Brewing using Coopers cans?

[Brendan Ashe]

Who has had much success experimenting  with using the 1.7kg tins?

Do you halve the tin of go the whole hog? I have done the Mexican Cerveza with 250 grams of Enhancer 2. Came out alright. One of the blokes at the Brew store told me that it's the 1kg Enhancer that brings it up to the required ABV for the 23 litre systems.

I am trying a Full can Coopers Draught with same amount of enhancer, it's been brewing for about 8 days now. With this one I tried breaking the Wort mix down in 2 litres warm water, then added 8 litres of cold. 

I would love to be able to just load up on Brewprints but my surname isn't Packer unfortunately.

Who else is using cans as well as Brewpints?

Edited April 17, 2017 by Brendan Ashe

[Gibbo]

Yes Brendan, I use cans and bags and in about a month or so...bottles.

For the Euro Lager, I have halved the tin and used 500g of dextrose for one and Brew enhancer 2 for the other. This has produced an agreeable result.

For the Dark Ale, I have used approx 3/4 of a tin and 500g of dextrose. The result was far better than I expected and the abv is quite high, yet has not tainted the flavour profile.

I have put a couple Mangrove Jacks "fruity" cider kits through. I halved them both and used 500g of dextrose each time. These are good too. I think of them as the closest thing you will get to an alcopop from homebrew. A real hit with the ladies. 

In a few days, my Bavarian Brewprint will have brewed and I intend to use a full tin of Mexican Cerveza and maybe 250g dextrose.

In about a month or so I will make a hard cider from simple store bought apple juice.

Here is a link to an earlier thread, with a few more details.

 

[Ian-B]

@Gibbo Might be a daft question, but how do you go about halving the extract cans?

The brews I did pre-beerdroid, the extract in the cans I used were very thick and "treacle-like".
I would sit them in a bath of hot water and then pour the can into the fermenter.

Based on that experience, I would imagine it's quite hard to get half out.

[Gibbo]

Ian-B, you will always get some wastage. The cans are designed for 23L and Beerdroids are 10L which means there is plenty of room for losses.

I put a little heat into the can with a water bath, but not so much that I cant hold it with bare hands. The first half can be poured off into a suitable vessel and refrigerated until it is needed. I have a vessel that seems to be half a can when full. This makes measuring easy.

I tip the second half into a stainless steel bowl and add hot water and sugar there. At this stage if there is too much extract left in the can and my spoon cant scrape it out properly, I tip a little hot water in it to loosen up the extract. Just swirl it around and hold the can in a cloth cos it can get hot quickly.

After the satisfactory results with my Dark Ale, I may not continue splitting the can contents. One can is still far cheaper than a Brewprint and I do enjoy a brew that has a kick to it. I will continue experimenting with volumes between half and a whole can, to see what provides a better result.

The one drawback on a can of extract is that the hops and bitterness levels are already established. Unless there is a recipe that really hits the mark for you, the Brewprints offer a far superior option in fine tuning the different flavour profiles.

HA! Just read what I wrote...probably more of an answer than you were looking for  
 

[Brendan Ashe]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I guess finding some yeast for the second half of the tin would also be a pain. I have the Canadian Blonde can, which I will halve. 

Try one half with the recommended Enhancer and one half with the Light Dry Malt. I hope it comes out like a Hahn Superdry which is a beer I like to Smash

[Gibbo]

Your local brew supplies shop has plenty of yeasts available. 

I also make it a point to order extra yeasts when I purchase my brewprint ingredients. 

[Ian-B]

12 hours ago, Gibbo said:

Ian-B, you will always get some wastage. The cans are designed for 23L and Beerdroids are 10L which means there is plenty of room for losses.

......

HA! Just read what I wrote...probably more of an answer than you were looking for  
 

Gibbo - perfect answer. Thanks mate.

Sounds like one of the keys for you having the right size vessel as you put it, which helps identify when you've got half out.

Would be interested to hear what you and others experience when using full cans for 10 litres.
I've read from others that they're using the full cans but with less/half of the other ingredients  which sounds like it could be easier and also relatively cheap to take a punt on to see how it turns out. 

