'battle Of The Toucans'

[silas]

It's that versus the homebrand kit yeast so I know where I'd be throwing my hat.

Yeah i am definetely gonna use the yeast cake. I think the og will be about 1060 so i will need a fair bit yeah? i lokked at the mr malty page but i havnt seen the slurry as it is still under the beer.
cheers
Silas

 

[manticle]

Yeah i am definetely gonna use the yeast cake. I think the og will be about 1060 so i will need a fair bit yeah? i lokked at the mr malty page but i havnt seen the slurry as it is still under the beer.
cheers
Silas

After bottling, just brew the toucan on top of the yeast cake as soon as you can.

Put your cold water in first, then the hot mix with the goo. If you throw the hot goo in first you might kill the yeast.

 

[silas]

Cool cheers will do just that as will be bottling then putting a new brew in straight away. too easy
cheers
Silas

 

[skurvy84]

i'm looking at doing my first twocan and thought it would chuck it up for discussion.

im looking at a lager

1x Coopers lager (came with the kit)
1x Home brand lager
1kg of LDME
500g of of Dextrose
500g of dried corn syrup

12g of Hallertau hops steeped for 15 mins
and maybe dry hopping once primary has finished.

any changes recommened, as im a complete noob to this.

 

[Interloper]

i'm looking at doing my first twocan and thought it would chuck it up for discussion.

im looking at a lager

1x Coopers lager (came with the kit)
1x Home brand lager
1kg of LDME
500g of of Dextrose
500g of dried corn syrup

12g of Hallertau hops steeped for 15 mins
and maybe dry hopping once primary has finished.

any changes recommened, as im a complete noob to this.

That is *over* 3kg of fermetable material ontop of the initial tin of goo, I reckon that's way too much. Why are you adding 1kg of LDME too?

Ease up, add only 250gms of LDME tops, and then maybe don't dry hop.

A 2can will be very bitter so adding a little extra LDME will smooth that out nicely - but don't add a kilo of LDME, and a kilo of dex and corn syrup. It might be a high alc brew but I would think it would be pretty rough.

I would invest in a good strong yeast to go with that too. I don't really do lagers so I couldn't suggest a good one, someone will know though...

 

[skurvy84]

mainly because i had a guess. my other beers have been using the coopers enhancers and the brewcraft stuff.

iw would this be better

1x Coopers lager (came with the kit)
1x Home brand lager
500g of LDME
250g of of Dextrose
250g maltodextrine
12g of Hallertau hops steeped for 15 mins

and 2x 11.5g SAFLAGER S-23
and maybe dry hopping once primary has finished.

like i said im a beginner and learning.

 

[Interloper]

mainly because i had a guess. my other beers have been using the coopers enhancers and the brewcraft stuff.

iw would this be better

1x Coopers lager (came with the kit)
1x Home brand lager
500g of LDME
250g of of Dextrose
250g maltodextrine
12g of Hallertau hops steeped for 15 mins

and 2x 11.5g SAFLAGER S-23
and maybe dry hopping once primary has finished.

like i said im a beginner and learning.

I still reckon you don't need either of the 250gm dextrose/maltodextrine additions.

Say a normal brew is 1 can of coopers goo and 1kg of fermentables (sugar, malt, Brew Enhancer 1 or 2 etc etc)

That will give you on average 5% or so of Alcohol.

If you add another can of goo for a toucan that pretty much replaces the need for the kg of fermentable material/sugars.

So normally you'd just open two tins of goo and whack 'em in the fermenter for a toucan brew.

You can improve that by maybe a hint of LDME to smooth of the isohop biterness that you get from two tins of goo (both your cans of extract are hopped, so that is a higher IBU than a tin of goo and fermentables).

But I wouldn't add that much extra dex. Even with two yeasts I'm thinking the flavour won't be greatly improved by the dex addtions.

Maybe dry hop is the way to go as it won't add too much bitterness, more aroma which is what you want.

I have a toucan stout aging at the moment and it's a cracker but it was:

1x Cooper Stout
1 x Coopers Dark
250 gms LDME
15gms fuggles at flame out.

It's a cracker, very heavy lots of mouth feel and not too bitter because of the LDME.

Previously as a benchmark I did a straight up Coopers Real Ale with a tin of homebrand draft and nothing else and it was hellishly bitter.

Took several months before it was drinkable and it's still getting better each month that it sits in the bottle. It's very dark/rust coloured and has a thick foamy head.

Cost was under $18 for 22L as the homebrand draft was on special.

Not my best ever brew but I do love the "supermarket challenge"!

 

[skurvy84]

thanks for the help, i'm beginning to understand what your saying, but its all very hard to understand being a noob.....and more into cars at this stage (lol)

so revised brew

1x Coopers lager (came with the kit)
1x Home brand lager
250g of LDME
12g of Hallertau hops steeped for 15 mins

and 2x 11.5g SAFLAGER S-23
and maybe dry hopping once primary has finished for aroma

will think about what to prime with but im leading towards dextroses.

 

[Interloper]

thanks for the help, i'm beginning to understand what your saying, but its all very hard to understand being a noob.....and more into cars at this stage (lol)

so revised brew

1x Coopers lager (came with the kit)
1x Home brand lager
250g of LDME
12g of Hallertau hops steeped for 15 mins

and 2x 11.5g SAFLAGER S-23
and maybe dry hopping once primary has finished for aroma

will think about what to prime with but im leading towards dextroses.

Yes, sounds more palatable. And you won't need two yeasts either, save yourself some cash there.

