who have brewed the EB... did you go with the extra LDM and Molasses or just the straight kit. I love the colour of the beer on the kit, so I'm leaning towards leaving the molasses out first time around, and just going with the recommended 500gr of LDM. I actually went to the bottle-o yesterday and picked up a bottle of celebration ale and a Newcastle Brown to compare. The celebration ale is a nice drop, so I reckon that will definately go on the to do list. From what I can gather the Newcastle Brown doesn't get great reviews, but I thought it had a certain something I liked. So if it's an example of a pommy bitter, and the coopers EB kit is better than that I should be pretty happy I reckon. Of the brews I have done to date I have done very few more than once, and one of those is the EB kit, in fact I have a version which I just bottled 3 weeks ago to which I added a few Fuggles hops to. I haven't tasted this one since bottling although I can say that it tasted pretty good on bottling day [love] !!! One of the others that I intend to do is the Celebration Ale that I got in the mail from Coopers today, the 1st time around I got a bit eager and drank them all before they had time to mature, so I am determined to let them be for a while this time [innocent] ... we'll see how we go I suppose.... As for the Newcastle Brown, I just finished off a carton of these the other day, not all in one hit I must add..... Having spent 3 years in the north of England it is one of those beers that just sort of grows on you - but I don't really know why, maybe it's the memories of good times amongst those crazy Geordies!!! [devil] [ninja] [roll] [cool] [biggrin] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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