negative3.homeip.net

Ingredients:

• Thomas Coopers Heritage Lager 1.7kg
• EBS Liquid Light Malt Extract 1.5kg
• Coopers brewing yeast 7g

Date: Started 13-04-2012 / Bottled 24-04-2012

Temperature: Initial 25°C / Average 23°C

Volume: 23.75 litres

Specific Gravity: OG 1052 / FG 1012 (5.7%)

Brewing Notes: Brought 4 litres of tap water to the boil. Added EBS Liquid Light Malt Extract and Thomas Coopers Heritage Lager. Stired well and immediately removed from heat. Despite best efforts wort burned a little on the bottom of the pot. Placed pot in cold tap water and left to cool for around 20 minutes. Once cool observed a cloudy break like material at the surface. Rehydrated yeast in 500ml of tap water, pitched at 26°C and covered loosely with cling wrap. Added wort to fermenter and topped up to 23 litres with tap water. Pitched rehydrated yeast at 25°C. Prior to bottling gave brew a hearty stir then let settle for 30 minutes before commencing bottling.

Tasting Notes: Not yet available.

Lessons Learned:

1. Remove boil from heat prior to adding fermentables so that they do not get caught on the bottom of the pot or add fermentables well before boil.
2. Top fermenter to 1 litre less then desired volume, pitch yeast and then make any final adjustments to volume.

Ingredients:

• Coopers Mexican Cerveza 1.7kg
• Coopers Brew Enhancer #2 1kg
• Coopers brewing yeast 7g

Date: Started 22-05-2011 / Bottled 13-06-2011

Temperature: Initial 21°C / Average 20°C

Volume: 23.5 litres

Specific Gravity: OG 1038 / FG 1010 (4.3%)

Brewing Notes: Combined 3 litres of filtered water with Coopers Brew Enhancer #2. Brought to the boil and simmered uncovered for 60 minutes, stiring regularly. Rehydrated yeast in 500ml of filtered water, pitched at 30°C and covered in cling wrap. After the boil moved off heat and added Coopers Mexican Cerveza, whisked through until fully combined. Cooled down wort to 40°C in sink and added to fermenter. Topped up fermenter to 23 litres using filtered tap water. Aerated wort with a whisk and pitched rehydrated yeast at 21°C, gentley combined with whisk. Sanitised bottles with Starsan and let drain in dishwasher. Did not rinse remaining Starsan from bottles and when bottling used three (rather than two) carbonation drops, hopefully this resolves the underwhelming carbonation seen in the last few brews.

Tasting Notes: A fairly average brew, no highlights, no great flaws. The extra carbonation drop seems to have helped carbonation along but it still feels a touch short of what it should be. Head retention is again poor but at least holds a thin white foam for most of the glass however some bottles appear better than others. Colour wise the brew appears a good bit darker than a typical Mexican style beer. No obvious hop aromas only soft malts. The brew is heavy in malt flavours with no readily decernable hop characteristics. Bittering is light to medium and carbonation in the mouth feels reasonably good. No noteworthy aftertaste. In reflection definately not the worst brew but certainly underwhelming.

Lessons Learned:

1. Must remove the plastic tamper proof collars from the bottles to ensure they are tightly capped for good carbonation.
2. Must not leave brew in primary fermenter for 22 days, this is far too long and can lead to poor secondary fermentation/carbonation.
3. Three carbonation drops worked out okay though expected more. Possibly there was not enough yeast in the bottle to allow good secondary fermentation thus the extra carbonation drop didn’t help as much as it could have. Should try stiring brew prior to bottling so as to redisperse the yeast throughout the brew. This will probably lead to a more cloudy beer but so be it.
4. Would adding a cup of hot water to the brew prior to bottling help wake the yeast up for a stronger secondary fermentation?

A while back I was attempting to find the ingredient ratios used in the various Coopers Brewing Sugar products. At the time I found a fair bit of discussion and various opinions but nothing that I considered conclusive on the matter. Today I came across an insightful post on the Coopers brewing forums from PB2 who is the ‘Coopers Home Brew Product Development Manager’.

