Coopers Stout - what yeast is best?

hey i have a can of Coopers Stout and was wondering if there is a better yeast for that job or would i be just fine with the provided yeasts?

also, would the use of brown sugar add butterscotch overtones like it does to cider? Any issued involving the use of cane sugars vs dextrose?

i normally brew cider, and am pretty exited about brewing my first beer. especially since it will be a stout :rockin:

black velvet anyone?

Safale S05. Its worth the extra $2 for a pack of yeast that you know is not ancient or heat cycled...

thanks for the tip!

felix said:

hey i have a can of Coopers Stout and was wondering if there is a better yeast for that job or would i be just fine with the provided yeasts?

also, would the use of brown sugar add butterscotch overtones like it does to cider? Any issued involving the use of cane sugars vs dextrose?

i normally brew cider, and am pretty exited about brewing my first beer. especially since it will be a stout :rockin:

black velvet anyone?

Click to expand...

Use the Coopers yeast. It consistently works well and buying another package of yeast is just a waste of money. The yeast in the Coopers stout beer kit makes a stout that is similar to the Coopers Stout made by the Coopers Brewery. I don't know what beers Safale makes.

tomheff said:

Use the Coopers yeast. It consistently works well and buying another package of yeast is just a waste of money. The yeast in the Coopers stout beer kit makes a stout that is similar to the Coopers Stout made by the Coopers Brewery. I don't know what beers Safale makes.

Click to expand...

No. Sorry, but no. It is worth the $1-$2 for dry yeast. I've done plenty of their kits and I wouldn't use their yeast if I had a choice.

Poor attenuation, questionable quality (due to long periods on the shelves). I've brewed good beer with their yeast, but I've had it poop out a few times as well. It's worth the $1 for notty or S-04 to me, I know what they do and they're consistent.

I make coopers kits all the time and always use the yeast under the lid - I havent had a failure yet! *Knocks on wood*

BTW the tout turns out great - one of my fave cooper kits

Cheers

Kilgore_Trout said:

No. Sorry, but no. It is worth the $1-$2 for dry yeast. I've done plenty of their kits and I wouldn't use their yeast if I had a choice.

Poor attenuation, questionable quality (due to long periods on the shelves). I've brewed good beer with their yeast, but I've had it poop out a few times as well. It's worth the $1 for notty or S-04 to me, I know what they do and they're consistent.

Click to expand...

Yes Kilgore. Coopers has very good attenuation and is very high quality. The yeast for the Coopers Stout beer kit is designed to make a Coopers Stout. If you have problems with the shelf life from your retailer that is not a reflection of the Coopers yeast.

tomheff said:

The yeast for the Coopers Stout beer kit is designed to make a Coopers Stout. If you have problems with the shelf life from your retailer that is not a reflection of the Coopers yeast.

Click to expand...

The Coopers yeast may be fantastic when packaged up in Australia but by the time its shipped in non-temp controlled containers and sits in my LHBS I dont know its condition.

Safale may not make beer themselves, but they (Fermentis) make fantastic yeast that major brewers use in their processes. To me its worth $1 or $2 to ensure that the $50 in other goodies I put in my primary are going to be eaten by happy yeast. Happy yeast = good beer

vespa2t said:

The Coopers yeast may be fantastic when packaged up in Australia but by the time its shipped in non-temp controlled containers and sits in my LHBS I dont know its condition.

Safale may not make beer themselves, but they (Fermentis) make fantastic yeast that major brewers use in their processes. To me its worth $1 or $2 to ensure that the $50 in other goodies I put in my primary are going to be eaten by happy yeast. Happy yeast = good beer

Click to expand...

Well, let's see, Safale is produced in France by a subsidiary of a food company. Coopers makes and sells bottle-conditioned beers just like the beers that homebrewers make. If you want to make a bottle-conditioned stout similar to the one Coopers produces and sells in Australia, you will have success using the Coopers yeast. If you want to modify the beer kit based on recommendations from "expert" homebrewers than that is your perogative. Because Safale sells yeast and not beer kits, they market their yeast separately and they want you to use their yeast instead of the yeast that comes with the beer kit. The retailer also wants you to do this because they get another sale.

tomheff said:

Well, let's see, Safale is produced in France by a subsidiary of a food company. Coopers makes and sells bottle-conditioned beers just like the beers that homebrewers make.

Click to expand...

Safale (Fermentis) doesnt make food. They only make specialized yeast for brewing, wine making, and distillers. Make sure you dont buy from Wyeast or White, they dont make beer either.

tomheff said:

If you want to make a bottle-conditioned stout similar to the one Coopers produces and sells in Australia, you will have success using the Coopers yeast. .

Click to expand...

I have had a bad pack of yeast. Thus why I insure my $50 investment with a $2 yeast. BTW, I make a hella good Stout using Safale and Coopers Extract. I dont care if its not exactly like theirs. Mine is good.

If your happy with the Coopers yeast, then fine...but if someone on here asks for advice in this area, Im going to tell them my experiences...

Since I live in South Australia (The home of Coopers) the freshness of the Coopers yeast is not an issue and I would recommend the use of the yeast that comes with the kit. I have not tried to use others but I doubt that I will be able to do better than the people at Coopers at selecting a yeast strain.

By the way, does the USA version of the Coopers Kit have a best before date? Our version does and I would be confident that all the ingredients would perform at least to that date.

People! People.

hehehe i just found out about the fact that my thread sparked a mini forum drama.

i only had read the first reply to my thread when i did my stout.
i simply used the coopers yeasts, but only because my lhbs didnt have any beer yeasts (!) and i didnt feel like going all the way to Big Town just to get a 5g pack of yeasts.

i've seen its first bubble this evening (i pitched yeasts at lunch) and i just cant wait till tasting time!

then ill come back here and tell who was right (just kidding)

felix said:

then ill come back here and tell who was right (just kidding)

Click to expand...

There actually is no 'right' answer

Its all about personal brewing styles.

I'm drinking some Coopers Stout in my Tap-A-Draft using nitro cartridges. Pretty darn good. Nothing like a few pints of stout in the winter months.

Only thing I'd like to change with this kit is to make more "dry" like an Irish stout (Guinness). It's on the sweet side. Any suggestions?

Also, I put 1 cup of maltodextrin to give this stout kit more body. Works well. Now to dry it up a bit.

Thanks.
Tony.

brewNdrink said:

I'm drinking some Coopers Stout in my Tap-A-Draft using nitro cartridges. Pretty darn good. Nothing like a few pints of stout in the winter months.

Only thing I'd like to change with this kit is to make more "dry" like an Irish stout (Guinness). It's on the sweet side. Any suggestions?

Also, I put 1 cup of maltodextrin to give this stout kit more body. Works well. Now to dry it up a bit.

Thanks.
Tony.

Click to expand...

Next time make the Coopers Brewmaster Selection Series Irish Stout and use 500 g of dry malt extract and 300 g of Dextrose.

tomheff said:

Next time make the Coopers Brewmaster Selection Series Irish Stout and use 500 g of dry malt extract and 300 g of Dextrose.

Click to expand...

I hear ya, but Coopers Stout is the only product available in my area. I'll have to ship it in to try the Coopers Irish Stout.


Tony.

brewNdrink said:

I hear ya, but Coopers Stout is the only product available in my area. I'll have to ship it in to try the Coopers Irish Stout.


Tony.

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure RJ Spagnols has the Irish Stout. It should be available at specialist stores. I know it's not available at Overwaitea.

I'm drinking Cooper's Brewmaster Irish Stout now. I made it back in early June. I have 5 gallons in a keg and 1 gallon bottled. The kit makes 6 gallons (23 ltrs) if you make it per the instructions. (Irish Stout beer kit, 500 gm Light Dry Malt Extract and Dextrose) Good stuff. It needs to age though. I used the yeast that came on top of the can. The Australian Pale Ale is good too.

just thought i'd start up this thread again after after a year and a half of no activity.

its been 5 days since my little bro and i made our own coopers australian stout.

here's what we did:

-1 can coopers stout extract
-1 lb milled chocolate malt barley steeped at 150 for 1 hour in 6 L water
-1 lb honey
-3 cups brown sugar
-topped water up to 23 L mark as indicated
-added enough corn sugar to bring the OG to 1.042 (about 6 cups)
-11 g pouch of Coopers ale yeast (not the 5 g package included with the kit)

the primary fermentation went great and has slowed.
tonight we are racking to secondary for attenuation and clearing and all that good stuff.

which means, i get to have a taster tonight :rockin:

this is one of our first brews ever, and i think we made something very tasty. anyone spot something that we may have done wrong here?

I think you might have overdone the sugar. Excessive use of sugar thins the body, reduces good flavors and can cause off-flavors with beer yeasts. You won't know until you taste it, of course, but it's something to keep in mind in future. You added some flavor back with your steeped malt.

Next time, I recommend either buying another tin of the Stout extract and using two or adding a couple pounds of dry malt extract to bring the gravity up to where you want it.

Cheers,

Bob