US home brewer trying to make Australian beer for an Aussie friend

[Mad Brewer]

Hi everyone,
I'm fromOmaha, Nebraska in the US. One of my friends is from Australia. I wanted to make him an ale that would remind him of back home. I was wondering if any of you guys could help me with a good Aussie recipe?

 

[goldstar]

Hi there,
Rather than go down the typical aussie lager route I would recommend using the Dr Smurto Golden Ale recipe that you will find in the recipe database. This will give you a beer that is similar to James Squire Golden Ale (now called 'The Chancer'). In reality, it will be more than a match to the James Squire recipe of today.

Beers,

Goldstar

 

[Mad Brewer]

Ok thanks I will give it a go.

 

[manticle]

Is your friend a lover of various beers or does s/he just like pale lager types?

There is a recipe for coopers somewhere which is uniquely Australian as well as a couple for Stone and wood knockoff. Besides that, there are a couple of Aussie lager recipes. What brewing method are you using? Grain, extract, etc?

 

[syl]

I would brew him a Mountain Goat Hightail Ale - the flagship from the largest of our craft breweries and not boring or horrible.


Very simple recipe to actually reproduce too!

88% Pale Malt
11% Crystal - people do a light/med/dark split here but I personally use 6% Caramunich II and 5% Crystal Med
1% Carafa II - substitute w/Chocolate if you must

60min Pride of Ringwood (45min no chill)
30min Cascade (15min no chill)
10min Cascade (0 min/hop stand no chill)

To 30 IBU's

Dry Hop up to 1g/L Cascade

Absolute RIPPER!

 

[Mad Brewer]

Yes he likes most types of beer. I don't have the ability to lager anything so, I was hoping for a ale of some sort if possible. I make pretty much everything from all grain to extract so, I am open to either one.

 

[syl]

^^ the recipe above is an ale - just US05 or your preference of clean ale yeast.

 

[Mad Brewer]

That's great! Thanks a lot for your help. I can't wait to brew it.

 

[Mad Brewer]

I think I will make both what you and gold star suggested just to give him options.

 

[syl]

Smurto's Golden is a brilliant beer, most popular homebrew recipe in the world for a reason!

Make them both!

 

[gsouth82]

I'd be going with the Stone and Wood Pacific Ale.

The following makes a great drop:

Ingredients
1.50 kg Coopers Liquid Light Extract
1.50 kg Coopers Liquid Wheat Malt Extract
45g Galaxy
US05 Yeast

Hop Schedule

10g Galaxy @ 20mins
15g Galaxy @ 10mins
20g Galaxy @ 0mins

Predicted

OG 1046
FG 1012
IBU 20.8
EBC 5.0

I usually make it to 20L.
You don't have to use Coopers LME, any good LME would be fine.
I'll leave the imperial conversions up to you!

 

[Samuel Adams]

For a true Australian beer I'd go with a Coopers Pale Ale or a Stone & Wood Pacific Ale

The Coopers uses a unique Australian yeast strain & the S&W uses Galaxy hops.

 

[Mad Brewer]

Thanks gents for all the great info. I now have several great options to choose from. I just hope I can find the coopers yeast here in the states.

 

[manticle]

If you can find bottled coopers over there, you can reculture but there is a whitelabs strain that is same/similar.

WLP009 I believe.

 

[fraser_john]

Probably the first thing to ask is what has your Aussie friend drunk back here in Aus that he liked, rather than people jumping all over and suggesting things that he may never have had here!

If he loved xxxx Gold, well......um........

 

[Mr. No-Tip]

If you can find bottled coopers over there, you can reculture but there is a whitelabs strain that is same/similar.

WLP009 I believe.

009 is seasonal - I think it might be done for this year but some shops could still be carrying it. I did a lot of reading when I used it and it was suggested that 16 was the sweet spot for that quintessential Peary coopers taste - push it into the 20s at your bananatic peril.

My resultant Aussie ale had almost no fruity ester. It was still a fine beer, but if you do go with a coopers strain (WL or from bottle) I'd recommend 18 or 19.

 

[indica86]

+1 for WLP009.
I have a very lightly hopped Pale, used the Coopers Pale grain bill and it is lovely. Great yeast.

