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Thomas Coopers Wheat Beer


Beeblebrox

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Just got an incentive to purchase some more gear from the online store (free delivery).

I'd been considering doing a Wheat Beer for a while, & this was just the incentive I needed.

So I've ordered:

 

Thomas Coopers Wheat Beer (1.7kg)

Thomas Coopers Wheat Malt Extract (1.5kg)

 

Wondering if I can get away with making this without any extras filled up to 23 litres?

Will there be enough yeast from the can, or should I add some more, (or as I've heard suggested, do a boil with the extract & add an old pack of yeast I have in the fridge to the boil to give the yeast a bit more nutrients)?

 

 

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Wheat beers are very simple and you don't need to add anything else. You can add some late hops if you like but it isn't necessary.

 

As for yeast, I would go for a specific wheat beer yeast like Fermentis WB-06, Mangrove Jacks Bavarian Wheat or Danstar Munich (dry varieties). There are some great liquid wheat yeasts if you are that way inclined. Wheat beers derive a lot of flavour from the yeast so I think the yeast choice is very important.

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Thanks guys, I'm trying to do it on a bit of a tight budget, so I'm thinking I'll go with Safale WB-06, as my LHBS sells this for $6, whereas the White Labs WLP300 is going for $15.

 

It's my first time around with a Wheat Beer, so I'd rather stick with something reliable but less expensive, lest I do something to ruin it & end up more out of pocket than a usual batch.

 

This will bring my total expenditure on this batch (including carb drops) to: $34.80, which I think is a pretty cheap way to get a decent Wheat Beer, assuming all goes well.

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I used WB06 on my BeeKeeper recipe last month and it worked well, no complaints from me (picture below).

 

On the Fermentis website is suggests the following fermentation temperatures:

for clover flavors : below 22°C (71.6°F)

for banana flavor: above 23°C (73.4°F)

 

Cheers + beers,

Mark

 

 

beer.jpg

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G'day Zaphod

 

Long time no hear. But it's good to see Harry is still keeping you on the straight and narrow.

 

I agree with you and the other guys that some of the options can become quite expensive when it comes to yeasts and other types of ingredients. I'm not sure where you are in Sydnew, but the guys I deal with (via courier) are at Pymble (called Barleyman). From a very limited understanding of Sydney geography, I think it's one of the inner suburbs, but they are certainly happy with you collecting things to avoid the postage costs etc.

 

Some of their wheat options (at this link) are:

 

Danstar Munich Wheat yeast ($4.60), and a lot in the White Labs liquid yeasts (all $11) like Hefeweizen Ale (WLP300), American Hefeweizen (WLP320 - Out of Stock), Bavarian Weizen (WLP351), Hefeweizen Ale IV (WLP380), Belgian Wit Ale I and II (WLP400 and WLP410), Berliner Weisse Blend (WLP630 - OOS)

 

Don't know if this is of any use, Zaphod, but I thought one or both of your heads might be interested.

 

PS. I was just trying to give you some other options, BTW, 'cos I've used WB-06 before with really good results. And that's a lovely looking wheat that Mark posted too.

 

Cheers

Phillus

 

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I agree with you and the other guys that some of the options can become quite expensive when it comes to yeasts and other types of ingredients. I'm not sure where you are in Sydnew' date=' but the guys I deal with (via courier) are at Pymble (called Barleyman). From a very limited understanding of Sydney geography, I think it's one of the inner suburbs, but they are certainly happy with you collecting things to avoid the postage costs etc.[/quote']

I will help you out here Phil wink

 

Barleyman is based at Padstow, which is South West Sydney.

 

Nowhere near Pymble which is North, and unfortunately much closer to Beeblebrox (Willoughby??).

 

I have used them before and been happy with the service.

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I agree with you and the other guys that some of the options can become quite expensive when it comes to yeasts and other types of ingredients. I'm not sure where you are in Sydnew' date=' but the guys I deal with (via courier) are at Pymble (called Barleyman). From a very limited understanding of Sydney geography, I think it's one of the inner suburbs, but they are certainly happy with you collecting things to avoid the postage costs etc.[/quote']

I will help you out here Phil wink

 

Barleyman is based at Padstow, which is South West Sydney.

