Recipedb - Coopers Pale Ale Clone

[Droopy Brew]

YEah sort of what I thought. For the sake of 2 or 3 bottles I wont bother racking and BP. A couple of drops will do.
Cheers.

 

[wynnum1]

If you want to measure sugar accurately use digital scales and to check accuracy 10 cents coin weighs 5.66 grams 5 cents= 2.83 grams $2 =6.6 grams and $1 = 9 grams these weights are constant for coin operated machines.
If the scales are not accurate compensate.

 

[michaeld16]

If you want to measure sugar accurately use digital scales and to check accuracy 10 cents icoin weighs 5.66 grams 5 cents= 2.83 grams $2 =6.6 grams and $1 = 9 grams these weights are constant for coin operated machines.
If the scales are not accurate compensate.

Did not know this great info

 

[1974Alby]

how important is the stepped mash schedule? Thinking of giving this a go and wondering if I will notice a perceptible difference from stepping vs single infusion 64C mash?

 

[AndrewQLD]

Albainian, the stepped mash will give better conversion, I found using this mash always resulted in the lowest final gravity which is what you want in this beer.

You will still make a good beer using a straight infusion just not as well attenuated however I would mash at 63° for 90 minutes.

 

[1974Alby]

Cheers Andrew...will try the stepped mash....not difficult, just requires a bit more attention. Will be buying come CPA's on way home tonight for the sake of yeast cultureing and comparison purposes.

Also, I am having a play with the excel file you linked from How to Brew and was wondering if you know the target salt values for the water?

Target Water Calcium (ppm) Magnesium (ppm) Alkalinity as CaCO3 Sodium (ppm) Chloride (ppm) Sulfate (ppm)???

Thanks

Al

 

[AndrewQLD]

I'll see if I can dig them out tonight.
To be honest with you I very rarely try to emulate the coopers water profile any more and the beer still turns out great.

 

[AndrewQLD]

Here is the water profile from Coopers Hope valley water supply, mind you it's a few years old.

Coopers hope valley water​

Calcium: 24.00 ppm
Sulfate: 52.00 ppm
Magnesium: 16.00
Chloride: 121.00 ppm
Sodium: 71.00 ppm
Bicarbonate: 70.00 ppm
PH: 7.00
​

I have another file somewhere that I just can't put my finger on atm with the adjusted figures from coopers, I'll have another look tonight and post if I find them.

 

[1974Alby]

Made this on the weekend...just left out the salts as I wasn't sure what I was targeting. Aimed for and hit a 1.035 pre-boil OG...then got distracted and boiled for a tad long, ending with a post boil OG of 1.045. Still happy with that though. ..fermenting now @ 16.5C.

 

[Kingy]

think I might have another crack at this soon. I wont be using pellets again as it was a fairly dirty taste and pitch a bigger starter and mash a degree lower to dry it out a bit more as It was a bit to sweet for me in the keg. The couple I bottled where a lot better but probly because of the priming sugar and the fact I was swirling the yeast up as I was swigging on the tallie.
Another thing I remember was when I recultured the yeast, the clear coopers pale that was drunk tasted like shit without the yeasties in there. I much prefer my coopers yeasty. So I may even make a batch to just bottle for when I go elsewhere for a drink or just for times when I feel like necking a tallie.

 

[dicko]

think I might have another crack at this soon. I wont be using pellets again as it was a fairly dirty taste and pitch a bigger starter and mash a degree lower to dry it out a bit more as It was a bit to sweet for me in the keg. The couple I bottled where a lot better but probly because of the priming sugar and the fact I was swirling the yeast up as I was swigging on the tallie.
Another thing I remember was when I recultured the yeast, the clear coopers pale that was drunk tasted like shit without the yeasties in there. I much prefer my coopers yeasty. So I may even make a batch to just bottle for when I go elsewhere for a drink or just for times when I feel like necking a tallie.

Kingy,

Did you prime it in the keg or did you force carb it?

I have keg primed a CPA and then treat it the way Coopers recomends you treat their real kegs of PA by storing them upside down and then inverting them when you put them on tap.
The CPA yeast is not very flocculent and it will remain in suspension for quite a while unless you are an extremely slow drinker of the keg.
It is a shame that most pubs who serve CPA dont use this method as it improves the beer to no end.

 

[Kingy]

Hey dicko, i did force carb it in the keg. i may try that next time. Bulk prime the keg and invert for 3 weeks then tip up the right way when serving? Thx for that info, thats a good idea.

