Coopers 'Festive'

[louis macneice]

Following a conversation with clibit on another thread this is a detailed description of how I brew most of my beer.

The example here is an attempt at something darkish and oldish. It takes me about 3 hours start to finish and the results taste pretty good to me at least. It's all done with stuff from the kitchen and done in the kitchen and minimises my metered water use.

The mashing part of the process I also use to make 1 gallon all grain batches. Any how I hope it is of some interest/use.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice

Brew day; Coopers ‘Festive'

Preparation

1.Collect ingredients:

a. Coopers English Bitter Kit,
b. 500g dark DME,
c. 500g brewing sugar,
d. 600g Maris Otter pale,
e. 100g roasted barley,
f. 100g chocolate malt,
g. 200g crystal malt,
h. 40g East Kent Goldings,
i. 20g Fuggles,
j. Safeales S0-4 yeast
​

2.Collect equipment:

a. 9ltr jam pan,
b. 8ltr pasta pot,
c. grain bag,
d. electronic scales,
e. colander,
f. large mixing bowl,
g. slotted metal spoon,
h. fermenter with lid,
i. thermometer,
j. sanitizer,
k. scissors,
l. tin opener,
m. timer.
​

Technique

1. In pasta pot heat 3.5l mashing water to 75 degrees and warm oven to lowest setting

2. Place grains in bag, bag in pasta pot, stir grains in thoroughly, lid on pot, pot in oven, turn off oven, set timer for 30 mins.

3. After 30 mins remove pot from oven, put oven back on lowest setting, give grains another good stir, place pot back in oven, turn oven off, set timer for 30 mins.

4. In jam pan heat up 4 litres of water to 80-85 degrees.

5. Remove pasta pot from oven, transfer grain bag to jam pan, set timer for 10 mins, begin bringing wort in pasta pan to boil.

6. After 10 mins place grain bag in colander over large mixing bowl, transfer wort from pasta pan to jam pan and begin brining combined wort to boil.

7. Squeeze liquid from grain bag and add to jam pan, empty grains from bag, weigh out and place 20g of Fuggles in bag.

8. Bring wort to boil, add hops in bag, set timer for 40 mins.

9. Sanitise fermenter, lid, slotted spoon, scissors and tin opener, place kit tin in pasta pot full of hot water.

10. After 40 mins weigh out and add 20g east Kent Goldings to bag, replace bag in jam pan, set timer for 10 mins.

11. Rinse fermenter, place 3 litres of tap water in fermenter, add DME and thrash with slotted spoon, add contents of kit tin and thrash with slotted spoon, add brewing sugar and thrash with slotted spoon.

12. After 10 mins weigh out and add 20g east Kent Goldings to bag, replace bag in jam pan, set timer for 10 mins.

13. After 10 mins remove bag and transfer wort to fermenter, top up fermenter to 23l with tap water poured from as high as practical, check temp, place lid on fermenter.

14. Clean up.

15. Sometime later check temp, add S0-4 and kit yeast, put the lid back on, walk away.
​

Comments:

1.I know I should use a hydrometer and I promise one day I'll get around to it.

2.I live in Brighton; does anybody know if it's worth treating my water with a campden tablet?

3. I have used basically this technique with the following kits to good effect: Coopers English Bitter, Coopers IPA, Young's Harvest Stout, Coopers Pilsner (with Danstar Belle Saison yeast), Young's Harvest Pilsner and Coopers Australian Pale Ale.

4. I've only been home brewing since last summer so I could well be talking out of my a***e!
​

Future amendments:

1. replace 500g brewing sugar with soft brown sugar;

2. add some Bramling Cross hops at 20 mins and 10 mins;

3. possibly replace the English Bitter kit with a Coopers Dark Ale one?

4. increase the amount of crystal malt to 300g.
​

 

[clibit]

Great write up thanks.

For clarity, you added different grains to different kits of course. Have you tried other yeasts? There are some good dried yeasts - and I have recently ventured into liquid yeasts, definitely recommended, and can be split/re-used making them cost effective. I'm currently on my fourth batch from a vial of WLP002, which is great.

Did you you prefer Coopers or Youngs pilsner?

 

[louis macneice]

I've used S0-4 (on its own and in combination with kit yeast), Muntons Premium Gold (on its own and in combination with kit yeast) and Danstar Belle Saison yeasts. The Muntons and the Coopers yeasts all clear nicely and compact very well in the bottles which makes pouring a bright pint easy.