I always bulk prime with straight up table sugar dissolved in water. I've tried everything from table sugar, malts, dex, brown sugars etc etc and I can't pick a difference in the taste between priming sugars.

Bulk priming rules, you can use any size bottle from 330ml to 480ml Grolsh and not need to worry about measuring.

Here's the bulk prime calculator:
http://www.geocities.com/lesjudith/Alcohol...Calculator.html

Search the forums on bulk priming but I promise you once you bulk prime you'd never go back to teaspoons or carbonation drops.

 

[ianh]

mainly because i had a guess. my other beers have been using the coopers enhancers and the brewcraft stuff.

iw would this be better

1x Coopers lager (came with the kit)
1x Home brand lager
500g of LDME
250g of of Dextrose
250g maltodextrine
12g of Hallertau hops steeped for 15 mins

and 2x 11.5g SAFLAGER S-23
and maybe dry hopping once primary has finished.

like i said im a beginner and learning.

The recipe as listed will give you an OG of about 1062 giving 6% alc and 35-40 IBU.

Can I promote my spreadsheet Link to help you design kit & extract beers.

cheers

Ian

 

[petesbrew]

Yes, sounds more palatable. And you won't need two yeasts either, save yourself some cash there.

I always bulk prime with straight up table sugar dissolved in water. I've tried everything from table sugar, malts, dex, brown sugars etc etc and I can't pick a difference in the taste between priming sugars.

Bulk priming rules, you can use any size bottle from 330ml to 480ml Grolsh and not need to worry about measuring.

Here's the bulk prime calculator:
http://www.geocities.com/lesjudith/Alcohol...Calculator.html

Search the forums on bulk priming but I promise you once you bulk prime you'd never go back to teaspoons or carbonation drops.

Thanks for that bulk priming calc, Interloper.
Just what i need!

 

[Interloper]

Thanks for that bulk priming calc, Interloper.
Just what i need!

No probs, whoever put that up there deserves a medal. I use it all the time to get my carb levels right for the style.

 

[skurvy84]

The recipe as listed will give you an OG of about 1062 giving 6% alc and 35-40 IBU.

Can I promote my spreadsheet Link to help you design kit & extract beers.

cheers

Ian

with your amazing spreadsheet, is it as simple as just hitting "New Recipe" selecting what i want from the lists (ie kits, DME, grains, hops & boil times) and its as simple as that?

or is there more to it?

 

[ianh]

Should also add that the Spreadsheet has a bulk prime calculator.

 

[Interloper]

Should also add that the Spreadsheet has a bulk prime calculator.

Just playing with that and the bulk priming calc seems a little on the low side? I was rushed, so I will have a more thorough look later.

Also am I just missing it or does it not provide an ABV%? Just high medium low guesstimates?

EDIT: Sorry should say thanks for the amazing details and effort you put into the spreadsheet - top job.

 

[petesbrew]

Been a while since the last toucan, so this is a good way to get rid of 2x 1/2 price cans
Didn't think too much on this recipe, I just went with the flow.
Just waiting for the temp to drop, and I'll pitch in the morning.

Tooheys Real Ale
Wanders Draught
500g LDME
30g Caramunich 1 (40min steep)
30g CaraAroma (40min steep)
40g Amber Malt (40min steep)
20g Cascade (40min steep)
10g Cascade @ 0min
WLP 029 German Ale/Kolsch
OG = 1060

I got a bit lazy with the kolsch yeast and just pitched it straight from the stubby. NOt suprisingly 4 days later it still hadn't done anything, so looking through my kit yeasts I found a morgans lager yeast. Perfect blend. 24hr later it was alive! ALIVE!
Tasted it last night... really nice!
Cheers to Joshhardie for naming rights after telling him the ingredients.... Frankenstein Brown Ale.

 

[Bribie G]

Morgans lager yeast is actually Mauribrew lager made here in sunny QLD and it's not actually a bad yeast. I've used it in a grain Classic Australian Lager and whilst it doesn't provide that subtle Euro lager sulphur component like w 34/70 or that bit of fruit like s-23 it's not to be sneezed at. And for 89 c a packet from the LHBS it's a bit cheaper than Wyeast

 

[petesbrew]

Morgans lager yeast is actually Mauribrew lager made here in sunny QLD and it's not actually a bad yeast. I've used it in a grain Classic Australian Lager and whilst it doesn't provide that subtle Euro lager sulphur component like w 34/70 or that bit of fruit like s-23 it's not to be sneezed at. And for 89 c a packet from the LHBS it's a bit cheaper than Wyeast

Cheers for the info Bribie.
Perfect temps in our garage too... roughly 15c during the day.

 

[Nick JD]

This one's great.

2 x 1.5kg Morgans Extra Pale Malt
350g Steeped Carapils
23g Southern Cross 60min
10g Southern Cross 20min
23g Southern Cross dry hopped on day 5
US-04 yeast @ 20C

Hops are boiled in the steeped liquor (5L). I get hints of jasmine in the SC hops. They are really a bittering hop, but Meh! to that.

 

[petesbrew]

This one's great.

2 x 1.5kg Morgans Extra Pale Malt
350g Steeped Carapils
23g Southern Cross 60min
10g Southern Cross 20min
23g Southern Cross dry hopped on day 5
US-04 yeast @ 20C

Hops are boiled in the steeped liquor (5L). I get hints of jasmine in the SC hops. They are really a bittering hop, but Meh! to that.

Yeah, but it's an extract... not a true toucan, Nick. You gotta play by the rules here! :icon_chickcheers:
Sounds good though.