Your current / planned brews

wotswattage

Started fermenting a St. Peters Ruby Red Ale friday evening, sticking as per the kit bar throwing in a 250g jar of organic honey.
OG 1038 when I added the yeast.

Now we wait!!!

fobster

Kicked off a brew at the weekend.

A very laissez faire approach.
Full boil for 20 minutes, added in 20g of Citra at the end, on with the lid and turned it off. Left it to cool overnight. Leaving the hops in overnight is the equivalent of 15-20 minutes boiling time. The wort is cool enough to transfer ~24 hours later.

Was going to siphon it into the fermenter than decided screw that, used a 1 litre jug through a super sieve for the first 12 litres than upturned the rest through the sieve. Helps aerate the wort! And no cleaning a load of tubes. Boosh!

drumswan

Not sure a 24 hour cooldown is advised.

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter7-4.html

BeerNut

The "no chill" method is commonly used in Australia.

drumswan

Interesting, let us know how it goes OP

fobster

drumswan wrote: »

Not sure a 24 hour cooldown is advised.

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter7-4.html

Worked ok for the beer I made which finished top of its category in the homebrew competition last March! Although one thing I learned from it was to dial back the hops!

lang

aligator_am wrote: »

Going to stick on a Coopers Irish Stout for Christmas, did it before and added in a bag of Demerara sugar, it tasted pretty strong but the Dad loved it (he milled a few bottles of it with the xmas dinner)...
Am still using kits, not ventured in to the more advanced side of things but would like to dabble with it in the future.

I'm still using kits too. Am happy with not 'progressing'. I've just bottled a Coopers Irish Stout. Made it before but musta got infected cos tasted awful. This time it seems to have worked out much better. Will be cracking open a bottle or two on Xmas Eve.

aligator_am wrote: »

Was also thinking of having a crack at a batch of Cerveza.

I am currently drinking this brew. I used Light LME and 200g brewing sugar. Didn't do any hop additions and came out very good. Nice and clear. From memory I think I left it a good while in secondary fermenter before bottling. I also left it about a month before drinking it. There is a bit of a chill-have to it that I noticed. Nice brew... for some reason it gives me a bit of a sore head after only 2 bottles... *light-weight* I know!

lang

Gonna brew a Coopers IPA with a can of LME and some Light Spraymalt. Will be using Nottingham yeast. I like making Hop Teas for my brew and have the following Hops (Cascade (leaf), EKG (leaf), Fuggles, Tettnanger, Saaz (all pellets)). I would be interested to know what hop additions you would recommend and a what points in the brew?

I will probably make up a small amount of wort (water and DME) for a bit of a boil for the hop tea.

sharingan

fobster wrote: »

Kicked off a brew at the weekend.

A very laissez faire approach.
Full boil for 20 minutes, added in 20g of Citra at the end, on with the lid and turned it off. Left it to cool overnight. Leaving the hops in overnight is the equivalent of 15-20 minutes boiling time. The wort is cool enough to transfer ~24 hours later.

Was going to siphon it into the fermenter than decided screw that, used a 1 litre jug through a super sieve for the first 12 litres than upturned the rest through the sieve. Helps aerate the wort! And no cleaning a load of tubes. Boosh!

You lose the chance to get rid of a lot of break material. I leave my hot wort in the cube until a fermenter is free, and it has a really nice layer of break at the bottom. I siphon off, and have lovely clear wort at the end.

Point noted that this is not removing your chill haze proteins though.

lang

OK so, I took my own 'advice'. I like Cascade and Fuggles Hops so went with both of them in my IPA. Not too sure about the Fuggles in an IPA but decided to give it a try. I boiled about 2 litres of water with 200g DME and then added 35g Cascade (Leaf) @30mins, then 20g Fuggles (Pellets) @5mins. Then did the usual. Topped fermenter up to 23L and added Nottingham yeast. Temp was a little high (28C) for my liking but the room I'm brewing in is fairly cold so wanted to give the yeast the best chance... just after reading the proper temp for that yeast so added a damp towel around the fermenter to try bring the temp down quickly.

