Home Brew Forum

This is not an exact Coopers Stout clone. It's my Coopersch Stout, which is German for kinda like Coopers Stout.

The starting point for this recipe came from fellow forum member Wally, a real live Australian brewer who not only shared his meticulous research into Coopers Best Extra Stout, he also generously mailed me Pride of Ringwood hops all the way from Australia.

Mistakes I knew I was making: The original Coopers Best Extra Stout was 6.9% alcoholic strength, Wally brews it even higher at 7.8% abv, but I knocked mine down to 5% ABV. Sacrilege, I know, but all my recent brews have been high-gravity and I need something tamer to drink. I also replaced his Wheat Malt with Torrified Wheat (unmalted), which produces a fuller and breadier mouthfeel. I replaced his Black Malt with Roasted Barley, and I added some Pale Chocolate Malt. The hops and yeast are spot-on, though.

SEYMOUR COOPERSCH STOUT
Brewed March 6, 2016

5 US gallons = 4.2 Imperial gallons = 19 Liters

GRAINBILL
78% = 6.79 lbs = 3.08 kg, Two-Row Pale Malt
7% = .61 lb = 276 g, Torrified Wheat
6.8% = .59 lb = 268 g, Roasted Barley
2.8% = .24 lb = 110 g, Pale Chocolate Malt
5.5% = .48 lb = 218 g, Lyle's Golden Syrup (added to boil)
TOTAL: 8.71 lbs = 3.95 kg

MASH
Stir-in some Calcium carbonate to add hardness and balance the acidity of dark roasted grains.
Add 3 US gal/2.5 Imp gal/11.4 L water at 161°F/71.7°C to reach: 150°F/65.6°C for 60 min
Add 2 US gal/1.7 Imp gal/7.6 L boiling water to reach: 170°F/76.7°C for 10 min

VORLAUF and draw some of rich first-runnings into a pot, add Lyle's Golden Syrup and boil hard on the stove-top, stirring periodically to avoid scorching for 15 minutes to further caramelize.

SPARGE with 3 US gal/2.5 Imp gal/11.4 L water to collect 7 US gallons/5.8 Imp gal/26.5 L pre-boil.

BOIL hard for 90 min, adding the caramelized wort and hops at start, Irish Moss at 15 min remaining.

HOPS
1.58 oz = 45 g, Pride of Ringwood (thanks, Wally!), First Wort Addition

KNOCK-OUT, CHILL, AERATE, PITCH.

YEAST
Coopers Brewery liquid single-strain, available as White Labs WLP009 "Australian Ale", 4th repitch in my brewery, ferment at 60°F/15.6°C

STATS (assuming 77% mash efficiency and 80% yeast apparent attenuation)
OG: 1050
FG: 1010
ABV: 5.3%
IBU: 45
COLOUR: opaque very dark reddish-brown
2008 BJCP: 13A. Dry Stout
2015 BJCP: 16D Foreign Extra Stout, except lower gravity

Prepping the hops, sugar, Calcium carbonate and Irish Moss.


The darkly-hued mash.


Hit the mash temp right on.


I made a quick-and-easy yeast starter by watering down this malt beverage, compliments of Danish Royalty.


Weighing the sugar addition. I've never used authentic Lyle's Golden Syrup before. It felt little weird using a paint can opener for a brewing ingredient.


Sparging into the boil kettle.


Coming to a boil.


Killing three birds with one stone: sanitizing the bucket and chiller, and testing the chiller for leaks.


Original gravity appears to be 1050.

looks great seymour!!
Interesting yeast starter idea, hadn't thought of that before.

Looking super tasty there seymour

Looks great must try one day as if it is as good as your other recipes I sure it's a winner

Thanks, guys. I haven't tested the final gravity yet, but the airlock is still steadily popping. Smells great. I got banana esters in day 2 and 3, but just a nice clean ale aroma now. I would've thought active fermentation would be done by now; not sure if it's because the yeast is so high-attenuating, or because the low temperature is slowing its metabolism...but I'm just gonna let it keep on truckin' for now.

I like the idea of using the malt drink for a yeast starter

Chug wrote:I like the idea of using the malt drink for a yeast starter

You're welcome to it, free of charge!

