Hail The Mighty Coopers Ale Yeast

[mauriceatron]

Sorry, now that I've posted and the red wine is still talking.... I was told by someone at Coopers that the yeast is pure, it's just the yeast nutrient and other things for the drying process that is the larger pieces that you can make out looking at the yeast.

Part of me thought he was lying at the time. I just rang the help phone number one time while having had quite a few beers. (or maybe those were red wines???)

 

[manticle]

And, dare I say it, the more you want to laugh at the guys who's only suggestion to K&B brewers to who post wanting to improve the quality of their beer is: "go all grain"; you know that their all grain isn't as good as what a great K&B brewer can produce.

That's a pet hate.

Q:How do I add hops to my beer

A: Go All Grain

How is that even helpful? I fully agree that either method can creat either good beer or shit beer depending on who's brewing it and how.

 

[Bribie G]

Yes it's often a Mantra that when kit brewers ask "how can I improve my beer" the response is often "get a better yeast". This is certainly true when they are trying to make a lager and the kit yeast is actually an all purpose ale yeast, however I have made some good beers on kit ale yeasts and have done some experiments with Mauribrew Lager Yeast (Morgans Lager) that produce very drinkable lagers. On the other hand some of my worst beers have been made on S-04 which I have grown to dislike immensely and S-23 lager yeast which is not too far behind that.

 

[Dazza_devil]

I'm convinced.
I've got two pretty fresh sachets of yeast from a Coopers Pale Ale and a Mexican Cerveza sitting in my fridge that will be getting rehydrated, pitched @ 19 degrees C and fermented at around 17 degrees in an Ozzie Pale Ale that I have planned.
Cheers

 

[Bribie G]

Would go well in an Aussie, personally I reckon the Coopers dried yeast isn't too far off the mark in a Sparkling Ale or a Pale Ale. At one time I mistakenly thought that the Coopers Ale yeast was Mauribrew Ale, but apparently it was developed by Coopers in house.

 

[mauriceatron]

On the other hand some of my worst beers have been made on S-04 which I have grown to dislike immensely and S-23 lager yeast which is not too far behind that.

The S-23 I found needs to have the fermentation temp raised slightly toward the end of fermentation to allow some of those "annoying" aromas to get cleaned up. I read that somewhere and tried it. Worked much better as those aroma compounds that seemed to linger were gone.

Having said that, getting back to the Coopers yeast, the lager yeast which comes with the Heritage Lager in the Premium series is a good yeast. That's far better than the old S-23 and the kit produces a fine lager. I brewed about three of those kits in winter last year when I was really time poor. The drank great in Spring and Summer just like a home brew lager should be.

Oh, the other thing I found when making kit beers is after you've done the mix and dilute/stir thing, I put it into a bath of water to drop that temperature down to at least 19C before pitching re-hydrated yeast. I found everything just went better if I dropped the temperature quickly rather than just let it sit (which can be a couple of hours in the summer time).

Cheers
Simon