Hoping I haven't ruined the brew before it even gets going.

fobster

sharingan wrote: »

You lose the chance to get rid of a lot of break material. I leave my hot wort in the cube until a fermenter is free, and it has a really nice layer of break at the bottom. I siphon off, and have lovely clear wort at the end.

Point noted that this is not removing your chill haze proteins though.

I have read that the cold break can provide the yeast with nutrients to give it a good start such as here --> http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter9-1.html. I had some left over which went down the sink but most went into the bucket.

It's a hefeweizen so I'm not worried about cloudy beer. I take your point though.

Ronan|Raven

I just bottled a muntons cerveza kit yesterday, turned out OK, I only used it as it came with some equipment I ordered.

I am starting a coppers Irish stout kit on Friday with 500g of dark spraymalt, 300g of brown sugar.

I am looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

lang

Ronan|Raven wrote: »

I am starting a coppers Irish stout kit on Friday with 500g of dark spraymalt, 300g of brown sugar.

What ABV are you hoping for? Would it not be quite low with only using 800g of fermentables? The minimum I use is 1kg of Spraymalt or one can of LME. Would you not up the amount of Brown Sugar?

Also, I used the Dark LME for this brew before and it did not turn out good (not sure if it got infected or something else).

tteknulp

Ronan|Raven wrote: »

I am starting a coppers Irish stout kit on Friday with 500g of dark spraymalt, 300g of brown sugar.

I would agree ,up the fermentables a bit ,1kg spraymalt dark ,300g brown sugar as sugar will thin out the stout .

tteknulp

Ronan|Raven wrote: »

I am starting a coppers Irish stout kit on Friday with 500g of dark spraymalt, 300g of brown sugar.

I would agree ,up the fermentables a bit ,1kg spraymalt dark ,300g brown sugar as sugar will thin out the stout .

Ronan|Raven

Sadly I only have 500g of Dark Spraymalt available at the moment,I do however have a 1.5KG can of Light LME which I will use instead.


Made the coopers irish stout with the 1.5KG can of LME and 100g sugar (for the sake of it..) SG of 1040 smells wonderful.

I had another taste of my "cerveza" and it is for the sink sadly, a nasty twang to it which I put down to volatile temperatures during its fermentation. All a learning curve so on wards and hopefully upwards

tyler71

Currently watching my (all-grain) Kolsch continuing to brew. I was a bit concerned because I was using the 'Brewing Classic Styles' receipe (WLP029) which recommends fermenting at 16degC but the yeast said on the label to not go below 17deg. Currently using my 'no fridge' temp control system which is working very well so can pick the temps so ran for a few days at 16 and then upped it to 18 for a while. Realised that if you watch the yeast cake (with a torch) you can see little eruptions regularly and this gives you a good idea of how active things are, rather than relying on the airlock (not working for me at the moment because I can't get complete sealing on my lid). Would recommend this as a relaxation techinque, it's better than a lava lamp!

mjv2ydratu679c

So far this year I've made (or am in the process of making). Will post up results of tasting when available

25 litres Merlot DOCs Kit = really good, tasted great a month after bottling
25 litres Elderberry Wine = In progress - clearing at mo
5 litres hawthorn Wine = complete experiment - In progress - still fermenting.
5 litres Rowanberry Wine = complete experiment - bottled - tasted foul before bottling
5 litres Parsnip wine = In progress - primary ferementation
5 liters Rosehip (Beach Rose) - bottled - tasted nice before bottling
5 liters Rosehip (Dog Rose) - In progress - clearing at mo

invaderzimirl

just bottled two of my latest batches both very tasty.

20 Liters of coopers Mexican Cerveza i added agave syrip and 1.5 KG of LME and 2 limes peels 5% ABV
23 Liters of Muntons Wheat beer 1.5 KG of LME. 4.7% ABV

also kicked off another one today.