 

[manticle]

Probably the first thing to ask is what has your Aussie friend drunk back here in Aus that he liked, rather than people jumping all over and suggesting things that he may never have had here!

If he loved xxxx Gold, well......um........

Agreed but I did ask that in my first post.

 

[Blind Dog]

It's a nice idea, but why? As a surprising few have asked, is there a specific Aussie beer they like? If there isn't then why not an APA, AIPA etc with Australian hops? I may suffer the consequences, but IMO, Australian craft beer hasn't yet come of age and although S&W Pacific Ale is touted as a new Aussie style, to me it's just a watered down APA and not a good thing. Except for Coopers, everything else mainstream seems to be a 'me too' interpretation of a US style

 

[AHB_Admin]

Hi everyone,
I'm fromOmaha, Nebraska in the US. One of my friends is from Australia. I wanted to make him an ale that would remind him of back home. I was wondering if any of you guys could help me with a good Aussie recipe?

Welcome from Texas!

 

[Mad Brewer]

Welcome from Texas!

Thanks Texas

 

[jkirky]

In my mind there is no question...

Coopers pale ale or coopers sparkling. The reason why is that most of the more modern Aussie craft ales are simply americanised ales, which would not really remind one of the mother land...

Coppers however, is very Aussie in every aspect. I can imagine that it would remind any ex pat of home (think POR hops and coopers yeast).

Pride of ring wood hops and coopers recultured yeast, pale malts will produce a very nostalgic Aussie ale.

You can't loose with a coopers clone IMHO

 

[slcmorro]

You can't loose with a coopers clone IMHO

I've gotten very loose after a few Coopers. You can't lose with a Coopers clone though

 

[JaseH]

+1 for the Coopers Ale. It's what I brew for my mates who aren't crafty - they can't get enough of it.

 

[Kingy]

+1 for the Coopers Ale. It's what I brew for my mates who aren't crafty - they can't get enough of it.

Got my first clone with the yeast bubbling away now. Can't wait to taste it. One thing I've noticed is the krausen is whiter than most yeast and the bubbles tighter, seems to be chewing through the sugars fast to.

 

[Mad Brewer]

I want to make a coopers pale clone but, I can only get the pre hoped can. Is that going to taste acurate? Or is their something I should do to make it taste right?

 

[sp0rk]

Will be close if you grow up some yeast from a few bottles of Coopers Pale Ale
The yeast with the can doesn't do a great job of replicating the original beer

 

[jkirky]

I want to make a coopers pale clone but, I can only get the pre hoped can. Is that going to taste acurate? Or is their something I should do to make it taste right?

You will get close with the coopers international pale ale , pre hopped can, but as mentioned, you will need to re culture some coopers yeast from a few bottles of coopers pale.

The coopers strain of yeast is a real signature to their beer. The beer in reality is faily lightly hopped, and a fair degree of the flavour profile is attributed to the yeast.

A kit and kilo suggestion, very simple but effective.

1.7 kilo pale ale coopers kit
1.5 kilo very light liquid malt
Coopers recultured yeast from about 4 bottles
2 weeks to condition in fermenter.

If you are kegging, I would sugar prime the keg with dextrose.

Let sit for about 4 weeks to age in bottle/ keg...

Avoid dextrose IMO.

Brew at 18 degrees Celsius.

I think you will be surprised how close you would get... With this clone, temp control, yeast and simplicity are the key factors.

 

[dicko]

If you cant get Coopers Pale Ale yeast by culturing from a bottle, Whitelabs WL 009 will be close.

If you want to make an ordinary lager that is similar to what your mate would drink in a pub over here you could make him this.

.

Use the grain percentage to make any volume that suits and choose a clean lager yeast.
Wyeast 2042 or a dry 34/70 will work just as well.

Mash at 65 deg c clear with finings and filter if possible.

 

[Kodos]

Out of interest, why do you suggest fining/filtering? In SA it's served cloudy, like a hefeweizen.

Bar tenders roll the bottle to mix up the yeast, and I think some of the advertising even promotes it as being "cloudy but fine".