Coopers Best Extra Stout - yeast culture?? How?

[LukeM1]

I read on this here Coopers site that to make the Best Extra Stout you need to grow the Coopers commercial yeast culture... I have read up lots on reculturing Coopers yeast for stuff like Pale Ale (one of my next intended brews) which is fairly straightforward as you can see the mass of sediment in the bottles that you can use to reculture, but how would you possibly do this with Best Extra? You can't see anything!

 

Is what they're talking about on the Best Extra Stout recipe on this site something totally different to reculturing Pale Ale yeast?

[Muddy Waters]

G'day LukeM1 - The yeast in the stout is the same as in the Pale Ale so you should culture the yeast from some bottles of Pale Ale to make your stout.

 

The reason you use Pale Ale yeast is because it is usually fresher from brewery to shelf and is lower alcohol which leaves more viable yeasties for us to make beer with.

[Dutchbrew76]

G'day luke,

I have just made the recipe you are looking at a few weeks ago. I used the yeast out of the coopers stout can and the brew has come out nicely after two weeks in the bottle (read bubbly stout in homebrew heppenings) my only advise would be to brew at a cooler temp than i did.

[Muddy Waters]

Of course you will still get good beer if you use the dried yeast that comes with the can. But you will get a GREAT beer if you used yeast cultured from bottled Cooper's Pale Ale. It takes the flavour to whole different level.

 

BTW - If you want to make a really good stout in the tradition of Cooper's Best Extra that is dead easy, then I'd recommend this recipe from PB2 which is buried somewhere in this forum. I can't recommend it enough (I have a habit of recommending it whenever the topic of stout comes up - Sorry)

 

1.7kg Coopers Original Series Stout

1.7kg Coopers Original Series Dark Ale

1kg Dextrose

 

Made to 23 litres

 

Use a re-activated Coopers yeast culture (or both sachets of yeast)

Ferment at 18C

 

Another great thing is you can make this from the basic Cooper's range ingredients that you can get at the supermarket - Good for me as it is a pain in the arse getting to my LHBS.

 

[John]

Hey Muddy

 

Tried my first Coopers Best Extra Stout on Friday night - not a bad drop. Slightly on the burned-bitter side for my novice tastebuds but nice and complex flavours.

 

I'm gonna give that recipe a go later today. 2 Questions

1.)How would you describe the flavour using the recpe. (Could be wrong but I seem to recall someone saying (Guru-Pete??) that the Stout kit has no roasted barley in it)

2.)When you bottle do you add the full dose for carbonating or do you go halvies to make it less bubbly?

[Muddy Waters]

G'day John - I'm pretty bad at describing beer flavours. As for the stout I'd say it is like a strong mocha coffee sledgehammer that is best had at the end of the day. I'm sure you'll get a more knowledgeable response from someone else.

 

As for carbonation, I'm pretty sure I bulk primed with 160g of dextrose. I usually use about 180g for most of my beers. I'm sure others would drop it lower than that but I was happy with the results. I've heard of some people just using a black jelly bean to prime their stouts!?!

[John]

Cheers Muddy

 

If you ever decide to publish a book on beers tasting I'd get one. Would be bang-on and concise. "Strong mocha sledgehammer" FnA

 

I put this one together last night - I think its gonna be a ripper.

 

As a matter of interest what FG do you usually get with this one using the kit yeast? How long do you need to bottle condition before you can start whipping your tastebuds up into a mocha frenzy with this stroppy puppy.

[Muddy Waters]

Mine got down to 1012 using the kit yeast. I think I tested mine after four weeks and it went down pretty well. I'm not much of a stout drinker so I only have the odd one occasionally. I've still got at least 1/2 of my batch from the beginning of December aging in preparation for winter.

[John]

Ta Muddy

 

I followed advice to install a blow-off tube, into a 2L cola bottle (with 10cm of boiled water in the bottom), placed inside a plastic bin/container.

 

What a gusher. After day 2 the bugger is foaming out of the bottle and into the plastic bin. Really AWESOME to watch in a Beer Nerdy way.

 

This has my 2yr old daughter running away crying for mum and my 4yr old boy watching the fermenter for hours. Specially when a really good blast come's through and makes the 2L cola bottle shake from side to side with a roar and more gushing of bubbles out the bottle!!!This ROCKS!!!!

 

It reminds me of a Youtube clip I saw recently called "Angry Beer"

 

Seemed to be slowing down this morning - less foam coming out but still sounds like a freight train.

 

I've lost between .5 and 1 Litre - does one top up the fermenter with cooled boiled water after it settles down?

[Muddy Waters]

Yeah it is an active ferment. I actually did mine to 18L then topped it up carefully once the krausen had died down.

[coryy]

HEY GUYS I KNOW OF A GREAT RECIPE FOR A STOUT I THINK IT TASTE LIKE A GUINNESS HERES THE RECIPE

 

 

ANY QUESTIONS LEAVE A MESSAGE AND I'LL GET BACK TO YA

 

 

(Ferment 18-22C)

1.7Kg Thomas Coopers Irish Stout

1.0Kg Brew Cellar #12 Dark Brew Booster

1 x Morgans Tea Bag Hops - Fuggles

15g Brew Cellar Premium English Ale Yeast