The difference lies with the ratio of the blended ingredients

Brewing Sugar – 800g Dextrose, 200g Maltodextrin
BE1 – 600g Dextrose,400g Maltodextrin
BE2 – 500g Dextrose, 250g Maltodextrin, 250g Light Dry Malt

http://www.coopers.com.au/the-brewers-guild/talk-brewing?g=posts&t=1389

Ingredients:

• Brigalow Apple Cider 900g
• Coopers Brewing Sugar 1kg
• Brigalow brewing yeast 5g
• Brigalow yeast nutrients 4g
• 3 Granny Smith Apples ~650g

Date: Started 12-09-2010 / Bottled 04-10-2010

Temperature: Initial 22°C / Average 22°C

Volume: 18 litres

Specific Gravity: OG 1034 / FG 1000 (5.1%)

Brewing Notes: Boiled one pair of knee high stockings for roughly 30 minutes while going through sanitisation process. Rehydrated yeast in 500ml of filtered tepid water. Covered in cling wrap and let sit while other ingredients were prepared.

Peeled apples and cut into slices. Placed apple slices and peel into stockings and knotted off. Brought 3 litres of filtered water to the boil. Added Coopers Brewing Sugar plus apple stockings and wisked through. Gently boiled water uncovered for 60 minutes, stired regularly and rotated apple stockings. Removed from heat, added concentrate (suprisingly thin) and wisked into wort. Used boiling water in concentrate can to disolve remaining concentrate. Cooled wort in sink of cold water for ~15 minutes, reduced to ~34°C.

Added wort (including apple stockings) to fermenter and topped up to 18 litres with cold filtered water. Airated wort with a whisk, and pitched rehydrated yeast.

Tasting Notes: Reasonably happy with this brew. The cider tastes a little light or thin in flavour compared to most commercial ciders but unlike these this brew isn’t overly sweet so it’s easy to drink and doesn’t leave you looking for a chaser to wash down all the sugar. The carbonation feels about right both in the mouth and glass. The only real critisim is the apple flavour tastes a little artificial. You can taste and smell a little of the natural Granny Smiths apples but I think a red apple like a Jonathan might have worked better, additionally some contrasting fruit like pears might have been good to give a more rounded flavour. All told though this brew is quickly disappearing.

Ingredients:

• Coopers Australian Pale Ale 1.7kg
• Coopers Brew Enhancer 2 1kg
• Coopers brew yeast 7g
• Light dry malt extract 100g
• Tetnager Finishing Hops 12g

Date: Started 28-05-2010 / Bottled 27-06-2010

Temperature: Initial 22°C / Average 19°C

Volume: 23.5 litres

Specific Gravity: OG 1038 / FG 1008 (4.5%)

Brewing Notes: Prepared a yeast starter with 1 litre of filtered water and ~100g light dry malt extract. Boiled starter for 15 minutes then cooled in the sink to ~25°C and airated with whisk. Pitched yeast and gentley whisked through. Covered loosely with cling wrap and let sit while other ingredients were prepared.

Brought 2 litres of filtered water to the boil. Added Coopers Brew Enhancer 2 and wisked through. Covered wort and gently boiled for approximately 30 minutes stiring regularly. Removed from heat, added concentrate and wisked into wort. Used boiling water in concentrate can to disolve remaining concentrate. Cooled wort in sink of cold water for ~20 minutes, reduced to ~28°C.

Brought 500ml of filtered water to the boil. Added Tetnager hops and let simmer gentley for approximately 15 minutes, stiring occasionally.

Combined wort and hops in fermenter and topped up to 23 litres with cold filtered water. Airated wort with a whisk, and pitched yeast starter.

Bottling delayed due to overseas trip to Los Angels (and general laziness upon return). Sample smelt and tasted fine.

Tasting Notes: By all accounts a pretty accurate clone of Coopers Australian Pale Ale. Pale in colour and like it’s big brother cloudy in apperance. Generous sediment in the bottle that works well in the glass, not to be discarded. On the palet the brew seemed slightly more fruity with touches of citrus and a little less bitter than its big brother, would be hard to call the differences in a blind test though. Nice carbonation that holds all the way through even in a large stein.

This is a youtube video I came across for making a yeast starter, I’ve found it a good reference.

