homebrewandbeer.com

I will put down a brew this weekend and have a choice of either Coopers Bitter or Coopers Pale Ale. I also have some 1kg bags of BE#1 and BE#2, 2.5kg of dextrose, about 150g of crystal grain which I can steep in the coffee plunger, and a little bag of Morgans MB86 finishing hops.

Any suggestions of a good mix of any of the above. I don't have a HBS within cooee but might be able to buy some alternate hop bags from the local corner shop. Ta for any thoughts

hey jeff,

my choice would be the pale ale, steep the grain for 20/30 min, BE#1 with 250gm Dex.

maybe some honey or golden syrup late in the boil if you've got some.

unsure about those Morgans hops, some Cascade at the end of the Ferment would be my call.

cheers
yardy

yardglass, my choice would be the BE#2, rather than the BE#1.

The BE#1 does not give a Pale Ale enough body, in my opinion, especially if you're thinking of adding the extra 250g dextrose.

make up to 21lt then, we're here to help jeff.

let's not have another gary barker episode.

yardy

Hi Jeff,
I've done the Coopers pale Ale twice, first time with 1kg BE2 and tettenager hops, which came out very nice i cultured the yeast from afew stubbies of the Coopers PA. Second time with a brew booster (Malt,maltodextine,dex), 250g LME and 12g fuggles hops (this brew is in secondary at the moment) yeast as supplied .

If you want the ale to have some body which has already been suggested, I steer away from the dextrose and BE1 options.
The MB86 hops are used I believe more for bittering than aroma, the cascade hops which were suggested would provide a citrus fruity taste, depending on your pallate and what you are trying to achieve I'd have a crack with fuggles, willamette or tettenager hops.

Yardie did suggest making up to less volume which would provide more body, but I like to make upto23l and add the extras.

Adding the crystal isn't likely to add any extra body as you are adding bugger all extra fermentables.

I have also made the Coopers bitter and followed the coopers recipe for the irsh ale (on their web site), came out really nice and smooth.

Cheers
AC

I'd use the BE2 if you are doing the pale, and BE2 for the bitter.

The pale would work well with the crystal, but probably not as well with the bitter.

I'd go with the fuggles for the bitter, or tett for the pale.

Yardglass, just because scblack has a different opinion to you, doesn't mean that he is not trying to help jeff.

Chris wrote:
Yardglass, just because scblack has a different opinion to you, doesn't mean that he is not trying to help jeff.

that's rich coming from the soap box queen of O&GHB&B.

how many times recently have you produced the violin and ranted on about how some on the forum disagree with your opinion or your reluctance to back up a piece of advice you'd given because someone had the gall to question you.

never did i suggest that scblack wasn't there to help.
we all have different opinions of how a beer should go, and quite often when a newbie asks for advice it turns into a one-upmanship between members.

i was only trying to avoid this by suggesting we not nit pick each others posts, just post how we would do it ourselves.

i hope no offence was taken by scblack, but you my friend should mind your own.

yardglass

??? scblack suggested using BH2 instead of BH1, as he felt it gave more body to a pale.

You then made it sound like he suggested it simply to annoy you, not help jeff. I seriously doubt that that was his motivation.

These forums only work if people post there opinion, based on personal experience, or facts picked up along the way. I don't attack people's opinions, just post my own alternatives. Deal with it.

Sorry about the hijack jeff, hope that your pale ale turns out.

On that note, have you considered combining the bitter and the pale? The pale is quite low in bitterness, so it shouldn't be too overpowering.

Guys,

Life is a big experiment. There is another place I go to an listen in on and I have to tell you there are way to many stuck up people who think you have to brew to style. They remind me of wine snobs, white wine with Roast Beef, how dare you? I dare because I like it

Me I got into this because I could brew what I want. If I wanted to brew a lager at 25 deg C I could. I remember one day this guy called me in a panic, 30 plus deg and he brewed a beer, well he couldn't get the temp down to a pitchable temp. What am I going to do? Well pitch the yeast what else are you going to do. If you brew a Banana Tree you brew a Banana tree live and learn Chum, it still can be good.

