Zekamaboy
New Member
Hi everyone,
I'm a new member but an old (81yo) guy. Along with this profile, I confess that I also have a question that I would very much like some help with. That question is at the end of this profile.
I live with wife Sue in Walpole WA, having retired here 5 years ago after spending increasinly long periods here in our holiday home here since 2000. The cool climate and the good safe fishing opportunities offered by the estuary and beaches were key ingredients in our relocation ftom Perth. We miss our 8 kids and their 20 children, but catch up regularly both here and where they live, in Albany, Margaret River, and Perth. We’re into sport, community, enjoying each others company, and sharing a red or a whisky/Irish Cream, and have plenty to say about politics and current affairs.
I love my lager, and in May '23 I finally got tired of shelling out $60 for a block of mid strength cans and decided to get back into home brewing, mainly to save money. I'd had a brief foray into home brewing in the mid/late 1960s, without much clue as to what I was doing, and with a pretty ordinary outcome. This time, after a rocky start, things are looking up, and after 25 brews the product is more than pleasing to my palate. I'm pretty easily pleased, not too keen to try new brews, and to date, all my brews have been Coopers DIY home brew Lager, brewed under the kit and kilo mode. It's extremely unlikely at my age whether I'd ever go all-grain/BIAB, rather seek to get as much goodness as I can from kit & kilo lager.
I have a fermenting all-fridge, Inkbird wifi controller set to 15 degrees C for the bulk of the fermentation period (after a few hours at 20 - 21 for the yeast to settle in), did away with the Coopers yeast inside the wort tin lid early in the piece, and now dry pitch a sachet of W34-70 for 24.5 litres brews (I had tried rehydrating the yeast in earlier brews, but concluded that yeast was not the source of the problems I encountered, and it was not worth the effort). I dry hop typically 10 gms magnum plus 5gms Galaxy on day 4 of frmenting, and I bulk-prime and bottle a net 23.8 litres approx.(after evaporation and hydrometer samples) with 100 gms dextrose + 100gms LDME. The two major problems that plagued me earlier, and to some extent linger, are:
1. No lasting head
2. ABV too high, around 5% whereas I prefer 3.5 - 3.8% so I can drink more without health and hangover worries. I like to have 3 x 480ml Grolsch bottles per evening.
The head I've resolved largely, I think, by using my own reduced-fermentables "enhancers" in lieu of the Coopers #2 & 3 (maltodextrin, LDME in lieu of sugar/dextrose), and above all, by adding 250-330 grams steeped cracked Carapils malt. Head retention is better, but with a lot of room for improvment. Bubbles rising in my glass have gone from being a few, large, coarse affairs, to a cascade of myriad tiny bubbles, which is good. A couple of things I think I've learned is:
1. The Coopers 7 gram yeast sachet is an integral part of producing a mid strength beer at 23 litres per brew. Go above that yeast input and you throw the balance out.
2. Coopers lager tin plus the kilo of Coopers Enhancer 2 or 3 plus even a single sachet of W34-70 cannot fail but to produce a 5+% carbonated beer - the yeast attenuation and the fermentables are too high to produce a mid-strength lager. This is one reason I went from 23 litres to 24.5, adding more maltodextrin for mouth-feel and as a safeguard againt thin-ness.
I had done a few earlier brews with two sachets of W34-70 yeast (23 gm total), and had a starting gravity of 1.037 - 1.041 (I was experimenting with enhancers then) and a finishing gravity of 1.002 - 1.006. The yeast attenuation under that concentration appeared to be eating even the (largely) non-fermentables like maltodextrin and steeped carapils. Since I've fallen back to a single sachet of yeast and dropped the sugars in my enhancers a bit, my gravities are around SG 1.035, FG 1.010, giving a 3.7 - 3.8% ABV, including the priming sugar.
All appears pretty good, nothing to worry about, but I got a nasty surprise just this morning when I read in https://humebrew.com/tips-to-improve-the-foam-and-head-retention-of-your-beer/ that "Amongst brewers, it has been widely accepted that heavily roasted grains, notably black malt and roast barley, have superior foaming properties. However, in a recent study, it was found that certain specialty malts, notably crystal malts, display inferior foam performance. Crystal malt contains low-molecular-weight foam-negative species. Whilst this might make you want to shy away from Crystal malts in your next brew, perhaps it's worth keeping this knowledge in mind when designing your next recipe. Believe it or not, Carapils also falls under this category."
That stood me on my haunches, as I'd been thinking it was the addition of 250-330gm of cracked, steeped, Carapils malt that had led to the improvements in my head retention! Maybe not so. The alternative suggestion was to use torrified or malted wheat in its place. So I started reasearching that, but while I think I know I have to mash it rather than steep it (not much difference?) before adding to the wort, I had the question: “How much of it for a 24.5 litre brew?”
I was led fairly quickly to an Excel recipe designer by an Ian, a regular contributor to this forum. It turns out that Ian has gone from kit & kilo to BIAB brewing, and while I was able to access his BIAB Excel designer, I could not find the kit & kilo version, which I'm sure contains a great many goodies about quantities that I need to know, including in the Coopers lager tin. If anyone can point me in the right direction to the kit & kilo Excel variant I'd be just so appreciative. As you all know, 40 or so days wait time to sample the results of your just-laid brew is a long time to find out you used an inappropriate quantity of inputs.