[Brendan Ashe]

5 hours ago, Ian-B said:

Gibbo - perfect answer. Thanks mate.

Sounds like one of the keys for you having the right size vessel as you put it, which helps identify when you've got half out.

Would be interested to hear what you and others experience when using full cans for 10 litres.
I've read from others that they're using the full cans but with less/half of the other ingredients  which sounds like it could be easier and also relatively cheap to take a punt on to see how it turns out. 

So far the full cans have worked out well for me, however I will get a couple more Yeast from Brewart at next order.

[Duffman]

Make sure you use the whole yeast sachet rather than half it. 3.5g is way too little - you'll get funky flavours from the yeast being underpitched

[Captain 3 Droids]

As I only purchased the Beerdroid recently I have a fair amount of stock in terms of Coopers tins, malt, hops ect so I am brewing with these ingredients in the Beerdroid with great success. What ever recipe I’ve just halved the ingredients to get 2 brews (which can be different with the same base tin). I use a sanitised stainless pot to mix the ingredients, the tin is warmed in water and by placing the pot on scales I can easily measure out half. Once mixed, tip into Beerdroid and add water to the 10l level. To store the other half of the tin refer to photo, the plastic cap is off a Kimbo coffee tin (most supermarkets) and fits snuggly. As I vacuum seal a hole is in the middle to draw out the air in the tin. If you can’t vacuun bag it then don’t put the hole in. Store in the fridge.

Edited March 18, 2019 by Barrelboy

[Captain 3 Droids]

Just kegged a Brewprint English Pub Draught and now fermenting a Coopers Brew de Ale ZE BUB using 1/2 tin of Thomas Cooper Brew A IPA, Coopers spray malt and Centennial hops.

[Rob Courtney]

As I haven't brewed with cans ever, are you just using the mixture in the can plus 10 litres of water or are you using more ingredients and different amounts of water?

[Captain 3 Droids]

1 hour ago, Rob Courtney said:

As I haven't brewed with cans ever, are you just using the mixture in the can plus 10 litres of water or are you using more ingredients and different amounts of water?

Hi Rob, I halve the ingredients I would do for a 23litre brew and fill with water up to the 10 litres with water. I mix and dissolve the ingredients in a sanitised stainless saucepan ( or in your plastic fermenter and use tap to put into the Beerdroid) mixing well. Then sprinkle the yeast on top. I use the custom mode and set the propagation mode at 20C and fermentation at 19C. If using the Ale mode I generally up the fermentation once it’s started to 19C.

[Rob Courtney]

Have you tried the Morgans kits?

[Captain 3 Droids]

7 hours ago, Rob Courtney said:

Have you tried the Morgans kits?

Yes but only the the Australian Old. I have a preference for Coopers plus if your a  member you get 10% off and free delivery each month if you purchase over $80 or $100 depending on the month. In addition BigW 3 to 4 times a year offer Coopers at 20% discount.

[Captain 3 Droids]

Brewed a Hoppy Pale Ale-

1/2 tin Coopers Pale Ale

500gms Coopers light dry malt

50g crystal malt cracked-  steeped 60mins

10gm cascade hop pellets

7.5g mosaic hop pellets both steeped for 20min

dry hop  10g each cascaded and mosaic pellet hops.

A delicious drop, will definitely do again soon.

 

 

[Captain 3 Droids]

Have done this again and fermenting now. This time I made up 22 litres of wort using a full tin of Coopers Pale Ale and double the ingredients above. I then put 10 litres in the beer droid and 12 litres in a 15 litre size fermenter. Used Coopers kit yeast on both ( have some spare packs but could use yeast from Brewprint ingredients)

[Rob Courtney]

sweet, was going to ask some questions about this as I had forgotten and wondered where I saw the info before. It is coming up time for me to get the droids aligned and do some tin brews in it. These will be the first ones I will be doing hop teas in so I will see how it goes ( I can see with the exact same ingredients one will be ready for kegging day 7 and the other day 10

[Rennce]

Looking for advice (which is pretty common). Has any one had experience with cans whereby you:

a) use half a can of extract (eg Morgan’s dark ale) and not adding anything else other than yeast and water go?

b) using a full can of extract and just adding yeast and water?

my aim is to brew a mid strength tasty brew that has lower sugar content. 

