Coopers ale yeast for a American wheat?

Has anyone tried it? I have some extra coopers dry ale yeast and would like to save a little money. The discription says "woody, fruity esters at higher temps" I normaly use saf-05. fruity is fine but the woody kind of scares me. Any thoughts? what temp should I ferment?

 

Be warned, if these are the packs from the top of the kits, they are only 7g typically. You may need 11g+ to ferment a 5-gallon batch.

 

Thanks, I got them from NB for back ups, but I will have to check when I get home, all though I do have 2 of them.

 

Those 7g gold ale sachets are designed for 23L (6.072G) batches. Just make a 1 1/2C starter with 1/4C DME in the morning & let it sit till pitch time in the afternoon. It'll go through a wheat beer like hell fire through sage brush. And use a blow off,trust me! I used that starter on my doppel bock,& it tried for 4 days to blow the lid off. If it's big enough for an average gravity 6G batch,imagine what it'll do to 5G?
I use those a lot,three different ways. Small starter works the best. And by the way,it's def fruity,but not woody. I'd say more like earthy/fruity,from the flavors I've gotten from it.

 

Woodsy is OK in a Weisen. I use SAFBREW-WB 06 for my hefeweisen. I have not used Coopers in many many years so can't really comment. I have asked about the Coopers in the past and decided to stay away. You can see the threads. I would also consider SAF 04 over 05 if I was not using the wheat brew yeast. All considered my feeling is that for both the Belgians and the Wheats the yeast is so important to the final taste that I don't varry. Is your batch worth $3 or $4 you will save?

 

My thoughts: Don't do it, period.

If by "woody" they mean "sun-baked garden hose", and by "fruity" they mean "partially decomposed apricots with a touch of raven feces", then I would say that descriptor is spot on!

Haters gonna hate, but that yeast has only been good for me once out of 5 tries. Not going there again.

 

I agree w jones. Nothing against coopers kits! I just would never use there yeast again!!

 

Being from Aussie, I thought I would weigh in on this discussion. Many kit brewers here use and started using that little 7g packet to make kit and kilo beers.

I've personally never had any problems and have never seen anyone complain about it on aussiehomebrewer.com. What's probably happening is that during transport the yeast has been nuked by less than optimal temps during transport.

You can buy it here from craft brewer, and it says nothing about being woody. I've also never noticed any woody flavour using it in ales or lagers.

Cheers,

Clint

 

I've never noticed a particular "woody" flavor either. It works pretty well if treated right. It tastes good with what I add to the brews I make with it. But the Safale US-05 is good too. My wife used it in a Belgian white ale,& it smells/tastes great so far. Gotta bottle that one tomorrow.

 

Ha.That would make a very good description for selling their yeast.Probably would be like drinking a beer in the great outdoors--next to a composter after a few weeks.

 

I used it for an apricot wheat a few years back. The beer turned out great. I say go for it if you've got a packet hanging around. A wheat yeast strain will give you better results, but coopers will get the job done.

 

I honestly don't get those toilet water in a compost bin flavors/smells a couple of you haters are exuding. It doesn't know it's a "cooper's" yeast. It just knows how good or bad it's treated.
It's a very clean flocculating,high attenuation yeast that works best in a starter or re-hydrated. Also best between 68-72,on average.
It's also quite good at cleaning up it's by-products. Never had a problem with it after I started making 1 1/2C starters for it.