Recent content by Jim - Perth

I was just wondering what strain Coopers use with their Bavarian lager & did a quick search & ended up here. I thought I read somewhere that it is 34/70. Can anyone confirm or correct this? J

Generally, the high alcohol beers are not the best environment to culture yeast from & Generally the older the beer the harder it is to get a viable culture from it. Having said that, you can always give it a go! Jim

Here's a photo of the old part of the brewery.

I tried this beer at the Tsingtao brewery last year straight from the tap & can't say it was a favourite. Certainly contained a large measure of rice which doesn't enhance it's taste. I tried it again in Hong Kong earlier this year from a bottle where it was even less palletable. I think that...

I tried this for the first time at Little Creatures yesterday. I was unimpressed. I will stick to the Pale Ale in future. But it was so crowded at Little Creatures yesterday that I walked up to the Sail & Anchor & had some of their India Pale Ale from the hand pumped keg - very much better than...

I agree with Ross. Steer clear of sugar. Re-hydrate dry yeast & after about 15 min. feed it with a squirt of wort, repeat in 15 min. leave for further 15 or so min. then pitch. Jim

TL My divorce potential derives more from splashing sticky wort up kitchen walls & floors as happened on Sat. with a fairly full-on partial mash. I rarely do more than a 12L All grain & use a 20L SS pot for these & my partials. Next time I'm going to try bringing the mash up from 0 to 68deg...

Sorry to sideline a bit but following on from TL's point & Palmer's comments, it would appear that when mashing, no harm would come from, in fact it may be beneficial, to add the water cold to the grist & then slowly bring the temp. up to around 68deg. I have previously always heated the water...

I agree, this is a great brewery. I have had their IPA, wit & stout - they are all great.

Can anyone help me out with a recipe suggestion for a partial mash aiming to use up a Brewcraft Belgian Ale kit that my brother kindly gave me for Christmas? I have available in stock: Grain: - Trad. ale malt; - Carapils; - Munich malt; - Melanoidin; - Roasted barley; - Choc. malt; - Rolled...

All my grain goes straight into the compost with no problems so far.

Having read all this & the Brew Board posts, I'm more determined than ever to look at phasing out secondary wherever possible.

No, leave it until you have secured a racking tube. They will cost less than $5 at Bunnings or similar harware store. 9-10 days in primary should be fine. Jim

I've tried the mid strength pilsner & the full strength lager. Neither were as bad as I was expecting & not bad at all for commercial beers. The midstrength seemed to be as good as you will get a commercial midstrength.

I started racking to secondary on my 5th brew & have not stopped since. I have decided to be more flexible in future & take it on a case by case basis. Unless the brew is a bit cloudy at the end of primary I am going to try giving up the secondary & (immediately after primary) either 1)...