Coopers XPA

[Dustin Frothman 268]

Down to the last SA Pint (schooner for the rest of you) of the first keg of this brew. Have absolutely loved it. It will be interesting to see how it differs when hopped without a hop ball using the new filter.

Glad I have both another keg in storage and the ingredients for another brew on order.

Now I just need to behave myself and resist the temptation to connect the next keg before the wife makes a visit this weekend as she is keen to try it.

[Dustin Frothman 268]

The wife and I made a decent sized dent in keg 2 of the XPA last night.

She loved it. Great success! 😁

[Captain 3 Droids 753]

Just now, Dustin Frothman said:

The wife and I made a decent sized dent in keg 2 of the XPA last night.

She loved it. Great success! 😁

You could get another Droid now ha ha ha

[Dustin Frothman 268]

1 minute ago, Barrelboy said:

You could get another Droid now ha ha ha

Well we haven't tried "her" Dark Ale yet. That's for tonight.

Let's just say the quality has her convinced already. I'm quietly chuffed.

[Captain 3 Droids 753]

Kegged the XPA today. @Dustin Frothman how did the Dark Ale go? 

[Dustin Frothman 268]

2 minutes ago, Barrelboy said:

Kegged the XPA today. @Dustin Frothman how did the Dark Ale go? 

It was great. Wife very happy. She may have enjoyed a few too many.

Thankfully I have a keg left.

[Captain 3 Droids 753]

23 minutes ago, Dustin Frothman said:

It was great. Wife very happy. She may have enjoyed a few too many.

Thankfully I have a keg left.

You must find space, 2 brews - wife happy - wife drinking your beer. She needs her own Droid. 👍

[Bert 18]

Hey boys great to hear the XPA is tasting very good.

I've just finished off my Fruit of the Woods IPA which Coopers did as their Masters of the Brewniverse. Got to say i could just keep brewing this non stop. So damn good. 

Now i have an equivalent to Colonials Pale Ale in the droid which i can't wait for.

 

[Dustin Frothman 268]

2 hours ago, Bert said:

Hey boys great to hear the XPA is tasting very good.

I've just finished off my Fruit of the Woods IPA which Coopers did as their Masters of the Brewniverse. Got to say i could just keep brewing this non stop. So damn good. 

Now i have an equivalent to Colonials Pale Ale in the droid which i can't wait for.

 

I've just had a look at the recipe for the Fruit of the Woods IPA.

I'll just have to try this.

[Robert Pretty 57]

Dustin and Mark, got the dry hop version of the XPA in the droid now. Thinking of taking your advice and putting in 25g of Centennial as well as the 50g of supplied Simcoe and Citra. Or should I throw in 50g of Centennial hop this out?

 

[Dustin Frothman 268]

42 minutes ago, Robert Pretty said:

Dustin and Mark, got the dry hop version of the XPA in the droid now. Thinking of taking your advice and putting in 25g of Centennial as well as the 50g of supplied Simcoe and Citra. Or should I throw in 50g of Centennial hop this out?

 

Now that the recipe has been updated I would just do it as per the Brewart spec to begin with and see how you like it.  It's a standard Coopers beer so they are the experts with regards to how it should taste.

The Centennial dry hop was really just a hack as per the spreadsheet published here.

I'll be brewing my next XPA as per the spec and noting the differences.

Edited September 23, 2020 by Dustin Frothman

[Robert Pretty 57]

Thanks Dustin. Never rated this in the can. Only brewed this from the good reviews here. This is one healthy brew as it overflowed from the vent during the night . Might still throw in 25g of Centennial, 7.5g / 1 liter should fit the XPA profile nicely. The general rule I work with is the 5-10-15 rule. 5g / 1liter = Pale Ale, 10g / 1 liter = IPA and 15g liter / 1lire = Double IPA. XPA should fall somewhere between Pale and IPA .

[Dustin Frothman 268]

3 hours ago, Robert Pretty said:

Thanks Dustin. Never rated this in the can. Only brewed this from the good reviews here. This is one healthy brew as it overflowed from the vent during the night . Might still throw in 25g of Centennial, 7.5g / 1 liter should fit the XPA profile nicely. The general rule I work with is the 5-10-15 rule. 5g / 1liter = Pale Ale, 10g / 1 liter = IPA and 15g liter / 1lire = Double IPA. XPA should fall somewhere between Pale and IPA .

I'm not a fan of it in the can either but on draught it's a fantastic beer.

I posted a link in the Dry Hopping thread to an article discussing the 5-10-15 rule. Have a read as it's quite interesting.