At kegging, I measured the final gravity at 1010 then foamed-up the sample with the syringe "poor-man's beer engine trick".

Yum. Roasty, chocolatey, lots of earthy Pride of Ringwood hoppy bitterness coming through.

Looks fantastic. I have to admit, I do love Cooper's stout and creating one at a more sessionable gravity can only be a good thing. Will have to give this a go as Cooper's yeast is one of the easier yeasts to capture.

Cheers

Jason

Fuggled Mind wrote:Will have to give this a go as Cooper's yeast is one of the easier yeasts to capture.

Yeah, I have countless yeasts available to me, but I keep coming back to this one. High attenuation and flocculation if given sufficient time, nice dry finish, plus some nice subtle banana and fruit esters that I like. More personality than American yeast, different from English yeasts, less profoundly spicy than Belgian yeasts. It hits a cool sweet spot for lots of my recipes.

I'm sharing this tonight at the St Louis Brews homebrew club meeting, so come and get it! It's a long trip for most of you, but the beer's on me.

Half-pint of gritty goodness.
One of my biggest brewing heroes, Stan Hieronymous author of Brew Like a Monk, etc, was at our meeting last night. We talked after his presentation, and I asked for his objective feedback on my beer. Stan sniffed and took several casual sips and said, "Yeah, it's good. It's a good example of the Foreign Extra Stout style." I thanked him but said I was hoping for his brutal opinions about any flaws. He grinned and took a more methodical drink. "I know the guidelines have recently changed regarding this style. This is entirely different from Guinness Foreign Extra, but I bet yours is much more like what we're looking for."

Someone else said it was too thin. "Well," Stan said, "this finishes very dry, but it's not over-attenuated." He acknowledged it had a lighter body than popular sweet stouts, but that's because of a low mash temperature and the efficient Coopers yeast. We talked about how the unmalted Torrified Wheat preserved some fullness in the body while the sugar syrup kept it from being as heavy as an all-malt brew otherwise would be. Stan noted the banana and dark fruity esters he'd heard about with Coopers yeast, but predicted those would fade as it ages and conditions over the next few months.

"It's roasty and stout-like at the front, but in the middle there's a slight coarse/chalky feel." I explained I used some Calcium carbonate in the mash to offset the acidity of so much roasted grain. He nodded and said, "Hmm, yeah. It's true it isn't as severely roasty and burnt as you might expect, but you might have slightly overdone that. See, there's some grit to it where most stouts smooth out…no, wait. Ah, that's probably those Australian Pride of Ringwood hops. Whew," the author of For The Love of Hops said, shaking his head, "those are some of the hardest hops to love."

So take that how you will. I also talked with Ronny the brewmaster of Modern Brewery and several award-winning homebrewers I respect. Those who had tasted Coopers Best Extra Stout said mine was interchangeable. They all liked it, described it as dark and roasty, super earthy, complex, some described banana bread with chocolate chips. Light and thirst-quenching, but definitely gritty. I can live with that. Obviously I'm biased, but of the thirteen beers we sampled, this was my favourite and the one I'd like to drink more of. My second favourite was a coffee/chili pepper/robust porter so clearly smoothness is not what my palate craves. The crowd favourite was a Milk Stout with loads of lactose sugar; it was so sticky-candy-sweet I couldn't even finish the sample. I guess it all just comes down to personal taste.
Also, our host Modern Brewery debuted their new "Crowler" system, short for can growler. A very cool way to take your choice of super-fresh craft beer to go in a quart-sized aluminum can. The brewmaster generously made a can of my own beer!

Interesting write up and much kudos for the Hieronymus tasting! A crowler of your own beer sounds cool!

I wonder what CAMRA'S position on crowlers is?

Clibit wrote:Interesting write up and much kudos for the Hieronymus tasting! A crowler of your own beer sounds cool!

I wonder what CAMRA'S position on crowlers is?

Camra are probably developing their own "grask" a tiny little oak barrel, made by a time served cooper, for people to take away with them.

I love the idea of canning for the home brewer. That would be great.

Lovely looking stout there Seymour. I am partial to a stout or five.!

Nice one Seymour, its nice when others like your beer, but even better if they are someone who knows what they're tasting, I'm waiting on a Guinness clone I did to mature a little longer before tucking in but a sample bottle was promising.