My point is, regardless if you use 1 or 2 it will be a great beer, and it will be the best beer you ever had as it sits cold in a glass in your hand, because you brewed it. You will notice every flaw, over carbonated, head doesn't last, cloudy, what ever. It will still be better than anything you could buy in a bottle shop.

Everyone raves about the Belgian Beers made by the Trappist Monks. Do you know they brew not for your benefit but simply to allow their religion to exsist. They aren't going to make more beer in a year, they aren't in the market for that. They need enough coin to keep the Abbey going and thats it. What a way to brew, and do they brew to standard? Nope, they have a recipie and the standard comes to them.

Same actually with Bud and all the other mega swill places. You know, it is a real art to make every beer taste the same way, even if it is all bad. Repeatability is an amazing quality, think about how variable the process is and these guys can make the beer the same way week after week, regardless of changes in environment, hops, malt etc. My hat does go off to them, I would love to have an evening with a Brewmaster from one of these places.

I guess I just wanted to say this, this place in my opinion is a place to come and speak your mind, If I want to brew with 500 gm of honey and someone else says I like 350, I am not miffed. If people don't want to boil the wort thats good with me to. You can't argue with success and success is measured by you the Brewermaster.

There is so much variability in this procees and I am yet to see a Brewer give advice they don't feel is right and true. So did anyone give wrong instructions here, no, they gave their best opinion so lets not be hostile with each other. That being said, I have never brewed with either one of these addatives as I can't get them so my opinion means nothing.

Sorry to be long winded guys and for any that actually read this good for you and Thanks.

I would hate to become a Beer Snob, I like my cold and paid for criteria

Dogger

Here, here.

Well said Dogger. I think there are a few simple lessons for us all to follow.

There are no mistakes, just lessons learned.

There are no wrong opinions, just different points of view.

If in doubt, give it a shot... the only way you'll ever find out if something will work is if you try it.

And most important of all... there are no bad homebrews.

Back to the original post. I like the Coopers Pale Ale as a base for making various types of beers. Mainly because it is quite lightly hopped so I can work my own flavours into the brew. However, I think if you make it overly malty and don't add additional hops, your beer will turn out too sweet. I'm not sure if either of the Brew Enhancers have malt in them, though.

Just as a matter of opinion, I also wouldn't go with the recommendation of combining both kits. I'd put two Pale Ales together, but not a Bitter and a Pale Ale. For my taste buds at least, it would be undrinkably bitter.

Just some random thoughts.

I disagree, there is such a thing as a bad brew and there is such a thing as a better way of doing things.

people post here looking to benefit from others' experience. if someone asks what the forum thinks of adding 1kg of rice syrup and dry enzyme to a coopers stout it's no good saying, "yeah, she'll be right mate. give it a go. there's no such thing as a bad homebrew''.

it takes effort, time and money to make beer. posters deserve confident and definite advice so none of these are wasted. they need more than, "chuck it in pal and see how it turns out".

there seems to be a view among some contributers that it's uptight or overly fussy to make beer in a disciplined, tried-and-tested fashion. there is an optimum way to make beer and striving to achieve it should be encouraged. I'm all for experimentation, but the basics must be mastered first. picasso was thoroughly trained in classical techniques before things got weird.

but I do agree that the recent spate of overreactions to perceived criticisms needs to end.

Respect.

Silk

NickMoore wrote:people post here looking to benefit from others' experience. if someone asks what the forum thinks of adding 1kg of rice syrup and dry enzyme to a coopers stout it's no good saying, "yeah, she'll be right mate. give it a go. there's no such thing as a bad homebrew''.

I'm afraid I'll just have to disagree then. I wouldn't put rice syrup and dry enzyme into a stout... but that doesn't make it a bad homebrew. It makes it a homebrew that I wouldn't like. Maybe someone else might.

I wouldn't personally recommend a VB to my worst enemy, but it sells more than any other beer in Australia and Pride of Ringwood hops can be found it pretty much every homebrew store.

it takes effort, time and money to make beer. posters deserve confident and definite advice so none of these are wasted. they need more than, "chuck it in pal and see how it turns out".

