Coopers Sparkling Ale

[Blueshed]

Brewed this kit today, did a small bit of hacking.

kit
1.5kg can of LME
300g  Pale ale malt
150g  Carapils
100g  Wheat spraymalt
30g    Magnum
25g    Cascade
20g    Williamate

Nottingham Danstar

OG 1046

[LordEoin]

That's a nice kit to hack
What did you do with the malt and hops?

[Blueshed]

grain was steeped for 60mins between 60* and 70* for 60mins.

Magnum was put in with grain, then Willamette added at 40mins followed by Cascade at 55mins.

bag of grain removed then brought to boil temp, this was then strained and added to the FV with the kit and can of LME.

will dry hop with @ 30g of Willamette.

[LordEoin]

Sounds like a brew that won't make it to a ripe old age. Too tasty! making me thirsty! 

[onesoma]

This will be my next kit. Don't know if I'll add any hops - have some Fuggles and Cascade I could throw in I guess.

Mine will be the sparkling ale + 1.5kg LME + maybe 300g dextrose.

The hard part will be letting it sit in the bottle - I read on some other forum I think that this is a kit you should let sit in the bottle for a month/few - maybe that's all kits though?

[Metattron]

I left some of mine in bottles for 2 weeks and it was well drinkable.  The rest was on keg and I tapped it at one month.  I used the coopers yeast and both bottles and keg were a nice clear sparkling beer.

[LordEoin]

With pretty much all of the Cooper's kits, they're drinkable after about 2 weeks in the bottle.
They'll still be carbonated and have a (usually thin) head, but they'll be fine.
Most of them are seem to be at their best at about 3 months in the bottle though, less in a keg.

[onesoma]

Three months!!

I'm only after sticking on my third brew, but the first two didn't survive longer than two weeks....

I'm gonna have to get a time machine or something. Or else another fermenter / more bottles and start stocking up.

[Will_D]

Three months!!

I'm only after sticking on my third brew, but the first two didn't survive longer than two weeks....

I'm gonna have to get a time machine or something. Or else another fermenter / more bottles and start stocking up.

Welcome to the world of brewing:
One is never enough, two or 3 secondary fermenters/conditioning tanks are the way to go.

Just beware of what happens when you make some seriously aged beers/wines/sherries/ports.

You lay them down, forget about them, time passes:

You taste a 2 year old Imperial Stout, or a 3 year old Barley wine, or even a 5 year old port or sherry and think:

This is a brilliant drinf, BUT Efit: Its going to take me another n Years to rebrew.

If you are young then no probs but when ye're an old F**t like me it becomers serious

[onesoma]

Ha! Slippery slope.

My Sparkling Ale is bubbling away beside me, smells nice.

Ingredients:
Sparkling Ale kit
1.5KG Brew at Home LME
500G Dextrose
Brewed to 25 litres

I rehydrated the yeast in ~300ml boiled water cooled to ~30deg C for about 1/2 hour.
When pitched, the wort was at 21.8deg.
Gravity: 1052

Slippery slope next purchases 
Another fermenter
More bottles
BIG stock pot

[Garry]

the first two didn't survive longer than two weeks....

I suffer from that problem too! I put the last 2 batches in secondary fermenters and I'm going to leave them there for 3 or 4 weeks. Once it's in the bottle it's hard not to have a taste!

[onesoma]

I had to pour this batch down the drain 

Tasted sour after a few days, and tasted even worse after 9 days. Trying to describe it I thought initially of gone off peanuts or walnuts, then I noticed last night it tasted like avocado does when it's a good bit past its best. Not nice.

I guess I was lax with the cleaning - I had cleaned fermenter and equipment with detergent and hot water about two weeks before, then sanitised with starsan on the night. This was my first attempt at rehydrating yeast too, maybe something got in at that point.

Ah well - kick up the arse - you can bet I soaked and scrubbed everything very well before putting on my next kit last night

[LordEoin]

balls! ah well...
once bitten, twice shy.
I hope this brew goes better for you 

[Blueshed]

had a btl last night and happy enough, nice big white head and a light taste of grapefruit.

was brewed 25-5-13 and bottled 12-6-13

OG 1046 - FG 1008  ABV 5.6%

I primed this brew with 1 teaspoon of caster sugar in each btl.

will sample another btl next wend and plan on drinking the rest around mid july.