Coopers Australian Pale Ale - Enhancements

[kenc3]

I must say I have been very pleased with all my recent brews based on the original series Coopers Draught and Lager brew cans ( with various hop enhancements)

In fact these brew cans seem pretty foolproof. I like how the yeast behaves and I like the way the sediment settle without the need for finings.

 

I also did Black Rock IPA can recently with 60g of extra hops which tastes great but there are some yeasty floaties even when using finings.

 

So, I would like to use the Coopers Australian Pale Ale in the green can and wondering if anyone has some ideas on how to improve it - maybe with some extra hops or malt?? I would like to use the original yeast.

 

All suggestions most welcome, especially the simple ones :)

[ben 10]

In my opinion...

 

Finings for kit brews are not needed. If you can cold condition before bottling all the shit will drop out and compact with the sediment and not end up in your bottles.

As far as the pale can goes, a small hop boil can go a long way. I love Citra, in fact we are best buddies.

If you were to purchase 200g of whatever crystal malt and steep this in 5 litres of 70° water for 60 minutes then strain the liquid out and boil it for 20 minutes, you could throw in 20g of Citra when there is 10 minutes left, do the same when there is five minutes left.

Turn off the heat, strain cool and ferment.

If you were to buy a packet of US05 and use that you may notice better flavours too.

 

 

Have fun!

[kenc3]

thanks for that Ben. Boiling and straining sound like advanced stuff , but I think I could handle it. I'll need to study your instructions carefully, Is that US05 a top fermenting ale yeast?

[The Brew Master]

Hi Ken,

 

Try an APA with 500g of LDME to 23 litres & use kit yeast. After you pitch the yeast dry hop with 40g of cascade hops. Ferment, condition & enjoy.

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

 

"Don't waste time, keep drinking".

[Beerlust]

Hi kenc3.

 

For ease of brewing & eventual flavour, the following recipe certainly delivers a lovely beer to drink.

 

Coopers DIY: Fruit Salad Ale

 

You can use the kit yeast if you like, but the true "Fruit Salad" like flavours are created from a combination of the two hops + the use of the Coopers Commercial Ale yeast re-cultured from the bottle.

 

Reactivating Coopers Commercial Ale Yeast

 

Cheers & good luck with whatever you decide to brew with the Pale Ale kit.

 

Anthony.

[RonaldW2]

I have done a few brews with APA this year, I have dry hoped with 20g Amarillo, boiled for 20mins .

add 20g Amarillo at 15mins and did a fruit salad pale ale with 50gof fruit peal simmered for 20mins with the yeast from coopers pale ale bottles, all used BE2.

They have all been nice.

 

Ronald

[ben 10]

thanks for that Ben. Boiling and straining sound like advanced stuff ' date=' but I think I could handle it. I'll need to study your instructions carefully, Is that US05 a top fermenting ale yeast?[/quote']

 

US05 is the classic APA yeast and is faultless.

 

Beware though, the steeping of grains can lead you to the dark side of all grain brewing.

[RonaldW2]

Yes I played with grains for the first time a few weeks ago and now I am planning my next with grain maybe an all grain pale ale.

[Scottie]

The Coopers Australian Ale will never fail.

 

Endless possibilities from easy to difficult.

Try a can of Coopers Wheat Malt and a never fail hop or your favourite from your Draught kit brews.

Amarillo and Citra are a great combo - 15 t0 25 grams of each in a short boil (5 mins), 30 minute steep or Dry Hop.

 

Good Luck with your choices Ken

[kenc3]

Thanks guys. Looks like the APA has lots of possibilities. I have used hops in a teabag a few times and steeped for 5 - 15 min depending on the recipe. But what is "dry hopping"? Just chuck them in dry???

[ben 10]

But what is "dry hopping"? Just chuck them in dry???

 

Yep. Adds aroma. But as we all know smell is an important factor in flavour so it can really enhance the perception of flavour.

[kenc3]

OK so you get maximum aroma and perhaps fruitiness depending on the hops, but not much bitterness? Do you put them in at the pitch? What is late hopping?

 

[Scottie]

But what is "dry hopping"? Just chuck them in dry???

 

That's it Ken

 

Place them in the FV after the foam (Krausen) subsides and leave them there for a week then bottle (testing the FG). I use a hop bag from Craft Brewer, I sanitise it with a 5 minute boil and carefully place the hops in. I carefully lift the lid a gently place the hops into the fermenting vessel.

