pale ale revisited

Williams 728
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unionrdr

unionrdr

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Well,I got my pale ale in the fermenter yesterday. By this morning,the krausen is up to the lid,& light brown. atm,it's a lil darker,but the airlock's holding. Nice light toasty/buiscuty smell from the airlock,Kent Golding hop smell under that. Here's the recipe I wound up with:
1 can Cooper's OS Lager LME
3lbs Munton's plain extra light SDME
The Cooper's ale yeast in a starter
1oz Kent goldings hops 4.5%AA
1oz Willamette hops 4.7%AA
4 2/3 gallons Ohio spring water (Columbiana Co)
I heated some tap water in a small sauce pan to 150F,then put 1 1/2C in a pyrex measuring cup with 1/4C of the SDME. Stirred,added quick check thermometer,& covered with plastic wrap. Waited til the temp went down to about 75F before stiring in yeast & recovering. That was at 2:00pm.
Cleaned everything with PBW I'd just mixed up hot. I then put 1 1/4 gallons of tap water in the brew kettle,waited for a heavy simmer/light boil to ad 1oz Kent Goldings hops (bagged) for 15 mins.
I took it off the heat,drained the hop bag,& stirred in the SDME. Then stirred in the Cooper's Lager can. Boy,this smells good already!
I then dumped 1 gallon of the spring water in the fermenter,next the wort. Topped off to 23L (a shade over 6 gallons in a Cooper's fermenter). 28C,damn. Oh well,at least that's lower than 30C last time. Had the spring water cool,but not cold. Should've put it in the garage when I got up yesterday morning. Anyway,the OG was 1.044,good. The yeast has been waking up for about 3 hours,35mins. Stirred before adding to fermenter. It was nice & creamy! Man,I'm gunna make starters from now on! Gave mix a light stir after adding yeast,then sealed it up,cheap vodka in airlock.
When I took the hydrometer reading,it was a nice light golden brown color. Smelled as described above. I can't wait to dry hop with 1oz of Willamette. Maybe sat or sun? What are your thoughts?:mug:
 
Congrats on your beer!

If I read your process correctly, you added the Kent Goldings hops to boiling water. Generally, its recommended that you add some of your malt extract to the water before adding the hops - it helps get the most out of the hops. Someone more science-y than me might be able to tell you why :)

Jim
 
I just heard the interview with Lagunitas on Can You Brew It. Those guys dry hop after fermentation is complete and most of the yeast has dropped out. Apparently, yeast sticks to hop oils and drags them out of the beer.

Out of curiosity: does PBW sanitize as well as clean? I've been cleaning with soap and water and sanitizing afterward. Your way sounds easier. :)
 
belmontbrew said:
I just heard the interview with Lagunitas on Can You Brew It. Those guys dry hop after fermentation is complete and most of the yeast has dropped out. Apparently, yeast sticks to hop oils and drags them out of the beer.

Out of curiosity: does PBW sanitize as well as clean? I've been cleaning with soap and water and sanitizing afterward. Your way sounds easier. :)
Click to expand...

No, PBW is a cleaner, not a sanitizer. Don't stop sanitizing!

I've only dealt with coopers kits once, and I believe they are prehopped so I don't recommend them any more. I'm not 100% sure what you did or what you used, but I'm sure you'll have a drinkable beer at the end and that's always a good thing.

You're in Columbiana County? My dad was born there, but now lives in Youngstown (where I grew up).
 
Well,the only thing I used from Cooper's (other than the fermenter & stuff like that) was the 1.7kg can of Cooper's OS lager LME. And of course,the ale yeast they give you with the LME. The SDME was Munton's. And no,the spring water is from Columbiana Co. I'm up near Lake Erie. You're about 2.5 hours east of me. Anyway,from the hydrometer sample I took,it seems like it'll look a lot like a paulaner salvator doppl bock. Which is also an ale. And this guy I saw on youtube has a micro brewery,& it seemed like this is all he uses. At any rate,he swears by the stuff. I'd have to find the vid again to be sure I'm not forgetting something. But the brew still smells good,so it's cool.:mug:
 
As far as I know there's only one type of Cooper's Lager can - the prehopped one's. At least you only did the hops for 15 minutes, that's more of a flavoring time addition than bittering, but it's gonna be hoppier for sure.

Also, you weren't supposed to boil the Cooper's Lager can contents, it's a no boil can. Not sure how it will effect the flavor.


Rev.
 
Rev2010 said:
As far as I know there's only one type of Cooper's Lager can - the prehopped one's. At least you only did the hops for 15 minutes, that's more of a flavoring time addition than bittering, but it's gonna be hoppier for sure.

Also, you weren't supposed to boil the Cooper's Lager can contents, it's a no boil can. Not sure how it will effect the flavor.


Rev.
Click to expand...

I didn't boil the can of LME,or the SDME. Just boiled 1 1/4 Gallons of water,& made a strong "tea" out of the Kent Goldings for 15mins. Then removed it from the heat,took out the hop bag,& mixed in both malts while still hot. Boy,did that smell good! Basically,the LME (Cooper's) was pre hoped with a lil "pride of ringwood" hops. Since the SDME isn't hoped,I felt I had to add more to compensate. It's quite common to do so,I just used low alpha acid varieties,so as not to get too much extra bitterness. We'll see about the end of March...:mug:
 
Ok,just took a hydrometer sample at 12:23pm. Tested at 1.020,needs more time obviously. Color is much lighter now,like a straw gold with a hint of amber. It tastes a little green yet,but I can def smell/taste some maltiness coming through. The Kent Golding hops made a nice foil against the maltiness. But I should've used some or all of the SDME in that 15 min boil. Got some bitterness,a little of that lemon grass thing I smelled on the hops itself. Guess that aspect needs more time to. Next time,I'm boiling the SDME for that addition. But no off flavors whatsoever,so I got lucky with the PBW. Mixed up some Cooper's sanitizer (40g to 1 gallon of water) to sanitize hydrometer for test. Saved in a jug. So,clean & sanitize from now on. May not get so lucky in the future. Anyway,it seems like I'm hitting close to my target. Try to find regular Munton's SDME next time for more color & maltiness. This reminds me of a wheat beer by color. So a good summer brew.?
 

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