Cheers Terry

[Captain 3 Droids]

9 hours ago, Rennce said:

Looking for advice (which is pretty common). Has any one had experience with cans whereby you:

a) use half a can of extract (eg Morgan’s dark ale) and not adding anything else other than yeast and water go?

b) using a full can of extract and just adding yeast and water?

my aim is to brew a mid strength tasty brew that has lower sugar content. 

Cheers Terry

No I haven’t just brewed a tin without some malt. If you take the Coopers English Bitter tin/recipe for example it requires 500g of light dry malt extract. This will give an about 3.8% alcohol for 23 litres. So I’d say 200g of the malt for 10l would give about the same. A tin on its own would certainly be of a low alcohol % but I think a little watery?

[Rennce]

9 hours ago, Barrelboy said:

No I haven’t just brewed a tin without some malt. If you take the Coopers English Bitter tin/recipe for example it requires 500g of light dry malt extract. This will give an about 3.8% alcohol for 23 litres. So I’d say 200g of the malt for 10l would give about the same. A tin on its own would certainly be of a low alcohol % but I think a little watery?

Howdy and thanks for the reply. The guy at the local brew shop sold me the Morgan’s dark ale and suggested half a tin of extract, no malt, yeast and enzymes pitched at the same time. He did say it would be a bit of an experiment...or did he say a whole tin...bugger I should have wrote it down. 

[Captain 3 Droids]

34 minutes ago, Rennce said:

Howdy and thanks for the reply. The guy at the local brew shop sold me the Morgan’s dark ale and suggested half a tin of extract, no malt, yeast and enzymes pitched at the same time. He did say it would be a bit of an experiment...or did he say a whole tin...bugger I should have wrote it down. 

If your going to use a whole tin of Morgan’s Dark then I’d use just 1/2 a tin of the extract however remember its for 10l so that will be a fairly high alcohol %. (You Brew guy was probably thinking of 23l). You could us about 1/3 of the tin. The remainder will keep in the fridge if you put it in a plastic bag or air tight container or if you have a vacuum sealer then better still.

Won’t hurt to give it a go.

 

[Rennce]

8 minutes ago, Barrelboy said:

If your going to use a whole tin of Morgan’s Dark then I’d use just 1/2 a tin of the extract however remember its for 10l so that will be a fairly high alcohol %. (You Brew guy was probably thinking of 23l). You could us about 1/3 of the tin. The remainder will keep in the fridge if you put it in a plastic bag or air tight container or if you have a vacuum sealer then better still.

Won’t hurt to give it a go.

 

Hi Mark. I will do half a tin then but still undecided about whether I will add malt or not. Happy to experiment but ideally I don’t want to waste a brew and if that is what is likely if I don’t add the malt then I will put some in. Aiming for around 3.5% abv. Also not sure what to expect (end product wise) putting the mangrove jack low carb enzymes in with the yeast. I normally drink beer that is <4.2 abv but now looking to see if I can brew a mid strength session style ale that also has fewer carbs. The reason is that the day after my droid arrived the dr said I was pre-diabetic so looking for a “healthier” beer that still has taste. Cheers Terry

[Captain 3 Droids]

Fair enough Terry. Not a bad idea to just use 1/2 tin, then you’ll have a better idea of what is needed or not with the other 1/2. This will be interesting so please let forum how it all goes.

Best wishes with the pre-diabetic, diet control and good beer will keep it in check.

Mark

[Rennce]

13 minutes ago, Barrelboy said:

Fair enough Terry. Not a bad idea to just use 1/2 tin, then you’ll have a better idea of what is needed or not with the other 1/2. This will be interesting so please let forum how it all goes.

Best wishes with the pre-diabetic, diet control and good beer will keep it in check.

Mark

I will certainly post back about my success (or not)... just got a message from my droid to say my London Own Ale is ready to keg/bottle so will do that tomorrow and then whack the experiment on.