Did the exact same extract I got from keg king. One of the best beers I've made hope you enjoy it!NikZak said:Ok folks, with a couple of brews under my belt it's time to share one
This is an American Pale Ale, extract kit
Ingredients are
500g Crystal Malt
2kg light dry malt extract
80g Cascade hops (30g @60mins 25g @10mins 25g @dryhop)
500g dextrose
Yeast nutrient
US-05 yeast
Some photos below
1. Before we begin, everything laid out ready to go
2. Grains steeped for an hour, now coming to the boil
3. Malt extract added, again back to the boil for first hop addition
4. Second hop addition, 10 min to go
5. Cooling the whole shebang down
6. And it's in the fermenter (blue) with the dry hop and yeast pitched
7. Didn't take long for activity to start up here
Yep, got the kit from KegKing too... Will be back there now with the extra confidence from doing that brew to do a custom one or two and pick up some bits and pieces to start experimentingTr0yza said:Did the exact same extract I got from keg king. One of the best beers I've made hope you enjoy it!
Really depends on what style of beer you're after but the Coopers Pale is a really good base in my opinion. Also on the Active US-05 bit, you might want to look up yeast washing as it is quite easy to do and will probably reduce to potential for off flavours, the hops that are in that yeast slurry do break down and will not contribute anything all that nice to the beer considering the risk of adding off flavours. It's pretty much as simple as adding a litre of sterile water to the fermenter giving it a swirl, tipping the mix into jars or something big enough and sanitised to hold it, chuck it in the fridge and then only decant off the healthy yeast middle layer leaving behind the other hop bits and trub then pitching that washed yeast into the next batch. It might seem a little complicated and it might be a consideration for in a few batches time but it should improve the quality of the final productNikZak said:Hey followers of Nick's Brewhouse. I'm putting down a toucan this Thursday evening after work and want some advice.
Thinking of doing a special Christmas Brew to share with family and friends at Christmas lunches and dinners.
Out of these cans what do you guys suggest for something different? I'm going to the LHBS tonight after work so can pick up some things to add if you suggest but I have he following:
2× home brand draught
1× Tooheys special lager
1× Cooper's Australian Pale Ale
1× Cooper's dark Ale
1× BE2
The yeast packets from each can
1× US-05
Lots of EC-1118
Will be pitching on an active US-05 yeast cake mixed with Cascade hops put in as a dry hop when I rack the currently brewing Pale Ale to secondary so there should be enough hop juice left in there to give some extra hoppy goodness to this brew.
As this is a Christmas beer I will probably dump some cinnamon and star anise in there as well as a vanilla pod and whatever else people suggest
Currently thinking the Australian Pale Ale and the dark Ale with the above adjuncts but what are other people's thoughts?
yesNikZak said:Actually one other important thing is do you think 2.5 months would be enough time for the brew to mature in bottles for Christmas dinner or not?
The main reason I've been doing that is my primary fermenter doesn't have a tap on it for bottling whereas my other fermenter does. I guess I should just buy a bottling bucket and rack the day before bottlingRocker1986 said:Why are you racking it to a secondary anyway>?
I hadn't thought about the hops potentially imparting off flavors. Not a bad idea. I can always practice my washing (which is something I've been meaning to try)Nizmoose said:Really depends on what style of beer you're after but the Coopers Pale is a really good base in my opinion. Also on the Active US-05 bit, you might want to look up yeast washing as it is quite easy to do and will probably reduce to potential for off flavours, the hops that are in that yeast slurry do break down and will not contribute anything all that nice to the beer considering the risk of adding off flavours. It's pretty much as simple as adding a litre of sterile water to the fermenter giving it a swirl, tipping the mix into jars or something big enough and sanitised to hold it, chuck it in the fridge and then only decant off the healthy yeast middle layer leaving behind the other hop bits and trub then pitching that washed yeast into the next batch. It might seem a little complicated and it might be a consideration for in a few batches time but it should improve the quality of the final product
yes
Ah yeah fair point. Another option could be to bulk prime and use the tap fermenter as the bottling bucket - then you can just rack it when you bottle it.NikZak said:The main reason I've been doing that is my primary fermenter doesn't have a tap on it for bottling whereas my other fermenter does. I guess I should just buy a bottling bucket and rack the day before bottling
Yeah but who doesn't want another fermenter?Rocker1986 said:Ah yeah fair point. Another option could be to bulk prime and use the tap fermenter as the bottling bucket - then you can just rack it when you bottle it.
I harvest my yeast as well, although I do it at the opposite end of the brew cycle - I steal it from my yeast starters so I don't have to faff around rinsing it. I build them a bit bigger than needed and tip some into a mason jar when it's done its thing. I tried to rouse one recently that was about 6 months old and it didn't really seem to do anything, I was gonna try adding more fresh wort to see if it kicked off but I figured stuff it, for the price of a new pack I might as well just start again fresh. Normally I try to use them within about 2 months of harvesting.
In saying that, I've heard of people managing to get yeast that is 12-18 months old going again, which was only stored in the fridge.
Enter your email address to join: