Coopers Pale Ale Clone Hows It Look?

[TidalPete]

G'day Andrew & Gough,

I'm thinking of having a go at a Cooper's clone as I manage to make up 8 Coopers yeasts out of a bottle of Sparkling Ale. Are the hops in your recipes cones or pellets??? :unsure: :unsure:

 

[AndrewQLD]

Hi Tidalpete,

I used flowers in my clone, but pellets or plugs would be fine, just make sure you IBU to 26.
Sadly my Coopers clone has evaporated and I heard the dreaded psssst just yesterday. Oh well another excuse to brew .

Regards
Andrew

 

[SteveSA]

Well mine has been in the bottle for around 4 weeks now and is evaporating pretty quickly too. Colour is pale straw and mouthfeel is light with a good dry finish.

Hop bitterness is a touch high perhaps. I was aiming for 25IBU but it seems higher. This could be due to harshness from POR though or it may be that my hop utilisation needs to be increased (something I have suspected for a while). To me seems around 30 IBUs. Next time I'll use half POR and half Hallertau I think.

A major fault though is despite being fermented at a controlled 20C there is a HUGE lolly banana ester and flavour that wasn't evident in the starter. It's been there from the start of fermentation and hasn't dissipated at all. SWMBO says to pass it off as fruit beer <_<

It was the first time I had cultured from a Coopers bottle. Has anyone else encountered this?

Choccys & Bananas
Steve

 

[Gough]

I used Pellets in mine Tidalpete. Like Andrew said it wouldn't make a major difference either way, just keep your hopping relatively low - 26 IBU is a good target - and don't go for too much of a 'flavour' addition late in the boil. Simple is good with this style I reckon, and the yeast contributes a lot of the flavour. 18 is a good temp to ferment at. If you are mashing then a mash temp at the cooler end is a good idea, especially if you aren't adding sugar.

Good luck,

Shawn.

 

[Darren]

A major fault though is despite being fermented at a controlled 20C there is a HUGE lolly banana ester and flavour that wasn't evident in the starter. It's been there from the start of fermentation and hasn't dissipated at all. SWMBO says to pass it off as fruit beer <_<

It was the first time I had cultured from a Coopers bottle. Has anyone else encountered this?


Howdy Steve,
It is not suprising that you got banana. Coopers ale yeast is filtered out of the beer before bottling. Some may get through to the bottle but most is a bottling strain of yeast, not the primary ferment strain.
Fire away!

 

[RobW]

A major fault though is despite being fermented at a controlled 20C there is a HUGE lolly banana ester and flavour that wasn't evident in the starter. It's been there from the start of fermentation and hasn't dissipated at all. SWMBO says to pass it off as fruit beer <_<

It was the first time I had cultured from a Coopers bottle. Has anyone else encountered this?

Choccys & Bananas
Steve

[post="55831"][/post]​

Yep. Same thing. In fact mine fermented at 22C so may have been even more in your face. It settled down after a month or so & is drinking OK now (what's left that is) although the hint of banana is still there. Doesn't taste anything like a Coopers though.

 

[warrenlw63]

Agree and disagree,

Steve, if you ferment it at 15-17 it gives some nice, (albeit prominent) esters. I've recultured it quite a few times when I'm too lousy to buy a smackpack. I've found that higher than this leaves the beer a little too fruity and it's not to everybody's tastes.

Darren, not sure if they're the same strain (ferment and bottling). I must agree though that I've never been able to capture the exact profile of CSA when trying to clone it which would explain your theory.

All that said the yeast makes pretty versatile range of beers.

Warren -

 

[locost]

My understanding is that Coopers do not use a bottling strain. Word has it that Cooper's centrifuge and krausen their beers just before bottling. that said, I always got banana beer using Cooper's yeast and gave up on it for that very reason.

 

[AndrewQLD]

My understanding is that Coopers do not use a bottling strain. Word has it that Cooper's centrifuge and krausen their beers just before bottling. that said, I always got banana beer using Cooper's yeast and gave up on it for that very reason.

Well in that case I am glad my attempt at making a starter from the CPA failed . Using a white labs culture I ended up with a pretty close approximation to the original but no fruitiness to speak of, very clean and dry.

Andrew

 

[Gough]

Mine had the Coopers yeast profile as per the real thing, but no 'banana' flavours or excessive fruitiness. Was definitely a little maltier on the finish than the Sparkling, but not overwhelmingly so. It was fermented at 18 in my fridge and had a 5 day secondary at the same temp before a 7 day cc to clean it up a little. No bananas though...

Shawn.

 

[Darren]

A few years ago a Coopers yeast strain came into a lab where I worked. This strain was kept under lock and key at all times.
Seems quite pedantic for a company that apparently bottles with the primary strain.

