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Celebration Ale


harviek

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7 days ago I put down a brew using the recipe provided here on the Cooper's site and used Safale 04 as my American Ale yeast of choice.

 

As per the instructions I added the hops on the 3rd day. On the 3rd evening the the fermentation produced a rather swampy looking brown scum mess that looks like a latte and this continues to float around on top of the brew.

 

My questions are this:

1 Will this dissipate or should I just bottle as it is?

2 The Cooper's Celebration ale has an ABV of 5.2% my brew has an OG of 1056 and current SG is 1014 ~6.2% [when bottled] is this normal for the recipe to be a higher ABV?

 

Edit:The yeast should read SAFALE 05 and not 04. HK

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Safale 04 is an English yeast, not American.

 

1/ yes, most of it will collapse back into your brew. Sometimes it wont all go but that doesn't matter. Ferment your Ale for 14 days then bottle provided FG has been reached.

 

2/ if you brewed to that recipe then I would say something is wrong with the way you took your hydrometer readings. If you used the same amount of those ingredients then it will be around 5.2% give or take .1 or .2.

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Safale 04 is an English yeast, not American.

 

1/ yes, most of it will collapse back into your brew. Sometimes it wont all go but that doesn't matter. Ferment your Ale for 14 days then bottle provided FG has been reached.

 

2/ if you brewed to that recipe then I would say something is wrong with the way you took your hydrometer readings. If you used the same amount of those ingredients then it will be around 5.2% give or take .1 or .2.

 

Hi BillK, Thanks for your prompt response.

 

My typo I used SAF Ale 05

 

As for the hydrometer readings I can confirm the OG being 1056 and the current SG of 1014.

As for the ingredients the only difference to the recipe requirements was I used Country brewer's Liquid Amber Malt extract as they didn't have the Cooper's one.

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Hi. I brought this as a kit from Coopers(it came with a 150yr Celebration Tankard) and I took a reading yesterday @ day 10 and I am currently getting an 5.8%abv. But damn does it taste good and smell good. I am itching to bottle but will wait for at least 14 days. For my second ever brew I am wrapped.

p.s. I love all the reading on here.

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Tried my Celebration Ale today' date='been in the bottle just over 3 weeks,2 of my staff luved it, 1 thought it was s**t,myself the verdict is still out,i'll wait another mth.[/quote']

Do you employ taste testing staff? [biggrin]

 

I'm sure you could find some people that would try it for free.

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Well the murky mess finally collapsed back in to the brew and this has been bottled. As others have noted the aroma is divine and the little taste I had from the fermenter indicated this will be an amazing brew when ready to drink.

 

Thanks for the recipe Coopers!

 

Cheers HK

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Hmmm,I'm thinking back to bottling my kit celebration ale. The layer of creamy goodness that turned up on top when I threw in the dry hops never actually collapsed back down, but after two weeks and a FG stable at around .002 for 4-5 days I bottled it anyway. I just stopped drawing off bottles when the foamy layer hit the tap.

 

In hindsight now that I have cleared out the kitchen fridge so it can hold a full FV this brew may have been a good canditate for a dash of cold conditioning prior to bottling . The bottles have a lot of sediment in them... might be time for a taste test soon.

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Yeah I thought so too Otto, there is a likelyhood it is out a little, but I was after the stable reading more than the number. When the actual numbers start getting important I will pick up a new one.

 

Harveik, I loaded up my fridge with bottles of seven different brews, I'll get a victim, sorry ,mate or two around soon and we will run through them all, including the celebration ale.

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I daresay it is out. There's 3.2kg of malt extract in it' date=' even with the 500g dex, it should finish up around 1010-1012 I'd guess. But still, the stable reading is the important part. I haven't made this recipe yet, but I'm thinking maybe I can make up an all grain version of it. [/quote']

 

 

Kelsey: This [mine] started with an OG 1056 and finished with FG1014

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You could add a small quantity of light crystal, say 150g.

 

I wouldn't go overboard with the crystal because the recipe already has 1.5kg liquid amber malt which is fairly sweet.

 

You can add 200-250g carapils if you are after more body without the residual sweetness.

 

Or was your question about the technique for adding grains?

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Despite it only being in the bottle for 2 weeks today I decided to try one of mine this afternoon, made to the recipe and it tases pretty bloody good. I know it is pretty young yet so difficult to be too harsh but if I were to make this one again I would probably add some carapils (see Hairy's post above) for extra body and head (and I know all you blokes will agree when I say you can never have enough head[innocent] ). I have been adding carapils to a most of my brews lately and the results are pretty good [love] .

 

This beer as made and sold by Coopers is a great drop and the recipe they have supplied us here does it justice. I have just completed a side by side test and while they are slightly different they are both more than drinkable. This may become the base for some experimental beers in the future for me. Thank you Mr Cooper!!![happy]

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I bottled this brew as per the Coopers recipe pack 6 weeks ago, first taste today. A few mates and I went down the beach late this arvo, I brought along a sample pack of un-tasted home brews, Nothing like using your mates as guinea pigs [bandit] .

 

All Coopers kits/recipes, a Real Ale + LDM, the standard Cerveza and the Celebration Ale.

 

The Real Ale was ok and kept them happy, the Cerveza, I thought was rubbish, barely held a head for ten seconds and was weak, watery crud, but they were polite enough to drink it, last time I made it it wasn't too bad? Then we popped open the Celebration Ale, oh my god, this was good. You've got to be happy as an enthusiastic but very novice home brewer when you see someone turn their nose up at a reasonable manufactured 'premium' beer they were drinking and steal your home brew and skol it before you can snatch it back.

 

Happy days, looking forward to the first taste of the Lemon Weizen in a week or so and PB2's Nelson's Light in the FV now.

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I'm still loving this brew, but dare I saw it, are there any options for reducing the alcohol content without affecting the flavour? I'm just smart enough to know I don't know enough to start tweaking recipes without some help [biggrin]

 

\u20221.7kg Thomas Coopers Traditional Draught

\u20221.5kg Thomas Coopers Amber Malt

\u2022500g Dextrose

\u202225g Nelson Sauvin Hop Pellets

\u202225g Centennial Hop Pellets

\u20221 sachet of American Ale yeast or Coopers Commercial Ale yeast culture

 

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That recipe calculates at 6.3%. Check the following and you can make your own mind up...

 

500g Dex = 6.3%

400g Dex = 6.1%

300g Dex = 5.8%

200g Dex = 5.6%

100g Dex = 5.4%

0 Dex = 5.1%

 

Calculations are estimates only and assumes you are bottling.

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  • 3 weeks later...
are there any options for reducing the alcohol content without affecting the flavour? [biggrin]

Put mine down today with a little bit of tweaking.

Cut the Dex to 250g and added 250g Pale Crystal Malt.

Also added 25g Centennial to the boil for 12 minutes.

Used Coopers Commercial yeast re-cultured.

Will dry hop in a couple of days as per the recipe.

 

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