20 Liters Coopers Heritage larger i added 1.5 KG of LME and 1Kg of extra light spray malt started gravity is 1.060 hoping for a 6.5% ABV

drumswan

Bottled a 7% ABV American IPA extract using 5 different hops (Apollo, Cascade, Centennial, Citra and Chinook) and Carmalt/Crystal speciality grains. Tasted lovely out of the fermenter. Cant wait to move to kegging so I dont have to wait for bottle carbonation.
Also brewed a 'Left-Over Pale Ale' using whatever ends I had lying about and some Chinook, looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

Links234

Just bottled a Cooper's Dark Ale today, my very first! Hurray for me!

Next I hope to try a John Bull London Porter or a Munton's Nut Brown Ale

HMD

drumswan wrote: »

Bottled a 7% ABV American IPA extract using 5 different hops (Apollo, Cascade, Centennial, Citra and Chinook) and Carmalt/Crystal speciality grains. Tasted lovely out of the fermenter. Cant wait to move to kegging so I dont have to wait for bottle carbonation.
Also brewed a 'Left-Over Pale Ale' using whatever ends I had lying about and some Chinook, looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

what's the recipe you used for the IPA? i have most the ingredients left over from an IPA made recently and wouldn't mind trying a different recipe.

Here's the recipe for the one i did
http://bit.ly/AIPA01

Keedowah

At the weekend I bottled some Coopers Australian Pale Ale - it will be a bit young for Christmas but will have a few then anyways. Anyone do this kit and how did they find it after about 3 weeks in bottles?

In the new year I'll be doing a chocolate stout, which I'm bloody excited about. And after that I might repeat a Coopers Sparkling Ale that I really enjoyed earlier in the year.

At the moment I'm drinking a Wheat Beer I made with some orange and coriander - love this one, but I dont think I finished fermenting as its over carbonated and pouring it is a chore.

drumswan

HMD wrote: »

what's the recipe you used for the IPA? i have most the ingredients left over from an IPA made recently and wouldn't mind trying a different recipe.

Here's the recipe for the one i did
http://bit.ly/AIPA01

Style: American IPA 
Boil Time: 60 min 
Batch Size: 20 liters (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 25.1 liters 
Original Gravity 1.074 Final Gravity: 1.021 ABV (standard): 6.95% IBU (tinseth): 76.51 SRM (morey): 10.3

Fermentables
Amount Fermentable PPG °L Bill %
4.5 kg Liquid Malt Extract - Light 35 4 85.2%
4.5 kg Total

Steeping Grains
Amount Fermentable PPG °L Bill %
0.36 kg United Kingdom - Cara Malt 35 17.5 6.8%
0.21 kg United Kingdom - Crystal 15L 34 15 4%
0.21 kg United Kingdom - Crystal 60L 34 60 4%

Hops
Amount Variety Type AA Use Time IBU
28 g Apollo Leaf/Whole 20 Boil 60 min 59.78
12 g Centennial Leaf/Whole 10 Boil 30 min 9.84
12 g Cascade Leaf/Whole 7 Boil 30 min 6.89
24 g Centennial Leaf/Whole 10 Boil 0 min
24 g Cascade Leaf/Whole 7 Boil 0 min
28 g Centennial Leaf/Whole 10 Dry Hop 5 days
28 g Cascade Leaf/Whole 7 Dry Hop 5 days
14 g Citra Leaf/Whole 11 Dry Hop 5 days
14 g Chinook Leaf/Whole 13 Dry Hop 5 days

Yeast
Fermentis / Safale - English Ale Yeast S-04

Knifey Spoony

My Christmas brew is finally ready, after just over 4 weeks bottle conditioning. It's a Vanilla Whiskey Stout, based on Cooper's Irish Dry Stout.

The Cooper's can was brewed with 1.5kg of dark DME. One vanilla pod was then soaked in 350ml of Jameson for a month. The whiskey and pod were then added to the primary after three weeks fermenting and left sit for a further week before bottling.