 

[Gout]

i am just drinking my coopers ale wanna be clone and i used the coopers ale yeast, it has floc'ed out really well to clean the beer and i was drinking it the day i kegged

no bananna flavours and its rather cleanish. Similar flavour to coopers althouh mine finished more like 1011FG so more body, malt and hops... however i found the yeast fine

I am building (trying) up another 2 stubbies to do another batch. last time i tried i used 1099 and it was also great

 

[PeterS]

Has anybody else noticed that a recultured coopers yeast produces strong diacetyl in the early stages that gradually disappears at about 4 week in bottle?

I ve had pale ale on tap and in bottle that had the same diacetyl flavour on separate occasions.I put it down to beer released too early at busy times in the market.

Having said all that I've used this yeast many times at 16/18 c and had no problems long term with excessive esters.
May be someone should chuck one in a weizen and let it go at 20c and see what happens.???

[post="55930"][/post]​

As it so happens, earlier today I was reading an article about diacetyl on the web. Don't ask me where for I forgotten it already. In essence I learned that diacetyl is a natural bi product of yeast activity. The amount produced is related to the number of active yeast in solution at any one time. Therefore, because you made a starter from a Coopers Bottle, the active yeast produced could vary from one batch to the next. I am thinking of underpitching and overpitching here. Fermentation temperatures also plays a big part here as yeast reproduce more rapidly at higher temperatures, thereby becoming more active and finishing their job at a faster pace also introducing often unwanted bi products.

That is my understanding of what I read and you seemed to have confirmed that.

Cheers. :beer:

 

[pint of lager]

Brewing Techniques- Diacetyl article

Some yeasts create more diacetyl than others. The amount created is temperature dependant. Some yeasts are well known to remove diacetyl.

 

[PeterS]

Brewing Techniques- Diacetyl article

Some yeasts create more diacetyl than others. The amount created is temperature dependant. Some yeasts are well known to remove diacetyl.

[post="55936"][/post]​

Thanks Pint of Lager. That was the article all right. I was just reciting what I read or more to the point, my impressions of what I thought I read after a pint or so.

Cheers.
:beer:

 

[Jye]

Yesterday I did Andrews clone of CPA but I used pilsner instead of pale malt since the local HBS was fresh out. What sort of change should I expect from this? From what I have read they are similar and I am new to AG so I not mind a little bit of experimenting

Cheers
Jye :beer:

 

[AndrewQLD]

Yesterday I did Andrews clone of CPA but I used pilsner instead of pale malt since the local HBS was fresh out. What sort of change should I expect from this? From what I have read they are similar and I am new to AG so I not mind a little bit of experimenting

Cheers
Jye :beer:

[post="76422"][/post]​

Jye,
I have made that recipe with pilsner as well as ale malt, and it turned out fine, the one thing I can suggest is to rack off the yeast when fermentation has finished and if possible cold condition for as long as possible up to six weeks and the beer will be crystal clear and very crisp.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Kai]

Has anybody else noticed that a recultured coopers yeast produces strong diacetyl in the early stages that gradually disappears at about 4 week in bottle?

Sorry for the delayed response but yes, I have noticed that in past. I would get nice clean beer in the secondary, then once bottled it would develop really strong diacetyl flavour that would disappear a few weeks later. I think that since I started doing bigger starters (1.5L as opposed to 700mL) the problem went away, but I'm not 100% sure yet.

 

[Jye]

Cheers Andrew, I was think about a week in the primary, week in the secondary and then CC for about 2 weeks or until a keg is empty.

 

[jimmysuperlative]

Hi all,

I am attempting a Coopers pale ale clone for a friend and was hoping to get some critique. Most of the information for this recipe has come from a couple of books I have, " Amber and Black" ( which has a photo of a whiteboard at the coopers brewery with grain listings and amounts for all of their brews and kits) and also " the ultimate beer encyclopedia).
Also, I know the sugar content looks high, but after working the figures back from the final ABV it appears that about 18-20% of sugar is used by Coopers and this seems to be whta I have heard from other sources as well.

Any comments would be appreciated.
Regards
Andrew

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Coopers Pale Ale Clone
Brewer: Andrew Clark
Asst Brewer:
Style: Australian Pale Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 23.00 L
Boil Size: 28.84 L
Estimated OG: 1.043 SG
Estimated Color: 7.5 EBC
Estimated IBU: 26.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
3.00 kg Pale Malt, Traditional Ale (Joe White) (5Grain 79.6 %
0.10 kg Wheat Malt, Malt Craft (Joe White) (3.5 EGrain 2.7 %
0.02 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (157.6 EBC) Grain 0.5 %
23.00 gm Pride Of Ringwood [10.00%] (60 min) Hops 26.5 IBU
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
0.65 kg Cane (Beet) Sugar (0.0 EBC) Sugar 17.2 %
1 Pkgs Coopers Pale Ale (Coopers Bottle) [StartYeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 3.12 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Mash In Add 9.36 L of water at 73.2 C 65.6 C 60 min

Andrew, I'm thinking about a CPA for my next BIAB ...found this in my searching, and I notice on your signature you've got one in the fermenter at the moment.

Any changes to the recipe as listed above? What yeast are you pitching, re-cultured or fresh?
If you have any other tips or advice I'd appreciate them too

Cheers