Coopers Hop Slam NZ with mods

[An Ankoù]

What a complete faff. If you're not sure how to proceed, follow Coopers instructions to the letter and then split the batch: say, half as it's supposed to be and the remaining half divided between boiling the Motueka and then dry hopping, and the rest just dry hopped.
If you want a mojito, chill the beer, pour it over ice and crushed mint in a pint glass and stir it anti-clockwise. Put a cocktail umbrella on the side of the glass and take it to the bathroom. Chuck the lot down the bog and refill your glass with the rum you should have started with and the remaining ice cube.

 

[ClarenceBoddicker]

Thanks.

 

[kimosabby]

I would make up a hop tea with 50g of the hops and 500ml very hot water but only when the fermentation has died down to almost nothing i.e. not after pitching, allow it to steep and cool , then add both tea and hop bits and then leave it alone for 4 days with another 2 days in a cold place. EDIT (not 100-200ml as earlier)

For the hops I presume u use leaf for this instead of pellets? Also I presume you cool the tea to same temp as what’s in the FV around 20 degrees

 

[terrym]

I only use pellet hops in brewing unless they are from my homegrown hops in which case they are whole. However whole hops are not as good at giving up their flavours and aroma oils since they present less surface area compared to broken down pellets. Making a tea with whole hops would be a very messy inefficient operation in my view, so I don't do it.
Yes I allow the tea to cool to fermenting temperature, although I insulate the jug with an old towel or two to keep the temperature as high as possible for as long as possible. Others may do it differently.

 

[kimosabby]

Thanks for that; what temp of the water do U have when adding hops? Was reading that 80 degrees or below will allow full aroma. Nearer the boil temp some will be lost to bittering

 

[terrym]

80*C is fine in my view . Some do it differently.

 

[kimosabby]

U reckon tea is better method for aroma than dry?

 

[terrym]

Apparently dry hopping is best for aroma and hop teas for flavour.
If you make a hop tea and then chuck everything in as I have suggested you get the best of both worlds.

 

[kimosabby]

Do you need to do anything with the pellets before adding the water or just straight in?

 

[Llamaman]

I'm sure it's not necessary but that book recommends it. Says 'Many beer kits do not instruct the homebrewer to book their ingredients; however, your beer will always be much better if your ingredients are boiled for at least 45 minutes'. Tells you to add the hop flavoured extract to 5.7l of water, add LME, dissolve and boil. Anyway, I still don't know why but there you go.

That appears to apply to a very particular, and unusual, type of kit which has unhopped LME and a seperate liquid hop extract. I’ve never seen one like that.

Most kits consist of pre-hopped LME. Some have unhopped LME and hop pellets, but these will instruct you to boil in the instructions.

Any type of LME or DME will already have been boiled in order to create the wort before evaporation. And further boiling at home is to extract bitterness from the hops. If the LME is already pre-hopped boiling it further is unnecessary and may in fact be detrimental.

 

[Llamaman]

Apologies, I reread your quote and I think by ‘hop flavoured extract’ they mean hopped LME as in most kits.

I cannot think why you would want to boil it again. Doing so will drive off flavour and aroma from any late hop additions in the kit and risk caramelising sugars, changing the balance of the beer.

 

[ClarenceBoddicker]

9 days in and after a noisy start it has calmed down and Is sitting at 20 degrees at 1.027 so a way to go, just hope it doesn't stop fermenting completely as no bubbles audible since Sunday (I know the yeast could still be silently doing it's stuff). Smells quite nice with whatever hops Coopers use in the kit. Motueka tea to follow later this week depending where the gravity gets to.

 

[terrym]

9 days in and after a noisy start it has calmed down and Is sitting at 20 degrees at 1.027 so a way to go, just hope it doesn't stop fermenting completely as no bubbles audible since Sunday (I know the yeast could still be silently doing it's stuff). Smells quite nice with whatever hops Coopers use in the kit. Motueka tea to follow later this week depending where the gravity gets to.

If you have an FV with a lid then the lid to bin seal may be leaking. Thats not a problem but just don't rely the airlock to tell you how things are going. At SG 1.027 you are right you still have some way to go. If it stalls above say 1.018 you may have a stuck fermentation. More on that here
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/...s-for-dealing-with-stuck-fermentations.74910/
My advice is to delay adding the hops until the fermentation has obviously properly finished.

 

[SteveH]

9 days in and after a noisy start it has calmed down and Is sitting at 20 degrees at 1.027 so a way to go, just hope it doesn't stop fermenting completely as no bubbles audible since Sunday (I know the yeast could still be silently doing it's stuff)

Did you use the kit yeast or something else? The kit pack looked kinda small so I went with some NBS West coast yeast I had spare, ended up at 1.008, although I did miss the OG and only started at around 1.040.

Turned out pretty well though, with some help from friends it's nearly all gone!

 

[ClarenceBoddicker]

I used Mangrove Jacks West Coast yeast and not the Coopers one. My og was lower than expected too so really hoping it gets down as far as yours SteveH.

 

[terrym]

MJ M44 West Coast yeast gives an average attenuation of about 78% so with an OG of 1.047 you should be getting an FG of round about 1.011.

 

[ClarenceBoddicker]

fingers crossed. If it does get stuck at least I still have the Coopers yeast that came with the kit can.

 

[ClarenceBoddicker]

Still 1.027 this morning after agitating and warm in up by a couple of degrees on Wednesday. Pitched the Coopers yeast and will see how it goes.

 

[ClarenceBoddicker]

And now 1.025 and v e r y slowly fermenting but I think I'll move to a other fv this weekend to get it off the trub. A bit disappointing as not sure I can bottle it unless it drops quite a lot more. Don't know whether to write it off or dry hop and hope for the best.

By the way I'm using a refractometer as my hydrometer snapped but I checked and calibrated it.

 

[terrym]

And now 1.025 and v e r y slowly fermenting but I think I'll move to a other fv this weekend to get it off the trub. A bit disappointing as not sure I can bottle it unless it drops quite a lot more. Don't know whether to write it off or dry hop and hope for the best.

By the way I'm using a refractometer as my hydrometer snapped but I checked and calibrated it.

In my experience I have never had a brew falter as high as 1.025, less than 1.020 yes, and fail to get going properly yes to that too. In your case the OG was not exceptionally high at 1.047 and given you are using a premium yeast, and I assume fermenting at the correct temperature, I would expect the SG to be lower after over two weeks in the FV. Therefore I would be wondering if your current SG readings are correct. Whilst there are advantages in using a refractometer anything that requires calibration becomes suspect. My personal view is that an ordinary hydrometer is quite adequate for homebrewing and certainly for kit brewing. So my suggestion is to buy another hydrometer and use that to check your SG, and even if I'm wrong in my view of where you are, you will at least have confidence in your SG readings and can take it from there.