#12 - Brewers Choice Traditional IPA [Extract]

Since my original coopers IPA in brew #3 had completely run out I decided it was time for another IPA. I so impressed with the process of making the Weissbier in brew #11 that I went with another Brewers Choice kit. When making kits you never have any experience of steeping grains (at least not initially) but this IPA had several types of grains to be steeped and a couple of types of hops. They were all contained in their own tea bag things but you could smell that "IPA smell" from one of the grain bags and I was really impressed with that. I didn't realise that certain types of grain could have such an affect on the taste.

Please excuse the apparent filth of the cooker but it was rusting before I moved in here. :P  I have the grains and hops steeping in a pot of boiled water which is sitting on a wooden board to keep in some of the heat. This steeping is done 3 times. The coopers malt extract is also heating up in the back along with a Alexander's Pale Kicker which I later dumped as it was old and smelt disgusting.

When bottling the brew I used dextrose for the fist time without a bottling bucket. If there is one method that makes the misery of bottling worse then this has to be it. It was an awful mess, when adding the dextrose to the beer, it foamed out of the bottles. When adding the dextrose first it then foamed meaning it took twice as long as it required waiting till the foam died down. I was also conservative with the amount I put in with slightly less than 1 teaspoon. I opened a bottle earlier in the week and it wasn't carbonated yet which has quelled my previous worry that the whole batch would start exploding. : /

I will update this as the picture changes.


Stats:
Started - 28.8.11
Racked - NA
Finished - 08.09.11
Bottled - 08.09.11
Code - 1012
Yeast Brand - B.C Yeast
Yeast Code -  DZB 6G
Y-Temp -  22.0
Beer/Product Type -   Brewers Choice Traditional IPA
Malt/Sugar Type - 1.5kG Coopers LME Amber
Volume -  23.0 L
OG - 1058 
FG -  1017
Proof  - 6.00 (Including 0.5% Priming)

#6 - Coopers European Lager [Kit]

I tried this brew as I was looking to make some kind of light beer that didn't need the lime slice like brew#1 and wasn't as heavy as brews #3 or #5. I didn't like how mainstream it looked (I'm the type that judges a book by its cover) but I was willing to give it a chance. I made the brew at one of my beer tasting sessions with a load of friends. They were all curious to see the process so it made sense.

There was nothing out of the ordinary to report during the fermentation process of this beer.Although there was plenty to talk about from the bottling stage. I had previously primed all my bottles with 1 carbonation drop each while being aware that 1 drop is actually suited to 330ml bottles. For this batch I chopped a load of drops in half and put 1.5 drops into each bottle thinking it would be fine. It was fine.....kinda.... The beer was definitely over carbonated in the end which I didn't expect. I genuinely thought I was putting the perfect amount of sugar in and I had read in several places of others doing the same with positive results.

Instead I noticed that there had been "seepage" on some of the Grolsch bottles that I had stored the beer in. The pressure had obviously built up to such a degree that it had vented out through the swing top. I found this worrying and interesting at the same time. I did some searching around and found that it was indeed rare for Grolsch bottles to explode and this 'self venting' feature commonly noticed. I enjoy the 'POP' when opening a normal Grolsch bottle but opening the ones containing the lager was unbelievable. It was shocking how loud it was, it makes a room full of people go quiet!  :)  

I did let it age for much longer than I normally had done for previous beers.This was partly due to fear that a bottle would explode in my face if I disturbed it.  I was pleasantly surprised by the taste which was very refreshing and a little sweet which was a good thing. I don't know if I would bother brewing another Lager as I don't have any space or equipment to store it in cool temperatures for several weeks. I would probably make a pale ale instead. 

Stats:

Started - 4.6.11
Racked - NA
Finished - 11.6.11
Bottled - 12.6.11
Code - 1006
Yeast Brand - Coopers Lagar 
Yeast Code - 1011
Y-Temp - 20
Beer/Product Type -  Coopers European Lager
Malt/Sugar Type - 1.5kgCoopers Extract Light
Volume -  23L
OG - 1045
FG - 1013
Proof  - 4.8% (Including 0.5% for priming)