Jay Gaulard Blog

Coopers Irish Stout Is In the House

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

A few days ago, I took at look through Amazon and MakeBeer.net to see if the Coopers Irish Stout I have been waiting for was back in stock. It has been unavailable since before St. Patrick’s Day. I guess all the Irish scooped it up.

Guess what? I was in luck. A new shipment of ingredients had arrived from Australia. I quickly ordered the Irish Stout kit and it arrived today. This is just in the nick of time, because I am running really low on my existing batch of regular Stout.

I am pretty excited about this upcoming batch. The ingredients include some extra malt for some reason. It says that it gives the beer a better head retention and something else…I forget. Whatever…if it makes the beer better, I’m on board.

I mixed everything togther tonight and placed the jug downstairs near the boiler. It’s a warmer, constant temperature down there. The brew has to stay between 70 and 80 degrees.

Here, I took some pics…

It’s pretty hard to take pictures in the dark. I had to turn on the flash, which I hate to do.

This was going to be my favorite shot, but it came out a little blurry. I tried to clean it up in Photoshop.

Here is that familiar jug we have all gotten used to by this point.

I really hope this batch comes out good because I have been waiting for it for a long time.

Coopers Stout Was Bottled

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

Brewing the Coopers Stout gave my an opportunity to use my new bottle caps and capper. It also gave me an opportunity to use some glass bottles and eventually taste some more Stout. I like Stout.

Yesterday was the third day of the hydrometer reading 1.010. That means bottling is ready. I gave it five days. They say that if you let fermented beer sit too long, it can go bad. I had to get this stuff in the bottles.

I also took this pretty picture for you. Overall, I got 63 bottles out of the 23 liters I brewed. I have no idea how it’s going to taste, but hope it’s good. The capping was relatively simple and the capper worked great. The only issue was that I needed to adjust the height every so often, because some of the bottles were different sizes. That was really no big deal though. I would say the whole process took about an hour.

I am going to drink some of this beer before I go ahead with the Coopers Irish Stout. Firstly, I am almost out of bottles, second, I am running out of room to put them and thirdly, it’s just ridiculous having that much beer in the house.

I Brewed Real Beer!!! - Coopers Lager

Tuesday, February 26th, 2008

Tonight, I cracked open my first real home brewed beer. It’s the Coopers Australian Lager. I know I have told you many times that I don’t like light beers, and I still don’t. I have to say though, this beer ain’t have bad.

I poured it into my favorite beer mug and took a sip. I was surprised to see that it tasted just a bit better than the day I bottled it (two weeks ago…to the second). I was also surprised to see that it actually tasted like real beer. Laura took a sip too. We both agree that it tastes like Corona. Stick a lime in this thing and sit by Rob’s pool on a hot August day. There you go.

Looks pretty good, right? Two big parts of my beer drinking experience are the bottle the beer comes out of and the glass I am pouring it into. This looks like the real deal.

Today, I read that I should bottle my next batch…Coopers Stout, between 4-7 days, and after the hydrometer has a consistent reading for two days in a row. Today is the fourth day and the hydrometer read “1.010″ both yesterday and today. This batch is brewing faster than the lager partly because of the type of beer and partly because of the warmer temperature I am keeping it at.

With the hydrometer readings the way they are, I bottled one beer today. I wanted to make sure my capper was working properly for the remainder of them. Everything worked fine. I am keeping it stored upside down, just to see if there are any leaks. If not, I think tomorrow is the day to bottle them.

Coopers Stout in the Bucket

Friday, February 22nd, 2008

Yes, it’s been a few days since I received my Coopers Stout in the mail. I have been very excited to get the ingredients together to start the brewing process. This time, I will be brewing a beer I actually want to drink, as opposed to the Lager I just bottled.

As you can see, this beer is much darker than the last. This is the regular Coopers Stout. I am hoping it is good.

This is all the ingredients getting mixed up together with the boiling water.

The brew is supposed to be between 21C and 27C. It always starts off good like this, but eventually gets cooler. Now, I am keeping it next to the pellet stove, wrapped in a towel for a toasty 26C. At this temperature, the fermentation should be complete in about five days.

This is just a photo to show you how dark this stuff is.

Coopers Stout Beer Kit Has Arrived

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

The UPS guy came today and dropped off my Coopers Stout beer kit this afternoon. Now, if you remember, I was forced to get the regular Stout, instead of the Irish Stout because the company was out of the Irish Stout. The guy said something about St. Patty’s Day coming up or something like that. I guess that means people are out there brewing Irish Stout without me. I feel kind of lonely.

Anyway, I figured the next best thing would be the regular Stout. Now, just for your information, I will compare regular Stout with Irish Stout. Regular Stout is like drinking from a garden hose and Irish Stout is like swimming naked in a hot spring in Iceland. Needless to say, Irish Stout is much better. In order for the regular stout to be good, I am going to have to mix it up with some other stuff. Since this is only my second batch of home brew, I will make this one the regular way. After this and then the Irish Stout, I am going to get a little crazy.

Here is what I got today. The yeast is under the cap on the can.

Also, I am going to need those bottle…FAST.

My First Batch of Home Brew is Underway

Wednesday, February 6th, 2008

I opened up my new Coopers Home Brew kit last night and got to work. I was pretty excited to see how I should put together the ingredients. I had already watched the DVD that came with the package on YouTube, so I was a bit familiar with what to do.

There was something that came off as a bit confusing. In the can with the beer type and yeast packet, came one set of instructions. Then, in a booklet, there was another set of instructions. Then, the DVD offered very similar, but different instructions. I know that each type of beer will have it’s own instructions, but I really wasn’t sure which one to follow. Really, the only thing that was different was whether or not to stir in the yeast. One set of instructions (the one that I was following) said to sprinkle the yeast on top of the mixture (wort) and immediately seal the container. