Batch 8 Journal

Threw together a Cooper's Draught kit.

1 Kit
1 Kilo Munton's Brew Enhancer
23 Litres water
2 packs Cooper's yeast.

Off to the races. Last checked it was at about 64*.

Fermenting away at 60* on my sticky thermometer. Obvious fermentation started somewhere between 16 and 20 hours.

Hi LTown,

I have made this brew with good success(1Kg of LDM instead of the BE). It's an easy, refreshing house brew. Try dry hopping with 25g of Cascade. It's worth the effort!

greenthumbed said:

Hi LTown,

I have made this brew with good success(1Kg of LDM instead of the BE). It's an easy, refreshing house brew. Try dry hopping with 25g of Cascade. It's worth the effort!

Click to expand...

The more I read and think about it, the more I realize dry hopping might get me the fresher hop flavour/aroma I want without the full boil muss and fuss. I like kits for the practicality, don't want to mess with too much mumbo jumbo, just want pretty tasty affordable beer. Thanks for the advice!

Hey LTown,

If you're looking to put down a batch of beer with no time for a boil and the fuss & muss then dry hopping at a later date is the way to go to add a little more somethin', somethin' to the brew. Just chuck it in loose into the primary after the krausen dies back then rack after 7-14days to the secondary or throw the hops in a cheesecloth bag in the secondary until bottling day.

The other thing I might try is different yeast such as US-05. You'll have a real American Pale Ale on your hands Having said that you having added two cooper's ale 7g packets is definitely a great idea. Maybe even a little more depending on the date on the packet. BTW, the date is (for some crazy reason) written in the "Julien Calander". This means the day of theyear are the first three digits and the last two are the year (i.e. 03111 translates into Jan 31/2011. The older the date the more yeast you'll need. Check out Mr.Malty for more info http://http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

You probably already knew all this.

I've used Notty and US-05, preferred the Nottingham. Had a couple newish packs of the Cooper's yeast from previous kits I'd used the Notty with so I threw them in. I keep meaning to make a kit the way they instruct, but I can't seem to bring myself to. I've been using the 3-4 week primary method and have usually had good enough results. I keep my house on the cool side in the winter, so conditioning/carbing has been my biggest issue.

Sooooo, bottling this tonight after almost 6 months in primary....... Seemed to smell and look off https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/post-your-infection-71400/index62.html#post4140843, so I just left it because I was busy and was not going to be brewing through the summer anyway. Doesn't smell like vinegar now, more bakery/beer smell than anything. Has a fluffy looking marshmallow top to it though. Going to bottle in 2L pop bottles, bleach bomb the crap out of my gear and hope for the best.

6 Months! Tell us how it turns out:rockin:

Just chilled and cracked one today. Thinking of dropping a lime wedge in the glass when I pour one, if that tells you anything..... Strange sour not bitter not beer taste to it. I don't think it was infected, as I'd originally thought, because the SG was hard on 1.010 when I bottled.

It doesn't sound great.

It wasn't. Didn't dump them though. Opened a bottle tonight, and while I wouldn't let anybody else drink them, I have had worse beer.....

Better luck next time!