A Few Recent Kit and Kilo Brews

[wildschwein]

Here's a few beers that I have made recently.

Coopers Bitter aged for three months in the bottle. Just a 1.7kg can of Coopers Bitter, a 1kg bag of Coopers brew enhancer 2, and the kit yeast, all made up to 23 litres. Fermented at 16C for two weeks before bulk-priming and bottling. Served at winter room temp it has a nice deep bitterness and oaky character. Simple and cheap.
Coopers Bitter

I'm calling this one a Boutique Candi Lager. It's actually a little lighter than the pic makes out. This brew used a 1.7kg can of Farmland Lager purchased from Coles, a 1kg bag of Coopers brew enhancer 2, 20g of Saaz hops pellets (aroma) and 500g of homemade Belgian candi sugar cooked to a deep amber. This was fermented with a W34/70 lager yeast at about 10C for three weeks before bulk-priming and bottling. No diacetyl rest. The final result is a very consumable lager with slight toffee notes partly due to the candi sugar. A great session beer.
Candi Lager

This one I call an Australian Heritage Draught. It was made with a 1.7kg can of Wander Draught, 500g of dried light malt extract, 500g of dark dried malt extract, 200g raw sugar, 20g of Saaz hops pellets (aroma) and a steep of 20g of chocolate malt, 40g of homemade roasted barley, and 100g of crystal malt. The brew was fermented at 16-18C for around 10 days with the kit yeast, which is an ale. The final result is a very consumable beer with a fruity aroma and a very nice toasted malt character. The colour is a nice deep amber hue and has a slight sweetness. Another great session beer that's very easy drinking.
Heritage Draught

[James L]

luscious.....

[Kevnlis]

Haven't tried the Wander yet, must give it a go some day!

[wildschwein]

Haven't tried the Wander yet, must give it a go some day!

It's actually pretty good. This the 1st time I've used it and I'm inpressed with it. I've done their Pilsener and their Munich lager a few times and they're good too.

[warra48]

And the Mundaring landscape looks almost as good as your beers. Top spot where you are. I lived in Perth through the mid 1990's.
Nice effort, lovely looking beers.

[KEG]

nice work wildschwein.

i did a very similar brew to your Coopers Bitter, with a couple additions:

Coopers Bitter Can
Coopers BE1 (600g Dex/400g Maltodextrin)
250g Dextrose
2/3 dessert spoon bourneville cocoa
2 teaspoons maxwell house instant coffee
10g Fuggles, 20 mins
10g Fuggles, flameout
Safale S-04 2x6g packets
Coopers Yeast added to boil

the dex was just to up the alcohol a bit to around 5%, the hops made quite the difference (and gave it a very english flavour), and the cocoa and coffee isn't really noticeable - although spread out over 23 litres it's not really a surprise when i think about it now.

i'd easily consider throwing 2 or 3 heaped dessert spoons of cocoa into a bitter now, just for kicks. i love beers with just a hint of chocolately notes, and i think it'd contrast the bitterness quite nicely.

[wildschwein]

Hey Keg,
looks like you've got a recipe there for a kind of modern Porter. Sounds interesting; I've been fooling around with the idea of adding coffee to a brew at some point in the future and might keep the Coopers Bitter kit in mind for that. I reckon it's a kit that might make a good Stout too if you added a lot of dark malt extract to it and some chocolate malt and roasted barley etc.

Thanks everyone for all the kind responses.

[Kevnlis]

Hey Keg,
looks like you've got a recipe there for a kind of modern Porter. Sounds interesting; I've been fooling around with the idea of adding coffee to a brew at some point in the future and might keep the Coopers Bitter kit in mind for that. I reckon it's a kit that might make a good Stout too if you added a lot of dark malt extract to it and some chocolate malt and roasted barley etc.

Thanks everyone for all the kind responses.

My father in law made a stout once with a few (not sure how many but you could taste it) shots of espresso from his cappucino machine. It was bloody fantastic!

[wildschwein]

Yeah, I always have the real stuff on hand and often think about adding a bit of java to the mix, but haven't had the guts yet. But with warmer weather around the corner I might start doing some Porter and Stout experiments. Coffee, cocoa, cinnamon, vanilla and chilli additions all intrigue me.

[rwh]

Basic Brewing Radio: August 23, 2007 - Brewing with Coffee

[Kevnlis]

Found this recipe with espresso in it:

http://www.basicbrewing.com/database/in ... e_value=21

It was tested by the basic brewers and given 4.5 thumbs up!

[wildschwein]

Cheers 4 that rwh; it was really interesting. Got me thinking about making the leap now.

[gazpachos0up]

I'm calling this one a Boutique Candi Lager. It's actually a little lighter than the pic makes out. This brew used a 1.7kg can of Farmland Lager purchased from Coles, a 1kg bag of Coopers brew enhancer 2, 20g of Saaz hops pellets (aroma) and 500g of homemade Belgian candi sugar cooked to a deep amber. This was fermented with a W34/70 lager yeast at about 10C for three weeks before bulk-priming and bottling. No diacetyl rest. The final result is a very consumable lager with slight toffee notes partly due to the candi sugar. A great session beer.
Candi Lager

Hey, whats the best way to make your own Begian Candi sugar? the recipe above sound good

[Noodles]

http://oz.craftbrewer.org/Library/Metho ... andy.shtml

[wildschwein]

Yes; the url link provided here by Noodles is the instructions I followed to make mine. It worked well but you do need to use a sugar thermometer. These have a temperature range of 0C-200C. You can find them in some bigger supermarkets and also stores that sell cookware. They cost about $10-15, but are worth it in the end.

[Kevnlis]

Yes; the link provided here by Noodles is the url I followed to make mine. It worked well but you do need to use a sugar thermometer. They cost about $10-15, but are worth it in the end.

My $20 eBay digital mashing thermometer is accurate to +/- 0.1C up to 160C and cost me $20 including post from China or some such! I use lemon juice rather than citric acid because I have buckets of lemons anyway (I think you do too wildschwein?). Works fine for me

[wildschwein]

Yeah at the time I did use a very sour variety of orange as the acid component. I have since then purhased citric acid and use it in my Ginger Beer and soft drink recipes as well. I also used raw sugar to make the candi instead of white; because I never buy white sugar except maybe for making jams.

[Kevnlis]

Yeah at the time I did use a very sour variety of orange as the acid component. I have since then purhased citric acid and use it in my Ginger Beer and soft drink recipes as well. I also used raw sugar to make the candi instead of white; because I never buy white sugar except maybe for making jams.

Good call, were you able to actually seperate the candi sugar from the greaseproof? I had to soak and rinse it off because it was stuck real good!

[wildschwein]

No I knew pouring it on to greaseproof would be a recipe for disaster. (Used to work as a chef and know the fickleness of caramel products - arghhhhhhh!!) So, I just poured mine after cooling a little straight into a oblong plastic container; I think it's like a family picnic Tuppaware container that would probaly fit about 16 sandwiches in it. Like 2 rows of four sandwiches which would be 2 layers deep. Anyway, when it cooled it came away from the edges a bit and I just manipulated the container and then cracked the candi into managable shards. Because it was a thin layer of candi (about 1.5-2cm thick) it broke up quite easily. I know if you want to make this stuff in advance it's probably best to keep it in an airtight container in the freezer or the cupboard, if you put it in the fridge it tends to become very sticky and soggy.

I have read on the forums that some people just make it before they want to use it, so it's still in syrup form and easy to work with. They then just chuck in their other fermentables on top of it for their boil. Probably a reasonable tip.