 

Nowhere near Pymble which is North, and unfortunately much closer to Beeblebrox (Willoughby??).

 

I have used them before and been happy with the service.

 

Close, I'm in Chatswood (which is part of Willoughby Council), so my nearest LHBS is Dave's Homebrew in North Sydney. I go there whenever I want something that Coopers don't stock on their online store, or sometimes just to support the local small business.

 

I have to say though, Coopers Online Store seems to be increasingly good value with member discounts & a flat delivery fee of $15; so from here on I'll be doing the maths to work out which is more cost effective - going to the LHBS or shopping online.

Of course the LHBS is always going to be a bit more expensive, & delivery fees make it preferable to shop in store, rather than get stuff delivered.

 

That said, I'll always need to go to the LHBS for specialty yeasts, hops, & if I want to do anything other than a stock standard Coopers brew.

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G'day Zaphod

 

Long time no hear. But it's good to see Harry is still keeping you on the straight and narrow.

 

I agree with you and the other guys that some of the options can become quite expensive when it comes to yeasts and other types of ingredients. I'm not sure where you are in Sydnew' date=' but the guys I deal with (via courier) are at Pymble (called Barleyman). From a very limited understanding of Sydney geography, I think it's one of the inner suburbs, but they are certainly happy with you collecting things to avoid the postage costs etc.

 

Some of their wheat options (at this link) are:

 

Danstar Munich Wheat yeast ($4.60), and a lot in the White Labs liquid yeasts (all $11) like Hefeweizen Ale (WLP300), American Hefeweizen (WLP320 - Out of Stock), Bavarian Weizen (WLP351), Hefeweizen Ale IV (WLP380), Belgian Wit Ale I and II (WLP400 and WLP410), Berliner Weisse Blend (WLP630 - OOS)

 

Don't know if this is of any use, Zaphod, but I thought one or both of your heads might be interested.

 

PS. I was just trying to give you some other options, BTW, 'cos I've used WB-06 before with really good results. And that's a lovely looking wheat that Mark posted too.

 

Cheers

Phillus

 

 

Cheers mate, BTW, the photo is Harry sitting with me, with my face appropriately obscured - he's the better looking one of the two of us anyway!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Haven't started this brew yet, but had to clear out the mother in laws house, as it's just been sold; she's in a nursing home, & looking after a house 70km away with a swimming pool just wasn't worth the effort.

Anyway, going through the cupboards I found a 500g squeeze bottle of golden syrup; would this do any good in the wheat beer, or should I hold onto it for something else?

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Hi

 

I've just made a Coopers Brewmaster Selection Wheat beer exactly as it says in the instructions and was wondering should this beer be clearing in the bottles during the Carbonation phase?

 

It's been in the bottles 3-4 days and they are starting to clear. I am going to put it in a fridge after a week and leave it for a while.

 

I have drunk Wheat beer before while in Germany and also shop bought in the UK and have had both types cloudy and clear but this seems to be clearing.

 

There is already a good 3mm of sediment in the bottom of the 0.5l PET bottles. Which were primed with two Carbonation Drops per bottle.

 

One more thing, would I be okay with swirling the bottle with all that yeast in it?

 

Thanks

Tim.

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Hi Bogmore & welcome to the forum.

 

It's widely accepted OK for wheat beers to be cloudy in appearance due to the yeast(s) used. The bulk of the beers flavour is derived from the yeast.

 

There are a few different kinds of wheat beer yeasts available, with some producing clearer beers than others.

 

It's perfectly fine to swirl the yeast sediment in the bottle, then savor all the protein, B-complex vitamins & chromium goodness! wink

 

The gym junkies have got their protein shakes, & I've got mine! biggrin

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

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Hi Beer Lovers!