Cheers everyone, thank you for your patience with me.
I'm a new member but an old (81yo) guy. Along with this profile, I confess that I also have a question that I would very much like some help with. That question is at the end of this profile.
I live with wife Sue in Walpole WA, having retired here 5 years ago after spending increasinly long periods here in our holiday home here since 2000. The cool climate and the good safe fishing opportunities offered by the estuary and beaches were key ingredients in our relocation ftom Perth. We miss our 8 kids and their 20 children, but catch up regularly both here and where they live, in Albany, Margaret River, and Perth. We’re into sport, community, enjoying each others company, and sharing a red or a whisky/Irish Cream, and have plenty to say about politics and current affairs.
I love my lager, and in May '23 I finally got tired of shelling out $60 for a block of mid strength cans and decided to get back into home brewing, mainly to save money. I'd had a brief foray into home brewing in the mid/late 1960s, without much clue as to what I was doing, and with a pretty ordinary outcome. This time, after a rocky start, things are looking up, and after 25 brews the product is more than pleasing to my palate. I'm pretty easily pleased, not too keen to try new brews, and to date, all my brews have been Coopers DIY home brew Lager, brewed under the kit and kilo mode. It's extremely unlikely at my age whether I'd ever go all-grain/BIAB, rather seek to get as much goodness as I can from kit & kilo lager.
I have a fermenting all-fridge, Inkbird wifi controller set to 15 degrees C for the bulk of the fermentation period (after a few hours at 20 - 21 for the yeast to settle in), did away with the Coopers yeast inside the wort tin lid early in the piece, and now dry pitch a sachet of W34-70 for 24.5 litres brews (I had tried rehydrating the yeast in earlier brews, but concluded that yeast was not the source of the problems I encountered, and it was not worth the effort). I dry hop typically 10 gms magnum plus 5gms Galaxy on day 4 of frmenting, and I bulk-prime and bottle a net 23.8 litres approx.(after evaporation and hydrometer samples) with 100 gms dextrose + 100gms LDME. The two major problems that plagued me earlier, and to some extent linger, are:
1. No lasting head
2. ABV too high, around 5% whereas I prefer 3.5 - 3.8% so I can drink more without health and hangover worries. I like to have 3 x 480ml Grolsch bottles per evening.
The head I've resolved largely, I think, by using my own reduced-fermentables "enhancers" in lieu of the Coopers #2 & 3 (maltodextrin, LDME in lieu of sugar/dextrose), and above all, by adding 250-330 grams steeped cracked Carapils malt. Head retention is better, but with a lot of room for improvment. Bubbles rising in my glass have gone from being a few, large, coarse affairs, to a cascade of myriad tiny bubbles, which is good. A couple of things I think I've learned is:
1. The Coopers 7 gram yeast sachet is an integral part of producing a mid strength beer at 23 litres per brew. Go above that yeast input and you throw the balance out.
2. Coopers lager tin plus the kilo of Coopers Enhancer 2 or 3 plus even a single sachet of W34-70 cannot fail but to produce a 5+% carbonated beer - the yeast attenuation and the fermentables are too high to produce a mid-strength lager. This is one reason I went from 23 litres to 24.5, adding more maltodextrin for mouth-feel and as a safeguard againt thin-ness.
I had done a few earlier brews with two sachets of W34-70 yeast (23 gm total), and had a starting gravity of 1.037 - 1.041 (I was experimenting with enhancers then) and a finishing gravity of 1.002 - 1.006. The yeast attenuation under that concentration appeared to be eating even the (largely) non-fermentables like maltodextrin and steeped carapils. Since I've fallen back to a single sachet of yeast and dropped the sugars in my enhancers a bit, my gravities are around SG 1.035, FG 1.010, giving a 3.7 - 3.8% ABV, including the priming sugar.
All appears pretty good, nothing to worry about, but I got a nasty surprise just this morning when I read in https://humebrew.com/tips-to-improve-the-foam-and-head-retention-of-your-beer/ that "Amongst brewers, it has been widely accepted that heavily roasted grains, notably black malt and roast barley, have superior foaming properties. However, in a recent study, it was found that certain specialty malts, notably crystal malts, display inferior foam performance. Crystal malt contains low-molecular-weight foam-negative species. Whilst this might make you want to shy away from Crystal malts in your next brew, perhaps it's worth keeping this knowledge in mind when designing your next recipe. Believe it or not, Carapils also falls under this category."
That stood me on my haunches, as I'd been thinking it was the addition of 250-330gm of cracked, steeped, Carapils malt that had led to the improvements in my head retention! Maybe not so. The alternative suggestion was to use torrified or malted wheat in its place. So I started reasearching that, but while I think I know I have to mash it rather than steep it (not much difference?) before adding to the wort, I had the question: “How much of it for a 24.5 litre brew?”
I was led fairly quickly to an Excel recipe designer by an Ian, a regular contributor to this forum. It turns out that Ian has gone from kit & kilo to BIAB brewing, and while I was able to access his BIAB Excel designer, I could not find the kit & kilo version, which I'm sure contains a great many goodies about quantities that I need to know, including in the Coopers lager tin. If anyone can point me in the right direction to the kit & kilo Excel variant I'd be just so appreciative. As you all know, 40 or so days wait time to sample the results of your just-laid brew is a long time to find out you used an inappropriate quantity of inputs.
Cheers everyone, thank you for your patience with me.