It is risky and steeping and adding at the start is safer.

 

Dry hopping is purely for aroma and does give a better aroma result than steeping.

 

Cheers

Scottie

[ben 10]

OK so you get maximum aroma and perhaps fruitiness depending on the hops' date=' but not much bitterness? Do you put them in at the pitch? What is late hopping?

[/quote']

 

Dry Hopping IS purely for aroma, but as I said before there are definite taste benefits. No bitterness.

Late hopping would be late in the boil.

 

But what is "dry hopping"? Just chuck them in dry???

 

That's it Ken

 

 

Many different schools on this. I let mine run free, and for 3 or 4 days.

I percieve no risk at all.

[Guzz]

I have hopped many times without any boil with no problems.

 

I've dry hopped day1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7, no boiling, never had an issue.

 

I think it was John Palmer who said something like "It's not an issue" or "it just doesnt happen" (infections from hops, handled correctly) or words to that effect.

 

Ive used (all sanitised) stainless steel strainer thingys, hop bags, chux and commando ( just chucked in) Commando is easiest, but it does create some extra green stuff in the trub and can cause issues when bottling (blocking the tap).

 

If I had to choose one, it would be a nice big hop bag with plenty of room for the hops to expand.

 

Dry hops can be added any time during fernetation, from day 1 all the way to just before bottling!

 

Now I mostly dry hop around day 5, after fermenting has done its hardest work.

 

Cheers

Guzz

[Ricko1525229757]

Got a can of Coopers APA to use and also have some left over unhopped black rock light liquid malt extract to use up from a previous batch. About 1.5kg.

 

Pretty sure the APA instructions recommend adding a dry brew enhancer/DME, can't recall..

 

Anyway I prefer to use the Coopers APA can plus the 1.5kg LME which I will boil up with some hops for some added punch. I have some Cascade and Chinook on hand at present.

 

What are the thoughts on this combo? Would I also need any other malt? Dry or otherwise?

Just looking for a normal 20-23 litre batch and ABV around 4.2% like a One Fifty Lashes Pale Ale.

 

Cheers....

 

 

[Morrie]

Here's one I did very recently with a Coopers Aussie Pale Ale and it is delicious. All hopped with Citra only as this was my first Citra experience. Dry hopped commando style to the max.

 

Kit: Coopers Aussie Pale Ale

23 litre batch

1.5 kg of LME light

0.5 kg of Light dry malt powder (LDM)

250 g of crystal Malt grains cracked and steeped.

Yeast : US - 05

Hop Additions: 50g citra @ 5min.

115g citra dry hop, 5g/l.

 

[joolbag]

Hey Morrie that brew sounds delicious! Esp with all of that flavour and aroma hopping.

 

2.0kg of additional fermentables... What OG did you land on? Is this an American Pale Ale style beer? High OG r we talking 2 x packs of US-05 or a starter?

 

I managed to get my paws onto 250g of Citra and have yet to use it in a recipe. This may well be the one!

 

Thanks,

 

Jools

 

 

[ChristinaS1]

Hi Ken! This should come out around OG 1.053 and ABV 5.9% (with US-05).

 

Yes, you are right that your need more yeast. You could make a 1.5L starter with the US-05 or save yourself the trouble and throw a spare pack of yeast from an OS kit in together with the US-05. It is okay to use them together as they are fairly similar. It is also okay to rehydrate them together and, yes, you should rehydrate (use the Fermentis instructions).

 

If you decide to make a starter, you still need to rehydrate the US-05 first. Good luck!

 

Cheers!

 

Christina.

[Morrie]

Hey Morrie that brew sounds delicious! Esp with all of that flavour and aroma hopping.

 

2.0kg of additional fermentables... What OG did you land on? Is this an American Pale Ale style beer? High OG r we talking 2 x packs of US-05 or a starter?

 

I managed to get my paws onto 250g of Citra and have yet to use it in a recipe. This may well be the one!

 

Thanks' date='

 

Jools

 

[/quote']

 

Jools -

Yes, I think you can call this an APA with the big "C" in it. I bought a 900 gram wad of Citra. I used 230 billion yeast cells approx. Propagated yeast using the magnetic stir plate method. YeastCalc LINK. If doing a similar recipe and using dry yeast I would go for a minimum of 1 X US-05 plus the coopers yeast or 2 X US-05 rehydrated.

The 5g/l dry hop may be over the top for some but it will tame down in the bottle with time. It is yumy and I still have 2 bottles left.

