That Versatile Coopers Yeast

[gibbocore]

Thought i'd put this in a new thread so as to not pollute the ercipe DB thread.

I just had an epiphany, I had left a mouthful of my coopers clone in a glass last night (made as per Andrews version on the recipe DB and with recultured coopers yeast), and I had a sniff this morning, the malt flavours are extremely similar to that of some bitters, like Youngs for example, it was a signature smell that I have been trying to get into my beers for a while with no luck from English yeasts, not sure why really, but it's a pain. Anywho, my coopers has also flocced out to a brilliant straw colour and left me with almost pilsener like malt flavours (doing a triple step decoction might have helped here) but what I'm getting at is that i think I'm going to brew a bitter or esb with the coopers yeast and give it some hop character, see what happens, something tells me I'm going to be pleasantly surprised.

Thoughts?

 

[Adamt]

Well, the Coopers ale strain did come from England... It definitely is a lovely yeast.

 

[Bizier]

I am seriously hankering for the Youngs ester profile, and have had next to no luck with the 1318. I am keen to hear your thoughts with the UK hops included. There is a balance to the pale/crystal/other malts that I just love, but have no idea how to replicate (dry mash + crystal? corn?).

 

[geoffi]

Done bitters and even milds with this yeast (as well as the usual suspects, ie Coopers clones).

Works very well.

One thing though: mash high. This is a real malt muncher.

 

[gibbocore]

well i'll tell you what, i'll do a batch of something like otter, crystal, some munich, touch of choc and bitter with challenger, flavour with target and maybe styrians for aroma/flavour too, and ferment low (17 is) with the coopers yeast, cause the smell i got from this beer was very similar or there was something that linked right up, dunno what it was really.

 

[Stuster]

I made something along the bitter lines with this yeast (actually the White Labs version) and thought it worked very well as a bitter yeast. I'd say go with it. Also makes a good porter. :icon_cheers:

I think Geoffi's spot on. It certainly is a pretty high attenuator.

 

[gibbocore]

excellent, twill be done.

Cheers.

 

[Airgead]

I use coopers for a lot of English styles. My standard English Pale is made with Coopers.

A few weeks ago I bottled up a barley wine made with coopers. Lovely.

Cheers
Dave