'battle Of The Toucans'

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Completely random but good night for a toucan in Melbourne tonight.....
 
Put this one down on Friday evening and it is now WELL under way...bubbling like a you know what. Still waiting for it to exit stage air lock though?

In the end i went with 25g Cascade @ 10 minutes and 10g Galaxy @ flame out boiled up with 2 litres of water along with 200g of LME.

Stay tuned!

Drinking this one currently.

It is bitter but not too much so that i cant put away multiples.

My description is passion fruit aroma and full flavoured bitter like an IPA...very nice and it has had the thumbs up from all tasters.

Next time though i think i would skip the IPA and use 2 cans of the Canadian blonde.

Successful :)
 
I'm looking at putting down a two-can in a week or so.

2 x Coopers Lager Kits
25g Hallertau Hops @ 20 Minutes
25g Tettnanger Hops @ 10 Minutes
Saflager W-34/70

How does this sound? Will it be too bitter?
 
So long as you're topping it up to about 24 litres then it should be good. I probably wouldn't boil the hops for that long though. Maybe 10 and 5 mins? The euro lager I'm making at the moment used 1 can of lager but the batch is only 12L even though it's designed for 23L. Bitterness is perfect.
 
I'm thinking of just going 25 grams of Hallertau at 10 minutes. Don't want to make it too bitter.
 
Was thinking of doing a coopers stout + dark ale toucan and adding some spices and turning it into a christmas beer. I have Jamils recipe from Brewing Classic styles and I wanted to adapt the toucan to resemble something like it.
Here's what I was thinking:

Coopers stout kit
Coopers dark ale kit
1kg dme
500g brown sugar
15ml licorice extract

Spices as per the recipe:
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice

Does this look ok? I'm keen to get any thoughts. I'm not sure on yeast yet. Any ideas?
Will the bitterness still be too overpowering for the spices. I was also thinking of adding a bit of lactose to sweeten it up a bit.
Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers
Richard
 
The only advice I can give when using spices is you're better off using not enough than too much. I made a spiced Christmas beer a few years ago, used too much spice and it turned out terrible. It only became drinkable after two years in the bottle. No joke.

And after saying that, those quantities look pretty good to me. Just don't boil them for too long.
 
Off to get some Coopers kits on special from the supermarket to try my first toucan...

Keen to brew up a stout/dark beer...

Read quite a bit through the various posts over 23pgs and see a lot of toucans for Stout and Dark Ale kits, but wanting to know if a Stout and Real Ale kit would combine well.

Going to make it nice and simple, no grain this time round.
Stout Can
Real Ale Can
500g LDME
500g Dex

and possibly add 500mls of dark strong filter coffee. Is this enough to get a subtle Coffee hint, or too much? Considered dry hopping with Coffee beans too - anyone tried that?

So I guess my q's are;
1. Stout and Real Ale? Or should I still with Stout and Dark Ale?
2. Adding Coffee? Good idea/bad idea? How much filter coffee?
3. Dry hopping with Coffee beans?

Going to make it up to 28lts instead of my usual 23Lt brew just so its not too strong (and to get a half dozen quart bottles extra drinking).

Thanks all....
 
Stout and dark mate. Had good results from these. The real ale is not a great kit IMO. The stout is already quite a burnt/coffee kit and with the dark it is a good combo. Try it out in a batch without coffee as it may well be way over powering. Made to 24 or 2L was great for me and had a nice strong beer or two as I can't session drink stouts.
 
Speaking of the Stout/Dark toucan, how does this recipe look?

1 can Coopers Stout

1 can Coopers Dark Ale

1 can Coopers Dark liquid malt extract

25 grams Fuggles dry hopped.

Or Goldings? I have no experience with Noble hops, is there a commercial example where I can taste the differences, or is it just much of a muchness?

Yeast? I wouldn't mind this brew finishing a bit sweeter so was thinking of using Windsor, but then I was thinking I could use Nottingham with say 300gms(?) of Lactose to sweeten it slightly. My aim here would be to balance some of the bitterness, I don't mind a bitter beer (love the Coopers stout in this weather) and will probably be leaving this bottled until next winter anyway, so it should balance on its own.