Measured

OG 1.054

FG 1.013

%ABV 5.6 bottled

 

 

[Ricko1525229757]

Here's one I did very recently with a Coopers Aussie Pale Ale and it is delicious. All hopped with Citra only as this was my first Citra experience. Dry hopped commando style to the max.

 

Kit: Coopers Aussie Pale Ale

23 litre batch

1.5 kg of LME light

0.5 kg of Light dry malt powder (LDM)

250 g of crystal Malt grains cracked and steeped.

Yeast : US - 05

Hop Additions: 50g citra @ 5min.

115g citra dry hop' date=' 5g/l.

[/quote']

 

Thanks Morrie.

 

Using what I have on hand, I'll just use the LME and the APA can plus some extra hops. Regarding yeast, I have what is with the APA can plus a pack of dried ale yeast that came with a MR Beer Norwest Pale Ale that I have not used. Thinking with less malts than your recipe I would not need both and maybe just use one or the other but what are thoughts about both? Pros and cons?

[Morrie]

 

Thanks Morrie.

 

Using what I have on hand' date=' I'll just use the LME and the APA can plus some extra hops. Regarding yeast, I have what is with the APA can plus a pack of dried ale yeast that came with a MR Beer Norwest Pale Ale that I have not used. Thinking with less malts than your recipe I would not need both and maybe just use one or the other but what are thoughts about both? Pros and cons? [/quote']

 

Ricko

If it was me I would be inclined to use both sachets of yeast. From memory the Coopers yeasts are only around 7g each and I'm not sure how much is in the Mr Beer yeast sachet, maybe less if it was only for a 10 litre kit. The US - 05 yeasts sachets are 11g and you can usually count on them having around 100 billion cells. The LME has more maltose and less simple sugars such as a BE1 or BE2 pack so it will be a bit more demanding on a yeast to digest this. However you will end up with a much nicer beer. It is important not to follow some of the instructions about pitching your yeast dry. Re-hydrate it first in about a cup of sterile or pre-boiled water ideally at 24ºC to 28ºC for 20 to 30 minutes but no longer.

 

I think your Cascade and Chinook will go well in this. I've never used Chinook but as for Cascade I think it is such a great hop.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Cascade and Chinook go well together. You'll probably end up with something resembling LCPA with that combo. I brewed an AG pale ale with these two hops a few years back and noted its similarity to LCPA after someone commented on it. At the time I didn't know what was in LCPA, I was just experimenting, but it did get reasonably close.

[Ricko1525229757]

 

Thanks Morrie.

 

Using what I have on hand' date=' I'll just use the LME and the APA can plus some extra hops. Regarding yeast, I have what is with the APA can plus a pack of dried ale yeast that came with a MR Beer Norwest Pale Ale that I have not used. Thinking with less malts than your recipe I would not need both and maybe just use one or the other but what are thoughts about both? Pros and cons? [/quote']

 

Ricko

If it was me I would be inclined to use both sachets of yeast. From memory the Coopers yeasts are only around 7g each and I'm not sure how much is in the Mr Beer yeast sachet, maybe less if it was only for a 10 litre kit. The US - 05 yeasts sachets are 11g and you can usually count on them having around 100 billion cells. The LME has more maltose and less simple sugars such as a BE1 or BE2 pack so it will be a bit more demanding on a yeast to digest this. However you will end up with a much nicer beer. It is important not to follow some of the instructions about pitching your yeast dry. Re-hydrate it first in about a cup of sterile or pre-boiled water ideally at 24ºC to 28ºC for 20 to 30 minutes but no longer.

 

I think your Cascade and Chinook will go well in this. I've never used Chinook but as for Cascade I think it is such a great hop.

 

Thanks Morrie, will take the rehydration tip and use both sachets as I agree that then mr beer sachet was for a smaller batch. . I could get a sachet of sf-us 05 but the aim is to use up spare ingredients I have.

[Ricko1525229757]

Cascade and Chinook go well together. You'll probably end up with something resembling LCPA with that combo. I brewed an AG pale ale with these two hops a few years back and noted its similarity to LCPA after someone commented on it. At the time I didn't know what was in LCPA' date=' I was just experimenting, but it did get reasonably close. [/quote']

 

Thanks Otto, if it gets close to LCPA I will be very happy. How did you go about your hop additions for your batch and quantities? Late in a boil and dry hop or both? Would be interested to follow that for a similar result. Cheers.