Refine a toucan

[Scarrfie]

Hi all, first time on this site but have read through a lot of threads.

About a year ago I got back into brewing and have recently expanded my horizons from kit+sugar after doing a bit of reading on the internet. Yeast is another area I have advanced my learning.

Right now I have a toucan Coopers Aussie Pale Ale in the FV with the addition of 750gms of medium crystal and 20gms of NZ Halletauer dry hopped. Only brain fade I has was using a lager yeast, the W34/70 done as a 1L starter.

Trouble is when I drain a bit off I get quite a bitter slighty burnt flavour, very similar to a toucan Euro Lager that is two weeks in the bottle now. It drinkable but when I tasted another brew I have down yesterday it got me thinking about what I could do to improve it. 

My thought are to mash a kilo of pale malt and add to dilute the bitter hops, perhaps a bit more aroma hopping also. I have a 7L pot and have jerried up a lautering tub based on a chilli bin and a few bits and pieces for the filter/syphon.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

FYI the other brew is based on a Coopers Draught+

1.6Kg of Amber Malt Extract,

1Kg of crystal malt,

250 Choc Malt,

30g Pacific Gem for 60 mins,

and 30g of NZ Halletauer for 5 mins

S0-4 in 1L starter

Tastes absolutely amazing after 5 days in FV, better than any beer I have ever tasted. Hope it ages in the bottle just like it is.

 

To date I have also done: A toucan coopers dark ale, followed by a Muntons nut ale+dark extract, and then a Toucan stout. The stout with the addition of coffee is the pick of the bunch as the Muntons I find too sweet. Toucans are obviously going from too sweet to too bitter for me.

 

[Ralph]

I too have put down a couple of Coopers Kits (+ steeping grains and adding hops) with some good results. I have gone to using Black Rock unhopped malt so that I know exactly how much and what sort of hop has been added to the brew. This means I can adjust the next brew how I like, rather than being stuck with a Coopers set amount.

 

I would be going towards using as much all grain base as you can and as little extract from a can. Some software like Brewsmith would enable you to calculate what you are doing and adjust the amounts to get a beer in the range you are looking for. Beersmith has a 14 day free trial, you could download it, do some playing with recipes and go from there?

[Scarrfie]

Wow quick reply. Yes I must try the Brewsmith.

Have just purchased a 26L pot on Trademe for $60, so that should help the grain mashing along.

I actually got my hopping idea and the basis for my recipe from here .http://www.nzhops.co.nz/recipes/darkale.html . I just had to guess the amounts.

[Pilgrim]

If you like BeerSmith, hold off on buying it. Version 2 is in Beta test at the moment and planned release is in June. Version 2 is not an upgrade from the current version 1.4 so you may waste your money buying it now.

I've used 1.4 for a couple of years now and will probably upgrade once I know the price.

[Scarrfie]

Thank for that advice Pilgrim.

I guess the trouble I face is that I don't actually know what I like yet. It only occurred to me over a summer at De Fontein that there might be something more to home brewing than kit+sugar.

One thing I have sure learned now is that 1KG of Crystal makes for a very syrupy brew. So I have just racked + added water and sugar to try and reduce that down a bit.

Am looking forward to trying all grain. Just not sure whether to try a partial, or go the whole hog and do a full grain. Might try to refine my coopers draught one above as a first attempt. I will hold off trying a lager until the temperatures are colder.

[Scarrfie]

I just realised in the weekend that I have created a Bock style brew. Is actually tasting alright with my tweaks:) Still fermenting although almost done.