Tinkering with Coopers (pics)

[Geezah]

Here we go again with another Coopers APA, this time I'm adding Cascade, Crystal malt, Elderflowers and cinder toffee.

Recipe:
Coopers APA
1kg Extra Light DME
150g Cinder Toffee (that the lad went mad for then never ate - can't waste it)
30g Cascade on 10 min boil
20g Cascade + 10g dried Elderflower on flame out
150g Cyrstal Malt

Put the 150g of crystal malt in a muslin bag and add it to 4 litres of water at 65c



and let it simmer at that temperature for 30 minutes



remove the crystal malt and drain it off



Add the cinder toffee to the wort



and bring it to the boil



30g of Cascade goes into a muslin bag for the 10 minute boil



I keep it on aa kebab skewar so I can lift it out to add the late hops / elderflower



so in goes another 20g cascade and 10g of dried elderflowers



Flame out and leave to steep for 10 minutes.
While thats going on add the Coopers APA to the fermenter



Fill the can with boiling water to get every last drop out and add it to the fermenter



Drain off the hops/flowers and add the wort to the fermenter



Add a few litres of cold water then stir in the 1kg of DME



Top the fermenter up to 20l with hot/cold water to get it to 20c



Add the yeast



And put in the temerature controled brewing cupboard



OG1048

I'll return in 4 days and dry hop it with another 30g or Aurora or EKG hops... not really sure yet

[potatoes]

Geezah, looking good!! You are becoming a master at tinkering with coopers kits! What does the elderflower do to the beer? Make it bitter or taste like elderflower tea?

Also that brew cupboard looks really professional. Did you rig that up by yourself?

[Geezah]

The elderflower gives it a light flowery hint of flavour (fresh flowers give better results) if you ever see a Wychwood Elderwych give it a try.

This will be bottled and stored away for the first sign of spring

The brew cupboard was just a space bteween the tumble drier and the freezer in the utility room once upon a time, so I built a double kitchen base unit up and added a STC-1000 controler to a 600w tube heater to keep a constant temperature wuring brewing. As soon as I have time i'll be adding it to a fermentation fridge to allow for brewing warm and cool.

[Monkeybrew]

Nice post as always Matey, should be an interesting brew

My first brew for 2012 will be a hoppy APA adaptation, I just need to eat all of the xmas goodies that are currently sitting in my Brewfridge

MB

[eblis]

The elderflower gives it a light flowery hint of flavour (fresh flowers give better results) if you ever see a Wychwood Elderwych give it a try.

This will be bottled and stored away for the first sign of spring

The brew cupboard was just a space bteween the tumble drier and the freezer in the utility room once upon a time, so I built a double kitchen base unit up and added a STC-1000 controler to a 600w tube heater to keep a constant temperature wuring brewing. As soon as I have time i'll be adding it to a fermentation fridge to allow for brewing warm and cool.

600w

[ZegaBrew]

What does the elderflower do to the beer? Make it bitter or taste like elderflower tea?

Tryst Blathan has a fantastic bit of elderflowery involved if you're looking for something to try with elderflower in it.

Cheers,

Zegs.

[Degsie]

Looks great mate!
Just conditioning my second adapted APA kit, followed your advice first time round and was so good had to give it another go!
This one's got plenty of cascade hops added and already tastes great after just two weeks in the bottle!

[PhilNotts]

Have you had a taste of this yet? Whats it come out like as it sounds great and I'm tempted to try this one next.

2 questions, what site do you use to buy the elderflower and the cascade as i cant find them both on the same site?

2nd question, where did you get the liquid thermometer from? I saw one when I first bought my kit but it said it was only for meat, not liquids. I have a normal thermometer but this one looks a lot more convenient when you want to fill water up.

[Geezah]

Had a 1/2 pint of this over the weekend and the hops was still quite a bite, but tasting very nice, so much I went back for another

I got my dried elderflower off ebay and my Cascade off a friend who works at a local brewery (I might be able to send you a small amount to try it - got to check my stock levels)

Thermometer ..... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kitchen-Craft-S ... B000Y9NRMA

[PhilNotts]

I never thought about Milk thermometers, thanks for that link. When you say 1kg extra light dme, is that the coopers one or will any do?

Just saw the elderflower on ebay, reasonably priced as well. Do you find its easier to fill the fermentation bin half way with cold water and then start topping up with warm to reach the right temperature before adding the yeast(which I'm guessing comes with the Coopers APA kit)? or the other way round? Obviously you have to be quite precise so that you dont go over the 23L mark.

I'd be happy to pay any costs towards the cascade if you are able to do that. I wont be brewing it till first weekend in February so no rush if you are able to send me some.

Sorry for all the questions, still learning about all this but noting everything down

[Geezah]

I tend to simmer my grains & hops in 4 litres of water, then use another 1.5 litres of boiling water to wash out the kit tin.
Then I add about 4 litres of cold water then stir in my DME (any brand does me fine)
I then add cold water up to about 15 litres, stirr the hell out of it, check the temp and add hot/cold water accordingly to make it up to 20L
(its worth sacrificing the last 3 litres for the extra body in the brew)

Drop me your address via a pm and i'll sort you some hops out, well enough for a brew

[poo hed]

when you say the "hop bite" do you just mean the bitterness, or waiting for the flavour to mellow :S ?

is it: the more hops you add the longer the conditioning time ?,

[Geezah]

The hop flavour and bitterness can be quite sharp on a fresh brew (Bite seems to fit well in my terminolagy) and I get the same 'bite' if my local has a fresh cask of ale on compared to a week or 2 old ale.
The bite smooths out to a more subtle and smooth flavour with age, but still with the strong flavours that it started with.
Might be an acidic thing, I dunno ... i'm not even a member of CAMRA lol

I'd normally start necking this from week 2-3 conditioning (and I might yet) but I wanted to have 1 matured ready for spring.

[PhilNotts]

pm sent,thank you.

[Geezah]

Have you had a taste of this yet? Whats it come out like as it sounds great and I'm tempted to try this one next.

appologies for the poor phone camera photo's, but not bad seeing as I pitched the yeast 35 days back