Cpa Yeast

[stef]

Hi everyone,

A few months ago I put down an extract recipe with recultured coopers yeast. For my first AG early next week i was planning to do AndrewQLDs coopers pale clone using another batch of recultured yeast. However, my temp control unit arrived DOA, so now i'm going to have to ferment without control. WHen i put the extract recipe down, it fermented in the cellar with a constant ambient temp of about 20 degrees. This is what i'll have to do for the AG brew next week. My question is- will the banana flavour be stronger, weaker or the same as in the extract recipe?

When i did the extract recipe, the banana smell was really strong early in fermentation, and the taste was quite strong but is dying as the beer ages. I'm trying to avoid the banana flavour- i'd like it to taste nice and clean- but i believe do to this a temp of about 16 should be used...

I also plan to overpitch and i might try to get a wet towel around the fermenter too. Anything else that would help? Or will the flavours be less prevalent in the AG version anyway?

CHeers,
stef


(sorry about the rambling sort of question)

 

[geoffi]

AG/extract shouldn't have much bearing. Temp is the key. I ferment this yeast at about 16c and it comes out quite clean.

I ferment in a broken-down old chest freezer, and use frozen PET bottles to keep the temp down. Works a charm, even in mid-summer. Another idea is put your fermenter in a large cardboard box and keep cool with frozen bottles, ice etc.

A little investment in temperature control goes a LONG way in improving the quality of your beer.

Hi everyone,

A few months ago I put down an extract recipe with recultured coopers yeast. For my first AG early next week i was planning to do AndrewQLDs coopers pale clone using another batch of recultured yeast. However, my temp control unit arrived DOA, so now i'm going to have to ferment without control. WHen i put the extract recipe down, it fermented in the cellar with a constant ambient temp of about 20 degrees. This is what i'll have to do for the AG brew next week. My question is- will the banana flavour be stronger, weaker or the same as in the extract recipe?

When i did the extract recipe, the banana smell was really strong early in fermentation, and the taste was quite strong but is dying as the beer ages. I'm trying to avoid the banana flavour- i'd like it to taste nice and clean- but i believe do to this a temp of about 16 should be used...

I also plan to overpitch and i might try to get a wet towel around the fermenter too. Anything else that would help? Or will the flavours be less prevalent in the AG version anyway?

CHeers,
stef


(sorry about the rambling sort of question)

 

[ekul]

Hi Stef, 20C will be too high.
What you could do however is buy a cheap timer and put this on your fridge in the mean time. If you got time to time to play around with it i would fill your fermenter up with water and then play with the timer to try and get it around 16-18C. A little hint is that it doesn't need to be on as long as you would thik. I would try 5 min every 2-3 hours, depending on the ambient temp.

I did this when i didn't have temp control and it turned out the yeast was fermenting away at 12C, the CPA yeast is a hardy one and will ferment pretty low.

I have really played around with the andrewqld cone, trying to get it to taste just right and last week i think i did it (its in the bottle, hopefully nothing bad happens while its there). I have played around with overpitching to reduce the banana and whilst it does work, the beer still wasn't quite right. The one that i had recently (that tastes EXACTLY the same as a cpa out of the fermenter) used a 1.5L starter that was months old and the yeast had all settled. I wouldn't imagine that this would be best practice but i may try it again. So i would say use a 1.5L starter to start with, and then experiment from there.

The recipe is really good and will get you really close, the only thing i have been playing around with is pitching rates... This is the first all gran recipe i made and have made several batches of this. Its cheap, easy and hard to stuff up.

I ferment at 16.5, or lower sometimes. But the really good batch was at16.5C

Good luck mate

 

[JestersDarts]

I've done a batch of CPA and had a crack at using the yeast from a 6 pack of CPA. I fermented at 18 degrees, pitched a 1.5L active starter, and away she went - all kegged up now ready for xmas.

I had a bottle of this (excess from kegging) the other night, and it tastes like a bannana split. A bloody floury bannana split! I was quite upset - but happy for my first attempt at growing the yeast up to a useable level, and doing a double batch with my setup. I hope the bannana dies down, because it wasnt what I was aiming for. Oh and It needs more bitterness.

So i guess next time I need to ferment at a lower 16 to reduce this bannana split!

 

[RobW]

I've had banana issues using Coopers yeast above 22 or so but I made an amber with it recently at 19 and had no banana flavours whatsoever.
In fact it was a bit less fruity than I expected.

 

[BoilerBoy]

Stef,

Just freeze some 1 or 2L bottles of water and use your fridge until you get it set up, its what I do all the time.

I have a Coopers yeast I have just put in the fridge this morning ready to do an Aussie Mild ale tomorrow and thats what I'll be doing and 16C which is the temp I always use with this yeast is just too easy.

All the best with it,

Cheers,
BB

 

[stef]

Thanks for all the replies guys.

I might put it in the fridge without power on, and sub in and out icecream containers of ice. BoilerBoy, how often do you change the ice? every 12ish hours? The biggest prob with that for me is that i dont live at the same place i ferment, so it'll mean driving down the road every few hours to change ice. The things we do for beer eh?

And ekul- great idea mate! Unfortunately i'm not going to be home and planning to do the brew on the day i get back, so not going to have the time to suss the process out.

Thanks again everyone. Hopefully my next STC1000 works!

 

[black_labb]

I've been using a fair bit of recultured cpa yeast lately. I ferment below the house which is a pretty constant 19* over the last month. I do get some of the bannana esters but its not overpowering. having said that the recent beers using it have been a english IPA and a english bitter which probably have more for the bannana flavour to hide behind.
I've got a pale (not following the cpa recipe at all though) that I'm just about to bottle and a old ale that's about to go onto the yeast cake from the cube so the pale may be a better judge.

I've used it before and didnt get too strong a bannana flavour with the ferment around 20* on pale beers, though I cant remember the details.

 

[BoilerBoy]

Thanks for all the replies guys.

I might put it in the fridge without power on, and sub in and out icecream containers of ice. BoilerBoy, how often do you change the ice? every 12ish hours? The biggest prob with that for me is that i dont live at the same place i ferment, so it'll mean driving down the road every few hours to change ice. The things we do for beer eh?

And ekul- great idea mate! Unfortunately i'm not going to be home and planning to do the brew on the day i get back, so not going to have the time to suss the process out.

Thanks again everyone. Hopefully my next STC1000 works!

Stef

At worst using frozen PET bottles (1-2L size) you would be changing them every 24 hours given that the temp will be climbing over 30C here in adelaide.

On days of 20-25C I change them every 36 hours.

BB