 

[dicko]

When I lived in Arno Bay the Coopers rep at that time advised the publican to store his PA Kegs upside down and then serve them normally.
It was arguably the best draught pale ale that I had ever tasted.
The method also improved his Coopers sales to one of the best figures in the state for a small country pub at that time.

 

[Engibeer]

Thanks for all the posts and advice gents.

Currently I have a batch of this brewed as per the AG recipe sitting in a cube.

I attempted to reculture a yeast starter using a longneck dated "best after" 24/1/15

Using a stir plate, with 1000mL 1.050 wort straight up, I attempted to re-start the yeast for about 36hrs

Measured the OG after 36hrs and no activity. Initially I thought there was some activity due to the bubbling.

I just purchased a 375mL dated best after 12/3/15, so much fresher.

Just seeking some advice; starter volume is now ~800mL due to an SG reading I took.

Options:

1. Pitch settled yeast from 375mL straight into this volume
2. Use microwave to sterilise original starter, crash chill again and then pitch settled yeast from stubbie
3. Sterilise starter in microwave, split and step up in smaller increments.
4. Create entirely new starter and set up in smaller increments.


I'm also wondering where the root cause of the issue most likely lies (I know it would be difficult to highlight definite cause). Old stock? Too large an initial starter volume?

 

[Engibeer]

Sat the starter out overnight... it started fermenting! It was still quite cool from being in the fridge as well.

Perhaps I had the stir plate on too high? I thought I had read something somewhere about increased osmotic pressure to the yeast on a stir plate?

Digital stir plate V3, with the tacho set at -2 from full RPM.

The krausen is starting to form. Haven't switched the stir plate back on yet.

This has been going since Friday night!

 

[lost at sea]

thread revival, after 2 years of AG i realised ive never brewed a CPA, what tha? good old faithful of mine before home brewing, so time to get back to my commercial drinking roots.

my only question is, with the CPA being so much about the re-cultured coopers yeast. will cold crashing as would be my standard practice, affect the outcome of my CPA? or do i just keg at ferment temp as to get as much suspended yeast into the keg?

or am i totally way off the mark here?

 

[captain crumpet]

thread revival, after 2 years of AG i realised ive never brewed a CPA, what tha? good old faithful of mine before home brewing, so time to get back to my commercial drinking roots.

my only question is, with the CPA being so much about the re-cultured coopers yeast. will cold crashing as would be my standard practice, affect the outcome of my CPA? or do i just keg at ferment temp as to get as much suspended yeast into the keg?

or am i totally way off the mark here?

You want to bulk prime your keg instead of force carbing. Without sediment floating it should still be bright.

 

[SwagBiker]

I had a go at this recipe (all grain, no sugar) for my most recent brew.
Coopers has now started offering their own malted barley for homebrewers as their malthouse went online late last year. I can't be certain that the pale malt I used is the exact same as what they use in their PA, but I thought it would be worth a go anyway.
Using a six-pack of bottle yeast and a yeast starter I experience good fermentation but landed on 1008 as FG. I've never been able to get lower than this, so maybe I mashed a little high.
All in all, this is a great recipe and as a long time CPA fan (it's what I grew up drinking as a teenager) I find this an excellent brew and more fresh than the bottled CPA.
There is something very satisfying with getting such a simple recipe to taste so great. The Coopers yeast makes the simple complex.

 

[SwagBiker]

As an update to this recipe I went on a tour of Coopers Brewery on Friday.

I asked a few questions of the tour guide who did know his stuff but I’ll obviousy provide a caveat that he’s not the head brewer, rather a customer relations person.

This is what I learnt for those who’d like to get the closest clone they can to the original that’s on the shelves now.


1- Water.

Coopers draw water from an aquifer below the brewery and use reverse osmosis to desalinate. They then add minerals to achieve a Burton water profile. I didn’t get the specific breakdown of this profile, but online searches yield plenty of results. Honestly, I haven’t started changing my water profile so I didn’t pay as much attention to this point as some others may. Sorry for that.


2- Grain.

Now that Coopers malt their own barley on site and mash with grain only a few days old they have moved to a SMaSH type brew.

The only grain is their Pale Malt and no sugar is added.

