Coopers Pale Ale Yeast Temp

Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum

Help Support Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Moray

Well-Known Member
Joined
9/12/02
Messages
220
Reaction score
0
Hi all,

I'm planning on culturing the yeast from some coopers pale ale.
Does any one know what temp would be best for this yeast to brew with?

I'm think 22 degrees.

anyone have any other suggestions

cheers
Moray
 
Moray,
From what I have read about this yeast, 22 degrees will work well. It can apparently work up to and over 25 degrees without adding to many odd flavours to the brew.
I haven't heard any bad reviews about it.
Enjoy.
 
I use this yeast at 16C ambient (18C if you have a wort probe). Any higher and the result is far less than pleasing!
 
Australian pale ale style (aka coopers sparkling ale/Original pale ale) is supposed to have medium to high fruitiness. Coopers now brew at 20c but traditionally temps would have been higher.
 
Moray,
From what I have read about this yeast, 22 degrees will work well. It can apparently work up to and over 25 degrees without adding to many odd flavours to the brew.
I haven't heard any bad reviews about it.
Enjoy.
The higher end of things produces a lot more banana character, and is not to everyone's liking - 25 degrees is likely to taste like a banana sandwitch.
It ferments well down to 16deg, and I'd recommend staying at the low end (17-18) for close resemblance to Coopers Pale.
Well worth the trouble IMHO!
 
I just started the reculter of some Coopers Pale Ale yeast last night.
Anyone got some suggestions on the best way to keep the starter at a reasonable constant 18-20?

I don't really want it to get any warmer as I read in another thread that if you get the banana in the starter it will transfer.
 
I just started the reculter of some Coopers Pale Ale yeast last night.
Anyone got some suggestions on the best way to keep the starter at a reasonable constant 18-20?

I don't really want it to get any warmer as I read in another thread that if you get the banana in the starter it will transfer.
Fermentation fridge.
Esky with ice blocks.
Make sure you pitch a nice big starter to ensure it attenuates well (Coopers finishes about 1.006).
 
Fermentation fridge.
Esky with ice blocks.
Make sure you pitch a nice big starter to ensure it attenuates well (Coopers finishes about 1.006).

Unfortunately can't use Fermentation fridge, its currently set for lager with brew in it.
was thinking about the esky option.

I used 4 stubbies for the yeast into 800ml of about a 1040 mini wort. Would that be sufficient?
 
Don't worry about the temp of the starter, just put it in the fridge once it has fully fermented and then once it has settled pour the beer off the top and just pitch the slurry.
 
Unfortunately can't use Fermentation fridge, its currently set for lager with brew in it.
was thinking about the esky option.

I used 4 stubbies for the yeast into 800ml of about a 1040 mini wort. Would that be sufficient?

4 stubbies is a good start, though you'll probably still find that this takes several days for the culture to grow and ferment out the starter.
Last time I did this was from 4 stubbies, into 500ml starter, and it took 5 days on a stir-plate!
If you have the means, best to ramp your starter up to 1.5 - 2Ltr for a really good pitching rate, and as kevnlis suggested, settle out the yeast in the fridge before pitching just the slurry.
Alternatively, just brew a batch of some simple kit as a test-run (and bottle the result if you must!), then repitch 1 cup of the slurry into your Coopers Clone. This will probably work out a better pitching quanitity the second batch. My current Coopers slurry has been reused 5 times, and still producing nice beers!

Good luck with it, and enjoy the result.
 
I just started the reculter of some Coopers Pale Ale yeast last night.
Anyone got some suggestions on the best way to keep the starter at a reasonable constant 18-20?

I don't really want it to get any warmer as I read in another thread that if you get the banana in the starter it will transfer.

When propagating yeast you want it keep it at its optimal growth temperature ( around 26C ), remembering you are primarily making yeast with the starter, not beer.

I have a heater in a fridge to keep the temperature up that high while propagating the yeast.

If you are worried about the resulting starter wort (which you probably should be after propagating at 26C), cold crash the starter and pour the starter wort off before pitching.
 
Lauri Strachan - The complkete guide to beer & brewing 2006

Australian sparkling ale (Coopers it the only historical example)

"the most important property of coopes yeast is that it fermentts strogly and true at quite high temperatures, up to and over 25c without creating toomany fruit flavours. It also gives a light fruit character to the beer.

All the info I have tread seems to suggest that coopers yeast should be fermented above 20c (coopers themselves ferment at 20c). However they all include sugar in the recipe as this is supposed to be "authentic practice" for true australian ales except that coopers denies using sugar. Any thoughts?
 
where do coopers deny using sugar in their beers?

i thought it was a well known fact that coopers use sugar, around 10%-15% isnt it? helps keep their gravity low (1.007 isnt it?)

going from memory here, so please dont quote me on any of this.
 
Coopers use 15% sugar in almost all of their beers. I can say with near certainty that they do not ferment at 20C, try that yeast at 20C, and then at 16C, I am sure you will understand after this.
 
Interesting to note that I red Strachans recipe and he says to ferment at 16-18, despite his earlier comment.

I will get back to you with the Coopers info on Temperature and sugar. as I want to make absolutely certain I am not misquoting. Will have more info soon. It does seem to be a universal assumption that coopers use sugar.

rgds mike
 
Very safe temp is 18 deg. This is hard to maintain in summer without some sort of temp control. It can get away from you easily.

I have had very good results at this temp without any sugar in the recipe as the yeast doesn't give up on any available fermentables, so you still get a dryish finish with balanced fruit, malt and yeast characters.

It is also easy to propogate. Only one stubbie's sediment in 250mL of wort, then stepped up to 1L gets a 23L batch up and running in no time.
 
IMHO I don't think there is one given temp for a strain of yeast. It will depend on what I am going to brew.

Using the Coopers PAle Ale yeast

18 for a larger
20 for a draught
22 for a Pale Ale; I do want some fruity flavours here.

Remember its all about your personal taste buds too.

QldKev
 
Just wondering if qldkev has used coopers recultured yeast at 22 degrees before. If you have you'll know that you'll make banana beer. Try it at 16 - 18 degrees for the real thing
 
Coopers no longer use sugar in their pale ale. Sparkling ale, stout, etc. have sugar in the grist.
 
Back
Top