'battle Of The Toucans'

[riverside]

I did 1xcan morgans blue mountain larger with 1x brewcraft can mex cer, filled to 25 litres and added some saaz finishing hops.. not to bad at all. My mates loved it and keep asking me to do another !

 

[kjparker]

I was looking to do the following:

1 * Coopers Dark ale
1 * Coopers Australian pale ale
1 * be2
probably 500g brown sugar.

How do you reckon this would turn out? I havent read all 22 pages of this thread, so please forgive me if this one has been discussed already!

 

[earle]

I was looking to do the following:

1 * Coopers Dark ale
1 * Coopers Australian pale ale
1 * be2
probably 500g brown sugar.

How do you reckon this would turn out? I havent read all 22 pages of this thread, so please forgive me if this one has been discussed already!

I've done a few toucans with the dark ale and the euro lager which have come out quite nice. The pale ale and euro lager have the same IBU so you will get something fairly similar. I just add 200-300g of crystal and ferment with Windsor, this adds/leaves enough sweetness to cut back the bitterness a bit. There's some malt in that BE2 of yours which will help in that respect but not having used brown sugar in a brew I can't advise what effect that will have. You have a bit of fermentables there but mine is probably a bit low on the alc% for a porter style anyway. I reckon do it.

 

[kjparker]

I've done a few toucans with the dark ale and the euro lager which have come out quite nice. The pale ale and euro lager have the same IBU so you will get something fairly similar. I just add 200-300g of crystal and ferment with Windsor, this adds/leaves enough sweetness to cut back the bitterness a bit. There's some malt in that BE2 of yours which will help in that respect but not having used brown sugar in a brew I can't advise what effect that will have. You have a bit of fermentables there but mine is probably a bit low on the alc% for a porter style anyway. I reckon do it.

Any idea of what alc% I should be expecting?

I was intending on using both kit yeasts, or pitch on top of the yeast cake from the coopers "lager" I have going at present.

 

[Braumoasta]

Any idea of what alc% I should be expecting?

If it's going to be made up to 23 litres it would probably be around 8.5% (if bottle conditioned).

 

[earle]

Any idea of what alc% I should be expecting?

I was intending on using both kit yeasts, or pitch on top of the yeast cake from the coopers "lager" I have going at present.

I get 6.12% with the brown sugar and 5.3% without. The yeasts with all those kits will be the same strain, as the packs are small even two packs could be a bit light on, pitching on the yeastcake sounds like a good option, just watch out as it will probably take off and generate a high krausen.

Edit: add 0.5% or whatever for priming sugar

 

[Braumoasta]

I get 6.12% with the brown sugar and 5.3% without. The yeasts with all those kits will be the same strain, as the packs are small even two packs could be a bit light on, pitching on the yeastcake sounds like a good option, just watch out as it will probably take off and generate a high krausen.

Edit: add 0.5% or whatever for priming sugar

How did you get those alcohol percentages. Did you use the BE2 as 500g dextrose, 250g dried malt extract and 250g maltodex.?
And the pale ale kit has a different yeast, it is an ale/lager blend.

 

[earle]

How did you get those alcohol percentages. Did you use the BE2 as 500g dextrose, 250g dried malt extract and 250g maltodex.?
And the pale ale kit has a different yeast, it is an ale/lager blend.

I did use those quantities for the BE2 and Beersmith gave me OG 1063 FG 1016 ABV 6.12% (would then need to add 0.5% for priming sugar if not kegged)
Would be curious to get someone else to confirm which of us is correct.

Whether or not his lager yeast is different to the Pale Ale yeast depends on which coopers 'lager' he is using. Linky
My first statement regarding the yeast probably was a bit too broadsweeping.

 

[kjparker]

Whether or not his lager yeast is different to the Pale Ale yeast depends on which coopers 'lager' he is using. Linky
My first statement regarding the yeast probably was a bit too broadsweeping.

It was the original lager series, the same one as comes in the starter kit

 

[earle]

Then your "lager"'s yeast seems to be the same as the one with the dark ale while the pale ale yeast had some some s-189 in it which is a proper lager yeast.

Yeast makes quite a contribution to the flavour of your beer which is why I generally get another yeast anyway. That way you know for sure what you've got and can choose something appropriate to the beer you're trying to create rather than what coopers chucks in with the can. If you purchase from some of the sponsors the pack is twice the size of the coopers yeasts to help you get off to a good start, especially if you pitch dry.

 

[Braumoasta]

I did use those quantities for the BE2 and Beersmith gave me OG 1063 FG 1016 ABV 6.12% (would then need to add 0.5% for priming sugar if not kegged)
Would be curious to get someone else to confirm which of us is correct.

Whether or not his lager yeast is different to the Pale Ale yeast depends on which coopers 'lager' he is using. Linky
My first statement regarding the yeast probably was a bit too broadsweeping.

