Coopers English Bitter

[BjornJ]

Just bought the Coopers English Bitter can, will try tomorrow.
Thinking of making it without any specialty grain or hops, just using the can and .5 kg of LDME like it says on the can.
Probably good to try it like it is to get a baseline before trying anything "fancy"


Any feedback from homebrewers who have used this exact can and yeast like it is?
I was thinking of buying some US-56 to replace the kit yeast with, but then I have to do a long walk at lunch tomorrow.

It says to only use .5 kg of LDME, that will give a low-alcohol beer, I would think. I like that, so will not add anything else.

Would this kit benefit from secondary fermenting, a week in the fridge after that, etc or just a week in primary and bottle?

cheers
Bjorn

 

[tcraig20]

If you want to buy a different yeast for it, go with S04 over S05. I expect the kit yeast is the same as the other cooper's ales. It will be OK, but a better yeast will give better beer obviously.

I havent made or even seen this kit - half a kilo of malt does sound odd though. Perhaps they are aiming for an ordinary bitter?

I dont see much point using secondaries for ales, I'd just go primary then bottle

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Use the Coopers yeast...there is nothing wrong with it ( I have even used it in AG brews..... :icon_cheers: )

Just keep the temp under 18*c and you will be suprised....

 

[rclemmett]

Use the Coopers yeast...there is nothing wrong with it ( I have even used it in AG brews..... :icon_cheers: )

Just keep the temp under 18*c and you will be suprised....

The yeast should be good and fresh considering they're a new line.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Coopers yeast is made by Maui, a commercial yeast manufacturer, but made with Coopers spec yeast, specifically for Coopers

 

[base2aau]

I bought one of these the other day from coles, I had never seen it before, I would like to turn this into more of a kilkenny style, any suggestions? Maybe a little grain? perhaps a little crystal

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

It is a new Kit..

It would be to bitter to make a Kilkenny...


BUT...I would steep some Carrared and Cararoma and add it to the kit

 

[BjornJ]

but will the kit yeast work below 18 degrees?

thanks for the comments, would love to hear from someone who has made this kit "as is" but maybe it is to new still?

 

[bum]

The only discussion I've seen around the traps is guys saying they have/will put this down as per directions but there's no tasting notes yet that I have seen.

Kit yeast will work at lower temps than instructions suggest - it'll just take longer.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Yes it will work below 18*c, but it will be slower..but it wont go below about 15-16*c...it will sort of stop working about that temp. 18*c is about perfect


Slower is good.. The higher the temp, the more bad flavours you will get

 

[Bizier]

I am drinking a beer right now that was fermented with 4 sachets of coopers yeast because I had nothing else on hand to pitch at the time. It does create a drinkable beer. I fermented at 17 deg C, but I honestly would have preferred nearly any other yeast. The yeast profile is the least desirable element of the beer.

ED: SO4 will be the bet here, or Windsor if you have access, you want the approprioate yeast aroma and taste.

 

[Fourstar]

Coopers yeast is fine but with s04 it will be better. Infact, a smack pack of Wyeast 1068 would be better still... that is of course if the point of this exercise is to make good beer.

 

[BjornJ]

So S04 would be better than us-56? Is that because of different tastes from the yeast or from different levels of "falling solidly to the bottom of the bottle" ?

It will be fermenting at 18-20 degrees, probably closer to 20.

thanks
Bjorn

 

[petesbrew]

I noticed on the weekend the price of this kit had dropped from $20 to $13 at our local coles (carlingford)

 

[A3k]

So S04 would be better than us-56? Is that because of different tastes from the yeast or from different levels of "falling solidly to the bottom of the bottle" ?

It will be fermenting at 18-20 degrees, probably closer to 20.

thanks
Bjorn

Different yeasts produce different flavours due to esters etc. English yeasts (like S-04) generally produce lots of fruity esters, whereas the US ale yeasts such as S-05 don't and don't produce as many flavours. If you're making an English style beer, an english style yeast will get you closer. But doesn't mean you have to do that at all.

 

[RdeVjun]

So S04 would be better than us-56?

No, not necessarily, just different. They're both popular ale yeasts, I'd use S-04.

Is that because of different tastes from the yeast or from different levels of "falling solidly to the bottom of the bottle" ?

Definitely the former mate, the taste will be different. Flocculation (i.e. settling of suspended solids, leading to beer clarity) is often a nice helpful effect and it varies considerably across strains, but I've yet to hear of folks selecting a particular yeast on flocculation characteristics ahead of flavour, though its always a possibility I guess.

As per other posts, I certainly recommend using a better yeast than the Coopers and as far as dried yeast goes, again, S-04 is probably the one I'd be using.

It will be fermenting at 18-20 degrees, probably closer to 20.

Those temps will be just peachy, no worries there at all.

Oh, from your OP, just on transferring your brew to secondary, some folks do, some don't. I tend to do it, but its not a hard and fast rule and you won't wreck your brew if you don't, or if you do, just be sure that your santiation is up to scratch. Enhancing flocculation is one reason for doing it, and also to get the brew off the yeast cake is another, and even just to free up the fermenter, etc...

Also from your OP, the recipe with 0.5kg of LDME is obviously very basic. I've done that sort of thing ages ago with an APA, very ordinary result and, while it gives a bit of clarity in terms of how the tin looks almost naked, I agree with stu and suggest steeping some carared or caraaroma, boiling that will give you an opportunity to add some flavour and aroma hops, all of which should be very pleasing.

Anyway, keep us posted hey? I've not seen this tin locally yet and am keen to hear as many reports as possible on how it goes. Cheers!

Edit: Misread stu's post- is prob too bitter for Kilkenny.

 

[BjornJ]

Great, thanks for your help.
So S-04 sounds like something for me, clear beer and a more "English" taste, whatever that is. Not sure why a pommy-tasting beer would be good, though. Hehe..

Will walk up to Daves homebrew at lunch and grab some, but have a question :

I want to put it a week in primary, then a week or so in secondary as I just bottled my mexican with extra grains/hops and quite a bit of crap was left in the bottom of the secondary, and then a week in the fridge (still in the cube) before bottling.
But will the yeast S-04 be able to carbonate the bottles after all this time if it flocculates so well? Won't it all be dead/in the yeast cake by then if it takes 3 weeks from pitching to bottling?



thanks again, learning heaps from this forum!

Bjorn

 

[Philthy79]

Great, thanks for your help.
So S-04 sounds like something for me, clear beer and a more "English" taste, whatever that is. Not sure why a pommy-tasting beer would be good, though. Hehe..



Bjorn

Whats wrong with "Pommy-tasting" beers?!?!

 

[Fourstar]

Hey BjornJ,

Yeah, the SO4 will give a English fruity profile, US05 can tend to be 'citrus fruity' at the higher end of ferment temps which is not a typical character of an English ale. On a side note, US05 is good to use if you want a 'clean/neutral' yeast profile if you ferment it low (18deg~). As for the Secondary, don't worry, there will be more than enough yeast there to ferment out in the bottles.

 

[BjornJ]

thanks, will update with results when ready,

Bjorn