Coopers Sparkling Ale

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i'm jealous joecast. shoulda picked it up last Sat.
any chance of confirming from the instuctions if the extra 500 gram of LME that Wardy mentioned in earlier on should be liquid or dry.

cheers
 
johnno,
looking at the instruction booklet from under the cap now.


well, that doesnt look good! hope you can read it. basically an extra500g light dme, and 300g dex. the dex probably to lighten the body and give an extra bit of abv.
joe

coopers.jpg
 
Thanks very muchly joecast

i'll just make the first one as oiginal as possible and just use the yeast that comes with it.

cheers
 
Well guys, this brew has now been going for 6 days and it tastes bloody fantastic!! I could drink it straight from the fermenter. I swear it tastes just like the original... same aroma, same flavour. SG is now down to 1.016... it should be a ripper when it's done.

I used 1.5kg morgans pale LME, 500 light DME, 300g dextrose.

Even the colour is fantastic. There is a lot of crap in the bottom of the fermentor. I always get a good dose of sludge first when i try and take a hydrometer reading. So i always have to take a second.

I was not going to rack this one until bulk priming, as many on the grumpy site say racking is not always necessary, especially for ales. But i know from the last brew, that the yeast cake absolutely stinks... and that must impart something into the beer.

only one way to find out....

cheers
 
is this similar to the Coopers Pale Ale on tap at the local?
 
welcome BEERBOY.
this is the not the Pale. Its the Sparkling with the red label.
Come to think of it WHY didnt Coopers release this in a kit as well??

cheers
 
wardy said:
I used 1.5kg morgans pale LME, 500 light DME, 300g dextrose.
Wardy,

Didnt chuck any hops in??? Cant decide if i should or not. Might just go a natural one to start with. I can't wait to get this beast bubbling, just gotta wait for a spare fermentor. My LHBS just said add extra 500gm DME, didnt mention the dextrose. Lucky you guys mentioned that or i would have forgot.

I was going to propagate some yeast from a sparkling bottle but HBS said that coopers add a diferent strain of yeast before secondary, or before they bottle or something. So im just going to stick with the yeast that came with it this time.

How long do you think she will take to ferment with the extra 500gm DME and 300 dextrose. I have to go interstate soon and i have allowed 9 days in my fermenters for it, but im thinking it will take a lot longer...........

Anyway, keep us updated with how she tastes.
 
I put this on earlier today.
I was going to vary the recipe by propogating yeast from the bottle, dry hopping etc but then decided to just do as per the instructions so I could see how it comes out. Can always vary it if their is ever a next time.
LME(1.5kg) was Coopers but DME(500gm) was from another HBS.
Recipe called for all ingredients to be mixed in fermenter.
I boiled all the malt for about 10 mins but not the dextrose(300gm).
This is the most malt I've ever used in a brew.
Filled to 22.5 litre.
I mostly dont do any starters with the yeast. I have been very successful in the past but this one didnt work. :(
Still pitched it at about 25C. (hope i dont make wine :lol: )
OG was 1052. Tastes very good as well.
hope the weather stays cool :)


cheers
 
hey guys,
made mine up on thursday. used 1kg morgans beer enhancer and 500g dme. filled to 20l. pitched yeast at 28c (a bit warmer than i wanted). six hours later it was bubbling like mad. temp dropped to 24c by friday morning and the bubbling slowed considerably. try to keep it around 22c the rest of the time in primary.
by saturday morning temp was about 22c and it was looking like it was about done fermenting. i was a bit worried thinking i may have to pitch anothey yeast. checked the sg and it was down to 1013 (about 1048og). the taste was pretty raw, probably from the hops (15g goldings @30min, 15g fuggles @20min) but should mellow out.
ill let it sit for about a week as i have to work anyway, and rack it for two weeks. must admit i am really looking forward to this one.
joe
 
Barnzy.... no, i didn't put any hops in... unfortunately don't know anything about them. About to learn right now!! I was going to stick to the original recipe... then do another batch, which i would hop.

From the books i guess you bitter with POR during the boil of the wort. Any ideas on additions anyone?

Then for the dry hopping, i think one of the guys suggested Cascade???
again any ideas on additions and for how long?

cheers
 
I would recommend dry hopping with 15 grams of Goldings for 1 week. From that you can adjust to suit your own taste for your next brew.
Cascade as a dry hop would be better if you had used some as a flavour hop as well. IMO. But try it if it is what you have and report back on results.
Good luck

Cheers and bollocks
TDA
 
Hmmmm Muntons liquid extract is available here???

Go for the Muntons, topnotch stuff, but check the use-by date: liquid extract gets that "extract" twang a lot earlier than the dried stuff does.

That seems a lot of extract, making (off the top of my pointy head) an OG 1050 beer

Jovial Monk
 
Pretty spot on there Jovial monk. I brewed up my baby last night with the extra 500 DME and 300 dextrose and the OG came out at 1048, but i put closer to 24 litres water and spilt a bit of malt down the side of my fermenter :angry: .

I used a yeast starter for the first time, the yeast starter was bubbling nicely, then after i pitched it the were no bubbles for hours, i thought it would start straight away. Then when i dragged my arse out of bed this morning (well afternoon) she was going nuts. Had over 3cm of krausen.

Can't wait to sink some of these suckers
 
Keep us imformed , interested in how this kit turns out
 
Once you start using liquid yeasts you need to get used to long lag times, and a long lag time is NOT necessarily bad!!

You won't be pitching anywhere near as much yeast as with dry yeast. When you pitch a starter, the yeast spends time adjusting to your wort: its composition, gravity, temperature etc. It then starts budding while there is oxygen in your wort, while it is doing this it only creates tiny amounts of (metabolic by-product) gases. The more oxygen, the longer the budding process will take.

By consuming oxygen the yeasts are making life impossible for aerobic bacteria and lowering wort pH, so your beer is being protected even if you don't see any signs of life/airlock bubbling. And a huge amount of yeast is being generated. So, aeration is really important with liquid yeasts: shaking the fermenter does not cut it anymore.

You understand then that at the end of the budding phase all the yeast cells except the very latest generation have crater marks on the cell walls, and they cannot control the entry or egress of ions and molecules passing through the cratermarks. So for beers with OG>=1050 you should aerate again 14-18 hours after pitching (ideally) and the yeast use this second smaller burst of oxygen to generate sterols by which they repair their cellwalls. You now have plentyful and healthy yeast to ferment even the biggest beer in 5 days.

For more info, search on "Clayton Cone" in www.hbd.org archives.

If there is no airlock action or krausen (never trust an airlock!!!!) etc aerate the wort by dropping it into another fermenter a few feet below the full one.

Jovial Monk
 
All right, it is getting close to bottling time for these babies.

What do you guys reckon would be the best priming sugar (i know it wont change the flavour much). ATM i prob use about 170gm of dextrose unless there are some better ideas???

Cheers
 
i would use 100g of wheat dme, boil up in a cup or two of the beer, rack beer to bottling bucket in which the dme solution has already been placed, couple carefull stirs, bottle and cap

Jovial Monk
 
going to bottle this one this weekend. its been in the secondary for just about 2 weeks. at least the cool weather down here helped .
took a reading 2 nights ago and it tasted the goods.

cheers
 
Did one myself Johnno , as per instructions , I want to see what it is like

Sometimes I am pressed for time and low on beer stocks , a good easy chuck it together would be great , I am sure I'll fiddle with it once I taste it , can't help myself
 

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