I've made a very similar recipe; Coopers toucan stout (Stout and Dark ale can) with BE2 and 500g dextrose and got:
OG 1073
FG 1014

Using one online calculator and a manual method I get alcohol percentages of 8.6% and 8.4%

which is pretty close to what this estimator for the same recipe gives for both recipes (assuming brown sugar is 100% or close to 100% fermentable): http://homebrew.com.au/wa.asp?idWebPage=96...p;idDetails=120

 

[earle]

I think the difference must be coming from the figures we use for each ingredient.
From my beersmith:
Kits/liquid malt extract 1.035
DME 1.044
Dextrose/brown sugar 1.046
Maltodextrin is set up as an miscellaneous so I think it doesn't add anything in for gravity, but this shouldn't affect the alc% calcuation as it doesn't really make any alcohol.

I may need to start comparing actual gravities with the estimated a bit more. The above figures tend to be an estimate from a range anyway. I'm not that concerned with the alc% of my own beers anyway but perhaps I'll refrain from calculating % for others unless I check the calibration.

 

[kjparker]

I think the difference must be coming from the figures we use for each ingredient.
From my beersmith:
Kits/liquid malt extract 1.035
DME 1.044
Dextrose/brown sugar 1.046
Maltodextrin is set up as an miscellaneous so I think it doesn't add anything in for gravity, but this shouldn't affect the alc% calcuation as it doesn't really make any alcohol.

I may need to start comparing actual gravities with the estimated a bit more. The above figures tend to be an estimate from a range anyway. I'm not that concerned with the alc% of my own beers anyway but perhaps I'll refrain from calculating % for others unless I check the calibration.

Be2 is a mix of dme, dextrose, and maltodextrin, so that could be the difference.

I do have about a half kilo of dex, and about a half kilo of dme. Do you reckon these would be better in the fermenter as opposed to the be2? Along with the brown sugar?

 

[going down a hill]

I read on these forums a while back (so it has to be true, I read it on the internet) that BE2 is 50% dex, 25% maltodex and 25% dme. If I were you I would use what you have, maltodex is a junk adjunct dme wins for me every time.

 

[kjparker]

I was looking to do the following:

1 * Coopers Dark ale
1 * Coopers Australian pale ale
1 * be2
probably 500g brown sugar.

How do you reckon this would turn out? I havent read all 22 pages of this thread, so please forgive me if this one has been discussed already!

Ok, Going to put this down as soon as the fermenting fridge is free.

I have the choice of using either three kit yeasts, they should be all the same, or on the US-05 yeast cake I will have when the current batch is done.

Thoughts?

 

[mwd]

Collect about 300ml of the US05 yeastcake and use that. You can boil up a packet of kit yeast and add it as yeast nutrient.

I have done stout toucans with 05 and never had any go ballistic and climb out of the fermenter.

 

[petesbrew]

Coopers European Lager
Coopers Canadian Blonde
180g Carapils - Steeped
25g Oz Saaz - dry hopped
S-189 Swiss Lager yeast

Filled to 20L - OG=1050
Been sitting in the garage between 11-14c. Not too worried about the swing, and it's tasting promising for a toucan lager.
Currently down to 1012.

 

[bigalwhat]

This thread is really informative but a little overwhelming to read also


I just need a bit a advice... I have 3 brews under my belt and they have all turned out really well.
But I had a mate gave me a can of coopers stout and a can of coopers Australian pale ale.
Would these be OK to make a toucan brew? If so do I use both yeast sachets?
And should I add some dextrose and anything else like malt extract.

Any help from you brew gurus out there would be really appreciated

 

[mwd]

Cherry Stout toucan ???

Coopers Stout + Coopers IPA
500g Wheat Malt
500g Raw Sugar

Nottingham yeast

2x cans of Coles Black Cherries and juice mashed with potato masher and added after 4 days.
( heard that sour cherries work better than sweet ones but they are not ready available in supermarkets )

SG is reading 1.020 presently but looks like it has stopped.

tasted the hydro sample and could not detect any hint of cherry at all Oh well.
Leave it in the fermenter longer and see if the SG drops some more and picks up a bit of cherry.

Bottled 10th June had one or two drinking quite well. Don't think I can detect cherry but who cares.
Stout can and IPA go together quite well. Trying to hold off to see how it improves with bottle age.

 

[mwd]

This thread is really informative but a little overwhelming to read also


I just need a bit a advice... I have 3 brews under my belt and they have all turned out really well.
But I had a mate gave me a can of coopers stout and a can of coopers Australian pale ale.
Would these be OK to make a toucan brew? If so do I use both yeast sachets?
And should I add some dextrose and anything else like malt extract.

Any help from you brew gurus out there would be really appreciated

Should be fine you can use both yeasts or buy some Nottingham or S04 may make an improvement.

Depends how alcoholic you require the finished brew on whether or not to add dex or malt extract.

See above recipe for an idea. I didn't run the figures but reckon it is between 6 and 7% I am not one who worries too much about the technicalities just do it and see how it turns out.

Here is a calculator that will give a rough and ready alcohol level Brewcraft brew calculator