Any thoughts greatly appreciated, cheers and beers :icon_cheers:

 
2 x coopers Lager with czech saaz and 200 grms carapils.

A great session beer. Clean and crisp with US05.

4 weeks in bottle.

DSCF3363.jpg
 
2 x coopers Lager with czech saaz and 200 grms carapils.

A great session beer. Clean and crisp with US05.

4 weeks in bottle.

That's carapils gives great head doesn't it, so frothy!
 
Speaking of the Stout/Dark toucan, how does this recipe look?

1 can Coopers Stout

1 can Coopers Dark Ale

1 can Coopers Dark liquid malt extract

25 grams Fuggles dry hopped.

Or Goldings? I have no experience with Noble hops, is there a commercial example where I can taste the differences, or is it just much of a muchness?

Yeast? I wouldn't mind this brew finishing a bit sweeter so was thinking of using Windsor, but then I was thinking I could use Nottingham with say 300gms(?) of Lactose to sweeten it slightly. My aim here would be to balance some of the bitterness, I don't mind a bitter beer (love the Coopers stout in this weather) and will probably be leaving this bottled until next winter anyway, so it should balance on its own.



.
Any thoughts greatly appreciated, cheers and beers :icon_cheers:



I don't dryhop stouts and if you are planning on keeping for a year probably not worth it as the affects will diminish in time.

Recipe looks fine use whatever yeast that takes your fancy as bitterness should not be harsh after a year. Not sure if you can buy a milk stout here in Oz ( Mackeson springs to mind ) to give an idea on how lactose tastes.
I prefer dry stout I think the recipe as stands would produce a fairly high alcohol dryish stout sounds nice to my tastes
 
2 x coopers Lager with czech saaz and 200 grms carapils.

A great session beer. Clean and crisp with US05.

4 weeks in bottle.

looks really good if carapils gives that kind of head I need to get some. None of my K&B with crystal or wheat give that kind of a head.
 
2 x coopers Lager with czech saaz and 200 grms carapils.

A great session beer. Clean and crisp with US05.

4 weeks in bottle.

Cube,


how much saaz and for how long, boil volume? Final volume etc please :icon_drunk:




Hirns
 
Cube,


how much saaz and for how long, boil volume? Final volume etc please :icon_drunk:




Hirns

Brewed 12.5.11 >----- normally brew 14 days or so
US05
250 grms carapils steeped 40 mins. Boiled in about 5 L's water for 30 mins. 24 ltr total.
15 grms Saaz 10 mins
fridged 29.5.11
Filtered and bottled 12.6.11

Have the exact same drinking now as a side by side comparison but with Galena hops. Fantastic as well. I feel a dry hop addition of 15 grms steeped 10 mins and biffed in at beginning of ferment would be even better. Mind you I love hoppy beers but am experimenting with 'fake lagers and pilsners' for a change from heavy IPAs etc. Being winter I take the chance and double brew beers for summer drinking and this time around doing toucans. I am really surprised with the results this far with carapils, fridging, filtering and nice hops suited to the intended style. I am quite enjoying the lager and pilsner style and the clarity of cold conditioning/filtering makes it more enjoyable for some reason

Beer.jpg
 
Put down a batch today:

1 Coopers draught
1 Coopers lager
1 Kg Coopers brewing sugar...just for a little extra oomph.
Made up to 24 litres then dumped in 250ml of 34/70 slurry from an AG pilsener, fired up straight away..I mean it was making gas before I could even get the lid on....
airlock bubbling immediately...
Plan to dry hop with Northern Brewer..20g or 10g each of Northern Brewer and Mittlefruh...will see how I feel on the day.


Cant wait to taste this one...
 
I've done a few now because I have a dedicated toucan keg but I think my favourites were:

2x coopers stout can
1kg dark dried malt
25g fuggles hops
15ml brewcraft liquorice extract
safale s-04 yeast fermented 18C-20C


What ABV did this attain? Got one in the fermenter now and I forgot to take a SG reading... <_<
 
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