[Robert Pretty 57]

Thanks Dustin, interesting article. I think time in plays a role as well. Longer isn't more with pellets. I think anything. I wouldn't hop over 10g per liter. Brewart uses around 5g per liter for pales and 5 to 7.5g for IPAs. Really only in for two day before cold crushing.  After the XPA I'm doing a Bentspoke Crankshaft clone with the 25g of the four hops used by Bentspoke.

[Dustin Frothman 268]

6 minutes ago, Robert Pretty said:

Thanks Dustin, interesting article. I think time in plays a role as well. Longer isn't more with pellets. I think anything. I wouldn't hop over 10g per liter. Brewart uses around 5g per liter for pales and 5 to 7.5g for IPAs. Really only in for two day before cold crushing.  After the XPA I'm doing a Bentspoke Crankshaft clone with the 25g of the four hops used by Bentspoke.

Sounds great although I'd go for a Sprocket clone as I think that's their better IPA. 👍

[Bert 18]

On 11/09/2020 at 9:39 PM, Dustin Frothman said:

I've just had a look at the recipe for the Fruit of the Woods IPA.

I'll just have to try this.

Hi Dustin, hope you do try the Fruit of the Woods and see what you think.

Did you get the recipe from this site? 

[Robert Pretty 57]

Dustin the Sprocket is the second best beer behind the cluster 8, from Bentspoke  Sprocket is my favourite. I will do the Crankshaft first then have a crack at a Sprocket. IPAs all the way 

 

[Dustin Frothman 268]

16 minutes ago, Robert Pretty said:

Dustin the Sprocket is the second best beer behind the cluster 8, from Bentspoke  Sprocket is my favourite. I will do the Crankshaft first then have a crack at a Sprocket. IPAs all the way 

 

True, but the Cluster 8 will do more damage! 😆

Keen to hear how you get on with that one too.

[Dustin Frothman 268]

2 hours ago, Bert said:

Hi Dustin, hope you do try the Fruit of the Woods and see what you think.

Did you get the recipe from this site? 

I think I copied the recipe from the Coopers DIY Beer site and figured I'd either ask the team here for the equivalents or just work with that.

[Dustin Frothman 268]

Started this one again on Friday. Will dry hop as per the updated recipe.

Big venting episode this morning. It must have occurred last night (ambient nightly temperature is warming up in Brisbane now). I wasn't ready for this at all so it made one hell of a mess.

Just goes to show that you really can't pick which brews will do this and which won't.

[Captain 3 Droids 753]

Just going on to 6 weeks kegged. Dry hopped with 15g centennial and 15g simcoe. The centennial from the pre dry hop mode recipe and simcoe from the new dry hop recipe leaving the Citra out.

So not much citrus to taste, still throughly enjoyable with strong bitter finish, earthy. Not unhappy but wouldn’t leave the Citra out next time- all 3 I say.

Actually as a rethink, 15g each centennial and simcoe with 25g Citra mmmm

 

Edited October 21, 2020 by Captain 3 Droids

[Dustin Frothman 268]

I just went and bought some Simcoe in preparation to dry hop mine in the next couple of days.

Planning on doing it exactly as per the Brewart recipe this time - 25g Simcoe and 25g Citra.

[Captain 3 Droids 753]

1 hour ago, Captain 3 Droids said:

Just going on to 6 weeks kegged. Dry hopped with 15g centennial and 15g simcoe. The centennial from the pre dry hop mode recipe and simcoe from the new dry hop recipe leaving the Citra out.

So not much citrus to taste, still throughly enjoyable with strong bitter finish, earthy. Not unhappy but wouldn’t leave the Citra out next time- all 3 I say.

Actually as a rethink, 15g each centennial and simcoe with 25g Citra mmmm

 

Sometimes you just know something isn’t right, no citrus, earthy so I checked my fridge set up and found I was actually drinking California Steam, makes sense as to my comments other than the hops which is to do with the XPA.

So I’m happy I could detect an issue but feel like a dumb.......😂. (I’ve now changed over to the XPA)

 

[Dustin Frothman 268]

25 minutes ago, Captain 3 Droids said:

Sometimes you just know something isn’t right, no citrus, earthy

🤣

I did think the "earthy" comment was a little odd.

[Robert Pretty 57]

Just poured this after 3 weeks. Drinkable but still needs a few more weeks to bring the hops through. Still cloudy. Was hopped with additional 25g of centennial on top of the Brewprints ingredients.

Edited October 24, 2020 by Robert Pretty
Spell ing