Coopers, Canadian Blonde Review

[Slid]

Have decided to use the last of last season's blackberries in a further Blushing Blonde experiment.

Thinking of adding a litre of RGJ (sorry, that is Red Grape Juice) at the same time as the blackberries and using pectolase in the addition before adding it in to the beer wort.

Running order is - Day one, put on the kit plus 500g DME and 1kg sugar.

Day 2 - defrost blackberries in microwave and add RGJ plus pectolase and maybe even 1L Apple Juice - leave overnight.

Day 3 - post violent fermentation, add blackberries etc to FV.

Everyone seemed impressed with the Blushing Blonde, even if it was a bit flat, so keen to revisit.

 

[TommySpongefinger]

Just finished brewing this, made with kit and 1kg youngs brew enhancer and topped up to 18lts, I splitting between two fv after 13 days primary fermentation came to an end I dry hopped one fv with cascade pellets and left for another four days then added finings and left for another two. Taste both today before bottling, both really clear, uhopped one taste nice but a bit bland, the hopped one is a different matter...absolutely lush grapefruity twang and flora aroma totally transformed as mediocre brew, looking forward to tasting after a few weeks in the bottle

 

[Slid]

Have decided to use the last of last season's blackberries in a further Blushing Blonde experiment.

Thinking of adding a litre of RGJ (sorry, that is Red Grape Juice) at the same time as the blackberries and using pectolase in the addition before adding it in to the beer wort.

Running order is - Day one, put on the kit plus 500g DME and 1kg sugar.

Day 2 - defrost blackberries in microwave and add RGJ plus pectolase and maybe even 1L Apple Juice - leave overnight.

Day 3 - post violent fermentation, add blackberries etc to FV.

Everyone seemed impressed with the Blushing Blonde, even if it was a bit flat, so keen to revisit.

In the end the pectolase was too much trouble and the RGJ got sacked off too. Put the brew on last Friday using a washed Coopers yeast and it went off quite quickly.

I went for steeping some Amber grains overnight, sparging and boiling a fair amount of wort (5L?) with Cascade (30g). Discovered I had a kilo of blackberries in the freezer, added half in a hop bag, plus some marbles to sink it a bit, via the microwave and the boiled wort.

So - One more blackberry experiment to go and might see how the Blackberry / Cascade thing goes. The Saltaire brewery do a beer along these lines and a guy at work is keen on their beer.

 

[Pedgey]

Hi all. I've done a tweeked Canadian blonde to day.
Ingredients are:
1 x can of Coopers Canadian Blonde
1kg of DME
1 x 300gr jar of clear honey
40 gr of Citra hops
1 x cascade the bag finishing hops.
SG .047
Currently fermenting at 20°C in my fermenting fridge.
I have to say the aroma from this is absolutely amazing.
I've got a feeling that this is going to be one amazing beer ;-)
Pete

 

[TommySpongefinger]

Cracked my Blonde last night, been in bottle for about three weeks now, I dry hopped with cascade before bottling the result is a fantastic pint, clear as a bell and taste not unlike Speckled Hen.

 

[new2brew]

Hi all, first post here and totally new to homebrewing, I started the Canadian blonde on sat 7th march, I used the coopers enhancer 1, sg was 1.040 and for the last 3 days its been at 1.012, I gave a little taste from trial and I thought it tasted just slightly fruity at the tip of my tongue but quite bitter at back of the mouth, is this normal ? also it seems quite cloudy still, ive had this fermenting at around 21c - 24c . Should I leave this for another while or should it be bottled now.

 

[Covrich]

Hi all, first post here and totally new to homebrewing, I started the Canadian blonde on sat 7th march, I used the coopers enhancer 1, sg was 1.040 and for the last 3 days its been at 1.012, I gave a little taste from trial and I thought it tasted just slightly fruity at the tip of my tongue but quite bitter at back of the mouth, is this normal ? also it seems quite cloudy still, ive had this fermenting at around 21c - 24c . Should I leave this for another while or should it be bottled now.

Yes, it has only been in the FV for just over a week, while fermentation may have finished let is clear up and some of the yeast to drop out first. if you try beer after just a week often it will be green and have bitter flavours.