The whiskey and vanilla were definitely more prominent at the bottling stage and have mellowed out now. The whiskey is only slightly detectable in the initial taste, combining with subtle sweetness, not quite detectable as vanilla. This sweetness then blends into and finishes with roasted dark malts. Tis only feckin' gorgeous.

Could have probably done with some more whisky and vanilla, but I'm happy I just didn't over do them. I also batch primed this, my first time doing it. Thought I had messed it up as I underestimated the amount of beer I would end up with out of the fermenter and so underestimated the amount of dextrose to use. But, I'm happy with the resulting carbonation level, given it's a stout.

This will be my last kit brew. Gonna move on to extract in the new year and try and put my engineering degree to use and try and use an Ardunio to monitor and store fermentation temps, in an effort to work toward temperature controlled fermentation.

Antisocialiser

Antisocialiser wrote: »

Coopers IPA 1.7kg with 900g Medium Spraymalt and 100g brewing sugar. Hope to ferment for a week and then dry hop with 50g Saaz hops for another week before bottling. My plan is to have it ready for xmas.

In the end up I added 1kg Medium Spraymalt and 175g brewing sugar to the IPA kit at boil. Fermented for 7 days before dry hopping with about 60g Centennial and leaving for another 5 days. Batch primed with 140g brewing sugar dissolved in a pint of water and made about 34 pints worth.

Overall I'm extremely happy with it, it's been in the bottle for 10days and tastes delectable. Lovely smooth floral IPA taste, planned to have one last night and nailed three. It's going to be hard to give any of these away.

One Q: Head retention and carbonation was perfect for a 330ml bottle but the brew was less fizzy out of the 500ml bottle, why would this be if I batch primed?

baron von something

baron von something wrote: »

did a brewferm pils extract with 1kg of muntons dark spraymalt.it says it normally takes 6-8 wks for it to be ready but i have the temp up slightly in hopes to have it finished by dec27 which is 5 weeks from yesterday

added 4 sticks of cinnamon and 500g of elderberries.its bubbling and gurgling away nicely and the aroma is amazing

had this last nite.pleasantly surprised with my little experiment.very tasty.lovely dark colour with a purple head and a nice fruity taste but not overpowering.was perfect for sitting in front of the fire having a few with friends


i didn't notice the cinnamon in it though and i'm glad now that i didnt crush the elderberrys before adding them in


we drank most of it but i'll keep the rest for another 4-6 weeks to see how it matures

Herb Powell

I can give a verdict on my "Belgian" ale, had a few bottles so far.

It's not bad at all, in fact very pleasant drinking, but I expected a bit more kick-it tastes quite light. Certainly does not taste like 8.5%. Not too sure what I could do to improve this in future-perhaps more spraymalt in place of golden syrup?

Anyway, have a rake of cheap, strong, clean tasting beer, so I'm not complaining.

tyler71

Herb Powell wrote: »

I can give a verdict on my "Belgian" ale, had a few bottles so far.

It's not bad at all, in fact very pleasant drinking, but I expected a bit more kick-it tastes quite light. Certainly does not taste like 8.5%. Not too sure what I could do to improve this in future-perhaps more spraymalt in place of golden syrup?

Anyway, have a rake of cheap, strong, clean tasting beer, so I'm not complaining.

If you have an 8.5percent beer without an obvious kick it means you did a good job with the fermentation. The hot solventy flavours that you're probably looking for are actually off flavours and give hangovers, so basically fair play! Did you do anything special with yeast, aeration, temperature that you'd like to share?
Aiming to brew a Bock ( about 7 percent) in the next few days which is the highest OG that I've tried so far so any hints would be gratefully received!

Keedowah

Coopers Pale ale was far too young at Christmas - I tried it after two weeks in bottles and thought it was awful - but tried a bottle earlier this week and it is coming really good.

Got a few kits for Christmas, so hopefully get brewing this weekend.