Advice needed Coopers Trappist Coaster Recipe of the month

[Digga]

What you've got to remember with these very dense two can brews is that they need to be mixed to buggary with boiling water and cold water and be around 20 C when you take the reading. The LDM needs to be sloshed in and shaken or it sits at the bottom. The Coopers kit hydros are not the worst bits of kit out there, my guess is that the wort was not mixed as well as it could have been. The best way to test your hydrometer is to do a basic kit and kilo brew and see if the OG fits within the range specified on the kit instructions.

Or you could test it in 20°c water and see if it reads 1.000

 

[goatchop41]

Well, I put this on, and got an OG of 1043.

The instructions on Coopers website said to "expect and ABV of around 6.4%"

Obviously, with this OG, I will get nowhere near this. It kinda suits me as I am none too keen on strong beer.

Thinking about it, two cans of malt at 1.7 kgs each with about 300gms LDM (it's all I had) shouldn't be excessively strong should it?

Anyway, it's bubbling away at 18'c. I will increase it in a few days, maybe to 22'c, then add the extra hops. Looking forward to sampling this one.

As LF has mentioned, extract brews can tend to be hard to get an exact OG reading on due to uneven distribution of the extract through the water, even if it's hot as all hell and you think that you mixed it enough. If you used the same amount of water and extract as is asked for in the recipe, then you can rest assured that your OG will be what the recipe says. Guaranteed.
That's the beauty of extract and using a recipe. To be completely honest, I don't see any need to take OG readings unless you're doing all grain brewing. An extract recipe that is worked out properly/with brewing software will be spot on if you stick to the volumes and weights.

 

[Aussie Mick]

Thanks for explaining that goatchop. Some brews I have taken 3 or 4 readings and got 3 or 4 different results. It makes sense now.

I did test and adjust my hydrometer Digga. So if you say it should be okay, you have saved me some money....thanks.

 

[DREWBREW]

I was planning on making this one today but seem to have misplaced/used the Bravo hops... I have several other hops from my last bulk order, can somebody reccomend a substitue?

 

[goomboogo]

I was planning on making this one today but seem to have misplaced/used the Bravo hops... I have several other hops from my last bulk order, can somebody reccomend a substitue?

Probably Columbus but it will depend a bit on the amount and timing of it's usage according to your recipe.

 

[Aussie Mick]

Had a sample of this yesterday, can't say I am impressed.

Has a real homebrew twang to it.

I'll stash the rest away till Easter. Hopefully they will improve with time.

 

[Barge]

Mine turned out well. I agree with manticle however that it's a bit muddled in terms of flavour.

I would swap out the nelson and bravo for saaz and styrian and drop the calypso altogether