I would bottle it earliest this weekend. 10 days to 2 weeks in the warm before you store cold.

Also in future I would try to keep the temps away from 24 and as close to 20 as you can.:

 

[new2brew]

Thanks very much for reply, I'll steer clear to the weekend, and post back again

 

[TommySpongefinger]

Just a heads up I tried my unhooped version of this and it is quite bland, I would highly recommend hopping to get the best from this brew.

 

[new2brew]

Just a heads up I tried my unhooped version of this and it is quite bland, I would highly recommend hopping to get the best from this brew.

Hi Tommy, its now day 11, being totally new to brewing, I really dont have much of an idea what I'm doing just yet, so will note your reply, for future reference should the hops be added at the start or can they be added any time during fermentation ? Cheers

 

[Covrich]

Just a heads up I tried my unhooped version of this and it is quite bland, I would highly recommend hopping to get the best from this brew.

I do agree , nothing wrong with it . I made it with 1kg dme some dextrose.. It was nice and clean drink but it was just a bit boring.

If I was to ever do this again I would boil some dme with hope to add a bit of bitterness and then dry hop it..

New2Brew do not worry about this for now, it is your first go at making beer so just enjoy what you have and see where you are with that.

Adding hops to a kit can be done in multiple ways and achieve different things.. for dry hopping as in adding hops to the fermenter I normally add hops 3-5 days before bottling. I personally always wait for the fermenting to finish also. Dry hopping gives a fresh burst of aroma and some flavour.

 

[new2brew]

Guys maybe a daft question but can I open the lid on the fermenter to have a check on it, I can see some sort of scum around the edges but that's about it, can't see through it to see if its still bubbling. If its finished bubbling is it ok to still leave it ? Cheers.

 

[Covrich]

you can lift and have a sneak peek it wont do any harm but try to do it as little as possible and as quick as possible.. the scum around the top is normal and you will see it almost every brew. It is just proteins from the yeast when the krausen was formed.

If it is finished bubbling you could take a hydrometer test to make sure you hit your gravity..either way I would leave it in there a min 2 weeks (from the day you pitched teh yeast) before bottling

 

[new2brew]

you can lift and have a sneak peek it wont do any harm but try to do it as little as possible and as quick as possible.. the scum around the top is normal and you will see it almost every brew. It is just proteins from the yeast when the krausen was formed.

If it is finished bubbling you could take a hydrometer test to make sure you hit your gravity..either way I would leave it in there a min 2 weeks (from the day you pitched teh yeast) before bottling

Cheers mate, will just leave till Saturday then, don't want to jeopardise anything, as its my first attempt. Appreciate your input thanks.

 

[TommySpongefinger]

Yeah I popped the cascade hop pellets in after initial fermentation had finished for about 5 days , transformed this brew.

 

[new2brew]

Hi guys, couldn't resist checking tonight, so filled the trial left for 10 minutes, gravity now at 1.010 so looks like its heading in the right direction, also had a taste, and its really starting to taste like proper beer, the bitterness has started to subside too, so fingers crossed this works out, I'm quite excited about this, post back soon., Forgot to mention that its still very cloudy, is there anything I can do to help this clear up ?

 

[TommySpongefinger]

Yeah, I noticed that this brew didn't taste bad at all even before conditioning
conditioning.

 

[Covrich]

Yeah I remember at bottling time my sips were it was surprisingly good already and didn't have any green harsh flavours.

Good luck new2Brew, get it in the bottle soon carb it up for a few weeks then store in the cold, although if you're like me I always try one after two weeks!! I just cannot help myself to see how it is going

 

[new2brew]

Mate its still very cloudy, is it ok to bottle at 1.010 as long as its consistent over 24 hrs, was wondering if there's anything on the market that would help clear this up, cheers guys for all your responses.

 

[Covrich]

Well going off your earlier posts today is day 14? and you have a steady gravity of 1010 Sounds like your fine to bottle to me.


It probably will be a bit cloudy, when I bottled that it looked a bit like Fanta in the bottle but within a few days it will clear.. If you have a clear bottle you use then you can keep an eye on this (although try to keep it out of sunlight)

I did find it did haze up when chilled for a few weeks but that does go eventually..