 

I was wondering if anybody has made a Hefeweizen Dunkel from the ingredients off Cooper Store, I'm happy to go elsewhere for the Yeast as I've tried the Hefeweizen Recipe with WB-06 and it was great, used the whole Malt can as I like my beer a little heavier but now want to do a Dark version??

any advice welcome cheers.

 

NightMaerz.

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Hi Nightmaerz & welcome to the forum.

 

Without over-complicating things, simply brew the exact Hefeweizen recipe you brewed last time, but this time add in a grain steep of Midnight Wheat Malt of around 250gms. Simply steep this cracked grain amount in approx. 2 litres of 70°C water with a lid on for 30mins, then strain the liquid from this into your fermenter with your other ingredients & mix as per normal.

 

The use of a nice liquid yeast such as White Labs WLP380 would help make for a very nice beer, but if you like the flavours from the WB-06 then no harm in sticking with that. wink

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

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Hi Nightmaerz, if you are limited to ingredients only available from the Coopers online store, you could try the following recipe.

 

1.7kg Thomas Coopers Selection Wheat Beer tin

1.5kg Coopers Wheat Malt Extract tin

0.5kg Coopers Dark Malt Extract (1/3 of a tin)

 

This will give you the following vital statistics (in a 23 litre batch):

O.G. = 1.050

IBU = 16.3

EBC = 38.6

ABV ~= 5.3% bottled

 

This is nicely in the range for the Dunkelweizen style in the BJCP style guide. As for the leftover Coopers Dark Malt Extract, you could use it in a stout if you feel like brewing one in the (not too distant) future.

 

Seeing as you can get hold of liquid yeast, you could probably get hold of Midnight Wheat malt in which case I would definitely go with Lusty's recipe rather than mine. But just in case you can't I thought I would post an alternative based on items available in the Coopers Online Store.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I put my TC Wheat beer down yesterday; as on the original post, 1.7kg TC Wheat Beer, 1.5kg TC Wheat Malt (about 50/50 wheat/barley malt), WB 06, & threw in the yest under the can lid for good measure.

 

I'd re-hydrated the yeast, but was silly enough to do it with slightly warmer water than I meant to, I popped it in the fridge for about 1/2 hour in case, but used both yeasts packs just in case.

 

The OG reading was about 1.038, but it was pretty thick when I mixed it, & the liquid sample was a lot more watery, so the reading may have been a little out.

 

Does this reading look right, considering I filled to 23 litres, or is it likely my sample was a bit off (due to its viscosity) throwing my reading out?

 

Cheers.

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G'day WeetBrox

 

I think there may have been a bit of a problem with measuring a non-representative sample in the hydrometer tube. I calculate the 23 litres should be about 1.043 or so (and about 4.4% in the bottle). But even if I'm right, as Yeti has said in the past, the yeast will find all the sugars.

 

Cheers

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Cheers Phil, I just wanted to be sure, so I could get a more accurate A/V calculation when I finish, so I'll re-write my OG as 1.043 on my brewing notes. Much appreciated.

Next time I'll have to go back to old habits & be a better stirrer!

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Ok, so I put the brew down on Thursday of last week, all went well.

The weather was a bit warm, so I used my usual water bath with some ice bottles to keep my brew in the preferred temp 18 -22c.

 

On Sunday morning the ice had melted, the brew was sitting at 20c, & we had to go visit the mother in law in her aged care home.

 

I bunged in another ice bottle & off we went.

When we got home the brew was sitting at 10c - the predicted warm day had not eventuated, & instead of keeping my brew at a steady temp, it had chilled it lower than the preferred temp.

 

I kept the ice out of the water bath for the next couple of days, until it was reaching a steady 22c, popping the ice in only if it got to 22c, & leaving it a bit longer if it was staying at 18c or lower.

 

Has letting my brew chill below the yeasts capacity ruined my beer, or will the extra yeast I added at the beginning have ensured there is enough to keep it going ok?

 

When I took the kollar off (after the Sunday incident) the brew smelled a bit like sourdough; I assume this is pretty normal, considering I'm brewing a wheat beer, & it's not finished brewing yet.

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