First Beer - The Taste Test

[waggastew]

Cracked the first bottle of my first ever homebrew last night. Was a Coopers Pale Ale to the following recipe (adjusted from some suggested first brew posts on AHB):

1 x Coopers Pale Ale Can
1 x Coopers BE2
1 x Saaz Finishing Hop Tea Bag
1 x US-05 Yeast

Brewed at ~18 degC using a Smash cooler and ice bottles for 3 weeks (FG 1010). Bottled in PET straight from primary (had cleared up well) with 2 x Coopers Carb drops. Has been in the bottle at room temp since 31/1/10, making it about 6 weeks old.



Very little noise when the cap was opened (was thinking 'uh oh no carbonation'), but poured beautifully creating a lovely creamy head. Carbonation was perfect, bubbles were really small and vigorous. Lovely light gold colour, quite clear before the addition of the sedimenty bit from the bottom. You could smell and taste the Saaz hops, I would probably use Cascade next time which would be closer to style. I drank it along with some Wicked Elf beers to compare, because of the Saaz it smelt more like the Pilsener but tasted reasonably similar to the PA.

Overall I am pretty stoked, will happily work my way through the 29 remaining bottles. I think the non kit yeast and lower temp made for a much cleaner beer but still with the distinctive pale ale flavours. I would highly recommend new brewers get temp control sorted as soon as they start.

Anyway, thanks to all on AHB for your wealth of information. The homebrew bug has bit bigtime!

Stew

PS. Finished off the rest of the sample pack of Wicked Elf beers including the Tripel. I was really impressed, kinda like beer on steroids. Would recommend picking some up, I think they are in Dan The Man O'Murphys now? I am a local so I picked em up from the brewery door.

 

[Mearesy]

Well done Stew!! Cheers to many more brews :beer:

 

[raven19]

Looks a cracker indeed.

Well done, I trust there are more brews conditioning, and it sounds like another version is on the cards already! :icon_cheers:

 

[rendo]

Congrats Stew....I wish my first brew was THAT good. Hey, if you like lagers, then I recommend the coopers euro lager. Its a lager yeast, so you need to brew at cool temps. I brewed at 11deg. Maybe wait a few months until the temps drop.

Add some nice hops, saaz or hallertau, hersbrucker (sp?), tettnang(sp?)....

WELL DONE!

Overall I am pretty stoked, will happily work my way through the 29 remaining bottles. I think the non kit yeast and lower temp made for a much cleaner beer but still with the distinctive pale ale flavours. I would highly recommend new brewers get temp control sorted as soon as they start.

 

[beerlover101]

that head looks beautifully creamy well done indeed :icon_cheers:

 

[waggastew]

Thanks guys

Raven - Yeah I have a Old/Porter style in the bottle and a Thomas Coopers IPA going into bottles tomorrow. I am trying to build up a bit of stock so I can drink it with at least 2-3 months bottle age on it.

Rendo - Have been thinking about my next brews. The lager idea is a good one. What commercial style is the Coopers Euro most similar to? Will defo's go with the Saaz for the lager as I love the profile. What yeast did you use? I have a mate who suggested using the Cal Lager liquid yeast which can deal with slightly warmer temps. I probably won't be brewing again until May/June so I might get away with Saflager W34. I like the idea of brewing my winter drinking beers in summer (ales etc that can deal with slightly warmer temps) and my summer drinking beers (lagers etc) in winter when its cooler.

One problem with home brewing is keeping track of various new ideas and being patient enough to wait. I need an alcoholic neighbor as I tend to only drink on weekends and try to keep it to 3-4 beers a night. I also have my first kid due to pop out in 4 weeks so long drinking sessions followed by long hangovers won't be an option! Two ideas on the high priority list are a mango/passionfruit (both of which grow in my backyard) wheat beer for summer and a cherry choc porter for next winter. No doubt by then I will have a million more I want to try!

 

[rendo]

Congrats on your impending arrival. Wishing u all the best. I have just had a second child, a little girl. My boy is 22 months old. Life changes. Anyway, back to beer.

So...yes, we also share a bit more in common regarding drinking volume. I dont drink alot either, at most 2 STUBBIES a night (generally 1 though), at most 3-4 nights a week. So yes....it takes time to experiment etc etc, ah well. Like you said, I basically brew summer beers in winter and winter beers in summer (roughly speaking) and about 130 bottles under the house 'maturing' . However i now have a fermentation fridge, temp controlled, so that has broadened my horizons etc. Lagers anytime of year now! Woohoo. Plus keeps the ales fermenting at a nice 18deg in summer, thats GOLD. Its also fantastic for cold crashing, that really clears the beers up. Anyway, I digress.

I have just used the packet yeast with the coopers Euro Lager. Its a real lager yeast, brewing away happily at 11deg, over 2-3 weeks. I am just getting into alternative/better yeasts than the kit yeast. I am going to try White Labs German Bock 833, a bit pricey $15, but I am also learning how to keep/reuse my yeast after a brew (its not that hard really, at all, its fun), so I will reuse the 833 yeast a few times to get my $$'s worth, especially if it really does make a difference. I hope it makes a difference, people here seem to say it will, but there is only one way to find out.

Put me down for several sampling sessions of your mango/passionfruit creation!! Sounds great!

rendo

Thanks guys

Raven - Yeah I have a Old/Porter style in the bottle and a Thomas Coopers IPA going into bottles tomorrow. I am trying to build up a bit of stock so I can drink it with at least 2-3 months bottle age on it.

Rendo - Have been thinking about my next brews. The lager idea is a good one. What commercial style is the Coopers Euro most similar to? Will defo's go with the Saaz for the lager as I love the profile. What yeast did you use? I have a mate who suggested using the Cal Lager liquid yeast which can deal with slightly warmer temps. I probably won't be brewing again until May/June so I might get away with Saflager W34. I like the idea of brewing my winter drinking beers in summer (ales etc that can deal with slightly warmer temps) and my summer drinking beers (lagers etc) in winter when its cooler.

One problem with home brewing is keeping track of various new ideas and being patient enough to wait. I need an alcoholic neighbor as I tend to only drink on weekends and try to keep it to 3-4 beers a night. I also have my first kid due to pop out in 4 weeks so long drinking sessions followed by long hangovers won't be an option! Two ideas on the high priority list are a mango/passionfruit (both of which grow in my backyard) wheat beer for summer and a cherry choc porter for next winter. No doubt by then I will have a million more I want to try!

 

[warra48]

Congrats, waggastew.

Your first brew looks to be way ahead of what most first time brewers achieve. Enjoy the rest of them.

Look forward to catching up with you in time.

 

[phinnsfotos]

Considering ingredients, method and result that has to be one of the best "first brews" I've ever seen.

Very well done mate.

Cheers,
Finn.

 

[Mickthe]

Well done indeed!

I've only done a dozen brews, but my first good beer was the same recipe, with a Cascade T-Bag instead of Saaz, and an extra 250g LDME.

I might also try a grain steep next time.

The other good one i have done is an Irish Dry Stout and it's a cracker, and very simple, i have done two brews recently for winter stocks.

Make sure you keep a Brew Diary so you can see exactly when and where you did what, which variations to priming bottles, and dates. Helps a lot with experimenting and refining.

Cheers

Mick.

 

[tomtom]

Man I wish my first brew looked like that, really nice pale colour and nice head. Instead ive got a dark colour with no head, maybe 9 days is a bit short a time to start drinking it but looking at that colour, Im doing the pale ale next time. I like my beer pale.