Important Points:

• 200 grams of Dry Malt Extract
• 1 litre of water
• Bring wort to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• Coopers Real Ale 1.7kg
• Dextrose 1kg
• Coopers brew yeast 7g
• Light dry malt extract ~100g

Date: Started 01-05-2010 / Bottled 17-05-2010

Temperature: Initial 24°C / Average 20°C

Volume: 23 litres

Specific Gravity: OG 1038 / FG 1004 (5.1%)

Brewing Notes: Prepared a simple yeast starter with 500ml of filtered water and ~100g light dry malt extract. Boiled starter for a few minutes then cooled in the sink to ~25°C and airated well with whisk. Pitched yeast and gently whisked through. Covered starter with a piece of paper towel and let sit. After about 15 minutes yeast looked to be quite active.

Heated 2 litres of filtered water to a simmer. Added dextrose and brought to a gentle boil. Added Coopers Real Ale, covered and returned to boil. Lost track of brew which got to a vigorous boil and spilled over a little. Brought off heat and cooled brew in the sink to ~27°C. Added brew to the fermenter and topped up with cold filtered water to 23 litres. Whisked brew vigorously to airate, worked up a creamy foam on top. Pitched yeast starter and whisked through.

Tested specific gravity on 06/05 which returned 1008, didn’t notice any bubbling in the airlock at this time. SG  sample tasted suprisingly good for this stage, already very beery and a little carbonation. No real stand out hops or complex flavours at this point, just a genuine beerness. Retested SG on 07/05 and was still steady at 1008, no activity in the airlock. Retested SG on 08/05 and found 1006, brew still active, no bottling today. Tested SG on 10/05 and found 1004, will give it another couple of days.

Tasting Notes: Suprisingly quite dark in colour, bronze to brown. Very minimal sediment in the bottle, reasonably clear in the glass. No sludge stain left in the bottom of the glass. Carbonation is good in the mouth and glass. Head is reasonable on pour but mellows about halfway through. Flavours are enjoyable, similar in style to an English Pub ale. No dominating hop characteristics, smooth ale not too bitter or dry.

Ingredients:

• Brewcraft Czech Pilsener 1.5kg
• Light Dried Malt Extract 1kg
• Powdered Corn Syrup 250g
• x2 Saaz Finishing Hops 15g
• Saflager s-23 yeast

Date: Started 16-08-2009 / Bottled 06-09-2009

Temperature: Initial 20°C / Average 18 – 22°C

Volume: 23.25 litres

Specific Gravity: OG 1044 / FG 1016* (3.8%)

Finnings: N/A

* Hydrometer broke and was unable to take a final reading though suspect 1016 to be reasonably acurate

Brewing Notes: 3 litres of filtered water brought to the boil and 1kg of light dried malt added. After 15 minutes of boiling 15g of Saaz finishing hops added for bittering. After 50 minutes added another 15g of Saaz finishing hops for aroma. After 1 hour of boiling turned off heat and added concentrate plus 250g of Corn Syrup. As corn syrup was not combining so well turned heat back on and let simmer for approximately 10 minutes with regular stiring. Removed both hop bags and placed saucepan in a sink full of ice water; stired mixture to seperate any hot spots. Rehydrated yeast in 250mls of tepid water; let sit for about 10 minutes. Combined everything in the fermenter, topped up to 23 litres, pitched yeast and stired well. Bottles primed with carbonation drops.

Tasting Notes: Very disappointing brew. No head, no carbonation, no aroma, bland flavour, barely drinkable; nothing redeeming about this brew at all. Looking forward to getting this malted water out of the bottles to make way for a real beer.

Not really sure what went wrong with this brew. I noticed that there was virtually no sediment left in the bottles which I guess is an indicator to suggest that secondary fermentation never really got going and probably accounts for the non existent head and carbonation. For this brew I didn’t pre-wash the bottles in sterrilising solution, I just rinsed them with hot water and put them through the dishwasher, perhaps there were trace elements left in the bottles which killed off the yeast. I’m thinking the bland flavour was probably due to the way which I treated my fermentables, I must have over cooked them on the stove or perhaps used too much malt. It seems that the hops never really made a dent in the brew either so perhaps I should have added the hop bags to the fermenter.