I asked about wheat and any crystal additions. Apparently they used to, which lines up with the mythical “Whiteboard” photo. They used wheat for head retention and apparently about 200kg of crystal for a commercial mash (sorry, I can’t remember the batch size now). In the end the crystal addition was scrapped as it was so insignificant and the wheat scrapped now that they use “the best malt in Australia”. I guess because they can control the malting process so much more now they get the desired result without needing any other grains.


3- Milling

What surprised me the most was the way they mill their grain. Perhaps this isn’t a surprise to others, but it was new to me.

They use a hammer mill that crushes the grain and husks done to a flour. They mash this flour and extract 99% of the available sugars (apparently). Then they run it through a mash filter to separate the spent grain flour. A sparge occurs in the filter and then the wort is run into the kettle. When the sparge water conductivity drops below a set point, the weak wort (ot sparge water) is diverted off to the mash tun as the liquor for the next mash. In this way they get very high total efficiency.


4- Hops

No surprises here. Single addition Pride of Ringwood pellets in the kettle only.


5- Mash Temperatures

This is the step profile that the tour guide said they follow.

58* - protein rest

62* - 30 minutes

68* - 30 minutes

72* - mash out (transfer to mash filter)


6- Fermentation

No surprises here. Coopers yeast that is deliberately stressed to encourage ester production. I didn’t ask fermentation temps as it slipped my mind once the tasting began. We tasted every beer they produce with their logo and one Japanese lager as well, so that really did slow the questioning down a bit.


Anyway, I hope that’s helpful for anyone that was curious and wants to make this beer themselves. Now that Coopers malt is available to us home brewers it’s even easier to get close to this SA favourite.

 

[adamthomas]

As an update to this recipe I went on a tour of Coopers Brewery on Friday.

I asked a few questions of the tour guide who did know his stuff but I’ll obviousy provide a caveat that he’s not the head brewer, rather a customer relations person.

This is what I learnt for those who’d like to get the closest clone they can to the original that’s on the shelves now.


1- Water.

Coopers draw water from an aquifer below the brewery and use reverse osmosis to desalinate. They then add minerals to achieve a Burton water profile. I didn’t get the specific breakdown of this profile, but online searches yield plenty of results. Honestly, I haven’t started changing my water profile so I didn’t pay as much attention to this point as some others may. Sorry for that.


2- Grain.

Now that Coopers malt their own barley on site and mash with grain only a few days old they have moved to a SMaSH type brew.

The only grain is their Pale Malt and no sugar is added.

I asked about wheat and any crystal additions. Apparently they used to, which lines up with the mythical “Whiteboard” photo. They used wheat for head retention and apparently about 200kg of crystal for a commercial mash (sorry, I can’t remember the batch size now). In the end the crystal addition was scrapped as it was so insignificant and the wheat scrapped now that they use “the best malt in Australia”. I guess because they can control the malting process so much more now they get the desired result without needing any other grains.


3- Milling

What surprised me the most was the way they mill their grain. Perhaps this isn’t a surprise to others, but it was new to me.

They use a hammer mill that crushes the grain and husks done to a flour. They mash this flour and extract 99% of the available sugars (apparently). Then they run it through a mash filter to separate the spent grain flour. A sparge occurs in the filter and then the wort is run into the kettle. When the sparge water conductivity drops below a set point, the weak wort (ot sparge water) is diverted off to the mash tun as the liquor for the next mash. In this way they get very high total efficiency.


4- Hops

No surprises here. Single addition Pride of Ringwood pellets in the kettle only.


5- Mash Temperatures

This is the step profile that the tour guide said they follow.

58* - protein rest

62* - 30 minutes

68* - 30 minutes

72* - mash out (transfer to mash filter)


6- Fermentation

No surprises here. Coopers yeast that is deliberately stressed to encourage ester production. I didn’t ask fermentation temps as it slipped my mind once the tasting began. We tasted every beer they produce with their logo and one Japanese lager as well, so that really did slow the questioning down a bit.


Anyway, I hope that’s helpful for anyone that was curious and wants to make this beer themselves. Now that Coopers malt is available to us home brewers it’s even easier to get close to this SA favourite.

Thank you for finding this out and taking the time to share it. I had been trying to google this exact information last week and put down a SMaSH with their ale grain (1.044og) and por (24ibus) yesterday as I assumed the recipe would of changed now they malt in house. I even adjusted my water close to burtonised profile and step mashed. WLP009 pitched at 18’c. Keen to get some of their pale malt now and see how they compare but the ale malt came out pretty pale on transfer to the fermenter. Will report back in a week or so as to how it’s looking and tasting.