Coopers Vintage Ale 2010

[mwd]

Bought a six pack from Dans and quickly got into it no laying down of this pack.

Very nice drop and 7.5%ABV also seems to be a good amount of yeast in each bottle.
Was wondering if anybody has managed to cultivate this yeast from the bottle and is it the same strain as used in the other Coopers ales?

OT prefer this one to the LC Brown Ale. :icon_cheers:

 

[Acasta]

Its recommended to cultivate from low alc. brews, so im not sure how healthy the yeast would be in their.
Not sure if its the regular strain though.

 

[ekul]

I've heard that the bottles aren't as fresh either, being vintage and all.

 

[Mercs Own]

Its recommended to cultivate from low alc. brews, so im not sure how healthy the yeast would be in their.
Not sure if its the regular strain though.

I have never of heard this before? What is the reason behind it?

 

[Newbiebrewer]

I would assume it would have to do with the yeast sitting in a high concentration of their own waste.

 

[white.grant]

I think there's some confusion between reculturing a yeast from a bottle sample and using a yeast cake from a high ABV primary.

Re culturing from high ABV bottle conditioned beers can work out just fine, just ask anyone who has cultured up brett from a bottle of Orval, or the chimay yeast or similar. Usually the bottle has been re seeded with the original yeast to aid in conditioning so you have relatively unstressed yeast.

Using a dead yeast cake is a different thing entirely.

Not sure what's used in the coopers vintage, but I will cellar a case and start to enjoy it in about 5 years

cheers

grant

 

[Acasta]

I have never of heard this before? What is the reason behind it?

I think there's some confusion between reculturing a yeast from a bottle sample and using a yeast cake from a high ABV primary.

This is straight from a rep from the coopers homebrew forum. Member PB2 works with coopers and when discussing re-culturing their yeast he said that its best to get low alc. and freshest bottle possible.

 

[mwd]

Seems to be more yeast in the Vintage bottles than what you find in the Pale Ale or Sparkling.
Have not been able to save any dregs yet drank the lot out of the first three.

 

[MaltyHops]

Coopers Extra Strong Vintage Ale Recipe


... and in case the page disappears:


STEP 1: The Background
We introduced Coopers drinkers to the Strong Ale style (BJCP Style 19.A) with the first release of Coopers Extra Strong Vintage Ale (ESVA) back in 1998. ESVA is a high alcohol, high bitterness, flavoursome beer, which may be consumed young whilst holding excellent prospects for developing with bottle age. When young, it displays a blend of esters and hop aromatics with some alcohol heat and a firm bitter finish.
Aging should see the ester, hop and alcohol meld together, the bitterness soften and toffee/sherry like characters develop. You may like to add a small amount of specialty grain and dry hop with your favourite variety (fuggles, saaz, hallertau, hersbrucker, cascade, perle and magnum were used in previous vintages). Look in our Talk Brewing area for a guide on growing our commercial ale yeast.

STEP 2: Ingredients
1.7kg Australian Pale Ale beer kit
1.7kg Real Ale beer kit
1kg Dextrose
30g Nelson Sauvin pellets
Commercial Coopers Ale yeast (or both sachets of kit yeast)

STEP 3: Method
Dissolve the kits and dextrose in 4 litres of hot water. Fill with cool water to the 21litre mark and stir vigorously. Stir in the wet yeast or sprinkle on the dry yeast. Enclose the hops in a mesh bag and place on top of the brew. Seal and try to ferment at 18C.
Bottle once the SG readings are stable over a couple of days and prime at the normal rate.

STEP 4: Enjoy !
The final alcohol content should be approximately 7.5% ABV.

 

[philw]

has anyone tried making this one ???



how long would you leave it in the fermented and how long in the bottle ??

 

[MaltyHops]

has anyone tried making this one ???

how long would you leave it in the fermented and how long in the bottle ??

Haven't tried making this but using the MS Excel brew calculator from
this site to run thru the ingredients, it estimates the Original Gravity
should be around 1.068 and finish around 1.014 (or if you happen to
use a refractometer to check Specific Gravity, an apparent reading of
1.035 will correspond to 1.014 due to the effects of the created alcohol
on the refractometer - see chart.

Given the high starting OG and recommended brew temperature, I reckon
it will probably need up to ten days or more to finish the initial primary
fermentation. The important thing is that SG readings towards the end
should be the same over a couple of days. Beware of stuck fermentation
though - often activity seem to have stopped and a gentle swirl of the
fermenter will stir up the yeast a bit to resume fermentation.

How long in the bottle ... will depend on how / how much you prime
before bottling. Don't know what your brewing experience is like as
you seem to have joined today - Welcome! BTW - but there are
plenty of information on this site - sing out if you haven't already been
exploring this sites' contents.

I think that once primed and bottled, it will probably need around two
weeks given the current climate for enough CO2 to be generated in
bottle.

Tom.

 

[mwd]

Well I have tried to reculture the yeast from 2010 Vintage ale used only the dregs from 2 stubbies and a mix of dex and DME about 3 tablespoons of each to 300ml of water ( boiled up to steralise and then cooled). It took a couple of days to get going and then took off like a rocket.