Except that often the only way to find things out is to try them. In most cases, people aren't asking patently ridiculous questions... it's usually stuff that is entirely subjective. A question like "Which goes better in a Coopers Pale Ale, BE#1 or BE#2" is completely subjective. The only correct answer is the one that you as the homebrewer prefer. And you'll only find that out by trying things.

And that is why I say there is no such thing as a bad homebrew. If it doesn't turn out the way you wanted, then consider it a lesson learned and an important experience. I'm sure the next one will be better.

there seems to be a view among some contributers that it's uptight or overly fussy to make beer in a disciplined, tried-and-tested fashion. there is an optimum way to make beer and striving to achieve it should be encouraged. I'm all for experimentation, but the basics must be mastered first. picasso was thoroughly trained in classical techniques before things got weird.

Really? The only golden rule of homebrewing that seems to be truly universal is sanitisation. And yet even then, every so often someone crops up here saying the only sanitising they do is with warm water. As for everything else, even the experts seem to disagree.

And besides, I don't think anyone is arguing about messing with some of the fundamentals. Just saying that we should all relax a bit.

but I do agree that the recent spate of overreactions to perceived criticisms needs to end.

Well, I agree on that point.

yardglass wrote:never did i suggest that scblack wasn't there to help.
You ARE implying that I am having a go at your suggestion, by bringing up the gary barker reference. I searched that, and it was people attacking a guys choice of beer. How the hell does that have any semblance to my suggestion of BE2 rather than BE1?

we all have different opinions of how a beer should go, and quite often when a newbie asks for advice it turns into a one-upmanship between members.

i was only trying to avoid this by suggesting we not nit pick each others posts, just post how we would do it ourselves.
You mean I should post how I would do it? Thats what I did.

i hope no offence was taken by scblack, but you my friend should mind your own.

yardglass

No offence was really taken, but if you're going to refer to a little shit-fight from the past, make it a time when the situation has some resemblance.

Suggesting BE2 rather than BE1 is hardly nit-picking a post, and I stated that was just my opinion.

You really need to find a situation that warrants getting up on your soapbox, before you fire off a post.

I like most people listen and contribute to this forum to get and give advise.
This can be quite tiresome, listening to people bitch at each other, it is NOT in the spirit in which this forum was developed I'm sure.
If you want to bitch at each other send a PM, other wise leave it out.
Olvier is there any chance you can put a stop to this thread.
Thank you
AC

scblack wrote:

yardglass wrote:never did i suggest that scblack wasn't there to help.
You ARE implying that I am having a go at your suggestion, by bringing up the gary barker reference. I searched that, and it was people attacking a guys choice of beer. How the hell does that have any semblance to my suggestion of BE2 rather than BE1?

we all have different opinions of how a beer should go, and quite often when a newbie asks for advice it turns into a one-upmanship between members.

i was only trying to avoid this by suggesting we not nit pick each others posts, just post how we would do it ourselves.
You mean I should post how I would do it? Thats what I did.

i hope no offence was taken by scblack, but you my friend should mind your own.

yardglass

No offence was really taken, but if you're going to refer to a little shit-fight from the past, make it a time when the situation has some resemblance.

Suggesting BE2 rather than BE1 is hardly nit-picking a post, and I stated that was just my opinion.

You really need to find a situation that warrants getting up on your soapbox, before you fire off a post.

feel better now?

red certainly does suit you.


yardy

Thanks for those replies that referred to my query. I decided to brew the Pale Ale with BE#2, 150g crystal grain steeped in the coffee plunger fro 20 mins, a 12g Cascade Hops T bag the wife found in the wrong place steeped for 10 mins then thrown into the fermenter, and the Coopers Ale yeast. I added an extra 100g of dextrose to bring the alcohol closer to 5%

Its brewing away happily and smells delicious already

Regarding the other posts - thanks Dogger and others for pointing out why we use this forum. I've been away for some weeks and was surprised at the responses to a simple question. I could have made a decision myself but because I find it more fun to share opinion and thoughts, I placed the post.


Mr Monk, since major problems with chlorophenols, I am one of those who no longer attempt sanitising beyond vigorous washing in very hot water

It sounds like a good one. I love using crystal grain. Good luck with it Jeff

yardglass wrote:red certainly does suit you.


yardy

You ought to see me when I start to use PURPLE.