I've also pitched the slurry from one batch which took off like a rocket and washed and reused yeast which works well; I've got the recovered saison yeast in the fridge at the moment.

The Young's Pilsner I used to make what I now realise is a sort of steam beer, and very nice it is too; I had a well chilled bottled last night and I was refreshing, light and hoppy with a good creamy head. The Coopers was used in my attempt at a saison which is currently conditioning in the bottle; I'll crack one open this weekend to see how its going and let you know.

Cheers -Louis MacNeice

 

[clibit]

Bump!

So how did this go?

And have things evolved at all, with your brewing techniques? How do your kit+partial mash brews compare to your all grain brews?

 

[Slid]

Cheers, clibit, no idea how I missed this first time around.

I just enjoy reading everything Loius MacNiece has contributed to the forum.

Many ideas and all practical :hat:

 

[clibit]

Me too, some really smart ideas for making good beer with less hassle and time than AG. I'm getting less time for brewing these days and am doing more partial mashing, a compromise between time and quality. Beer almost as good as AG in half the time. Louis has given me some good ideas.

 

[louis macneice]

Thanks for the compliments.

All the beer I do at the moment is either:

• a kit plus a one gallon all grain mash - usually but not always Coopers - and maybe a dry hop depending on style;
  
• or a one gallon all grain.

I'm really enjoying doing some strong sweet belgianish brews with Safales T-58 yeast and lots of wheat and oats.

The only downside is I'm drinking a bit too much and the running (my other preoccupation) is suffering a little; I'll have to book some more races for 2015.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice

 

[clibit]

How much difference do you notice between the Kit plus grain and the all grain brews?

 

[louis macneice]

How much difference do you notice between the Kit plus grain and the all grain brews?

They are different; the all grains seem to have less sweetness, more of a drier and slightly thinner mouth feel....sort of more grainy! They do also seem to me to be more complex in their flavours; you can pick up a real variety of things going on (e.g. clearly tasting both the chocolate malt and the roasted barley alongside the berries of the bramling cross hops in a stout).

That said I really like the kits plus the mini mash. I can fiddle around changing the taste, appearance and aroma of a kit for minimal costs.

There is also the fact that I really like the processes of all grain brewing; it is immensely satisfying turning some unpromising dry ingredients into great tasting beer.


Cheers - Louis MacNeice

p.s. yesterday I worked out the cost of a gallon batch of a dark strong (8%) Belgian style ale; it came out at less than 30p per 330ml bottle (the yeast was 'free' left over from a Brewferm kit).

 

[Slid]

Thanks, Louis

Entertaining and inspirational. I shall definitely be looking at this sort of approach in the New Year. :hat:

 

[BruinTuns]

Louis & clibit
I've stocked up on lots of kits in recent sales and I like a strong beer. Experienced advice is that there may not be enough supplied kit yeast to cope with the extra fermentables needed for a higher abv than would be obtained with the basic 1kg 'sugar'..
My question is: can I add a good all-round ale yeast like Safale SO4 to the kit yeast, or would that cause problems and I'd be better off putting aside the kit yeast and adding all SO4 in an increased amount?
Or is there a better all-round strong(ish) ale yeast?

 

[louis macneice]

Louis & clibit
I've stocked up on lots of kits in recent sales and I like a strong beer. Experienced advice is that there may not be enough supplied kit yeast to cope with the extra fermentables needed for a higher abv than would be obtained with the basic 1kg 'sugar'..
My question is: can I add a good all-round ale yeast like Safale SO4 to the kit yeast, or would that cause problems and I'd be better off putting aside the kit yeast and adding all SO4 in an increased amount?
Or is there a better all-round strong(ish) ale yeast?

I've successfully pitched a Coopers ale yeast and SO4 in a single batch; successful in that the batch fermented well and retained what I think is a distinctive fruity flavour from the Coopers ale yeast.

However, with the amount of extra fermentables I use, the Coopers yeast on its own has never had any problems.

Also for strong beers - up in the 8 & 9% abv - I've used Danstar Nottingham; it comes in an 11g packet, with instructions to re-hydrate (not make a starter) and seems to be quite happy to chomp its way through any amount of sugar. It is pretty much flavour neutral and compacts well.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice

 

[clibit]

Agree with Louis, just add that Gervin ale yeast is also Nottingham and is half the price of Danstar or less. I prefer it to S04, myself, others like S04. There are other options too. Muntons, Mauribrew, S33 for example.

 

[BruinTuns]

Thanks guys.