Used it as a starter for my slightly modded version of Boagsy's Little Big Horn AIPA
Also taken off like a rocket in 8 hours. Not got an explosive krausen foam but the airlock is going very fast.
Just hope the end result is worth the effort :chug: had problems getting the temperature down as it is unseasonably warm here. ( Sorry you shivering Tasmanians )

 

[philw]

Thanks for that Tom

I am only just starting out

just bottled 2nd batch of Coopers Pale


I have been using the coopers drops 2 in each bottle ( PET ones )

will that be ok as for this batch I would be using Glass bottles and I don't want any bottle bombs


I am still trying to work out all this SG reading stuff Maths and numbers is not my strong point

 

[mwd]

2 drops in the 750ml PET bottles is good but gives quite high carbonation.

Better to get off the drops and use a measure and dextrose or caster sugar or go for bulk priming if you have a spare fermenter or good sized bucket and a length of clear plastic pipe.

 

[MaltyHops]

2 drops in the 750ml PET bottles is good but gives quite high carbonation.

Better to get off the drops and use a measure and dextrose or caster sugar or go for bulk priming if you have a spare fermenter or good sized bucket and a length of clear plastic pipe.

As TB says, 2 drops in the 750ml gives quite high carbonation - after weighing the
bag of drops that came with my original Coopers kit, each drop is about 3.75g and the
online calculator indicates this should eventually generate a "CO2 volume" of around 3.4
- assuming the highest temperature your brew got to is around 17 degrees C.

Whereas if you only use 1 drop per 750mL, it would lead to a "CO2 volume" of around 2.2
which is reasonable. I previously posted about my bulk priming HERE which covers how
the above numbers come up - there are lots of other posts covering this of course.
I've been aiming for a "CO2 volume" of around 2.5 which I find is enough and probably
safe enough to avoid bottle bombs (fingers crossed) - I use Coopers longnecks anyway
which hopefully increases safety even more.

Bulk priming is actually quite easy:
- more convenient than having to put drops in each bottle
- much cheaper as normal cane sugar can be used instead of glucose
- you can have finer control on how much CO2 to aim for
- don't really have to worry about the size of bottles used

Basically calculate how much sugar is needed, dissolve it in a cup or two of boiling
water in a pot, cool it (keep lid on, dunk in sink of cold water), pour it into the brew
just before bottling, maybe gently stir the brew with the bottling wand (which should
have been sterilized so this is ok) to ensure the sugar spreads evenly through quickly.
And that's it.

If you want to stick to using drops for now, putting one into each 750ml bottle for
the Vintage Ale would probably be enough - probably need to give the bottles two
weeks or more to carbonate - but this ought to be a safe thing to do.

View attachment 40728

 

[philw]

Thanks MaltyHops

when I have done my Pale Ale's they have been around the 22 to 24 degrees

this is where my maths is lets me down so I was just following the book of distructions

 

[MaltyHops]

2 drops in the 750ml PET bottles is good but gives quite high carbonation.

Better to get off the drops and use a measure and dextrose or caster sugar or go for bulk priming if you have a spare fermenter or good sized bucket and a length of clear plastic pipe.

As TB says, 2 drops in the 750ml gives quite high carbonation - after weighing the
bag of drops that came with my original Coopers kit, each drop is about 3.75g and the
online calculator indicates this should eventually generate a "CO2 volume" of around 3.4
- assuming the highest temperature your brew got to is around 17 degrees C.

Whereas if you only use 1 drop per 750mL, it would lead to a "CO2 volume" of around 2.2
which is reasonable. I previously posted about my bulk priming HERE which covers how
the above numbers come up - there are lots of other posts covering this of course.
I've been aiming for a "CO2 volume" of around 2.5 which I find is enough and probably
safe enough to avoid bottle bombs (fingers crossed) - I use Coopers longnecks anyway
which hopefully increases safety even more.

Bulk priming is actually quite easy:
- more convenient than having to put drops in each bottle
- much cheaper as normal cane sugar can be used instead of glucose
- you can have finer control on how much CO2 to aim for
- don't really have to worry about the size of bottles used

Basically calculate how much sugar is needed, dissolve it in a cup or two of boiling
water in a pot, cool it (keep lid on, dunk in sink of cold water), pour it into the brew
just before bottling, maybe gently stir the brew with the bottling wand (which should
have been sterilized so this is ok) to ensure the sugar spreads evenly through quickly.
And that's it.

If you want to stick to using drops for now, putting one into each 750ml bottle for
the Vintage Ale would probably be enough - probably need to give the bottles two
weeks or more to carbonate - but this ought to be a safe thing to do.

 

[philw]

well I went to Beer Belly yesterday and Picked up everything to make it and have the fermenter sterilising

 

[MattSR]

I was under the impression (could be wrong) that the yeast used in the bottles wasn't the same strain thats used in the primary, thus protecting the coopers yeast.

A biochemist told me that using blended yeasts also prevents people from harvesting properly as one strain will dominate another and cause the character to change too.

Just my 2c.

Cheers,
Matt

 

[Weizguy]

I was under the impression (could be wrong) that the yeast used in the bottles wasn't the same strain thats used in the primary, thus protecting the coopers yeast.

A biochemist told me that using blended yeasts also prevents people from harvesting properly as one strain will dominate another and cause the character to change too.

Just my 2c.

Cheers,
Matt

I have cultured the yeast from Coopers '99 Vintage successfully, but have not brewed with it yet. More experiments to come, for sure.

Enjoyed the 2010 offering, and think it tastes more like a Yank IPA than a Strong ale.

As for blended yeasts, it's quite difficult to separate the yeast strains again. The story that one yeast "dominates" is not necessarily true, as both would have the same contribution, unless one is present in higher numbers initially. One strain may produce more esters and may seem to be more dominant in the resultant flavour profile.

Les (also a qualified, but not currently practicing biochemist)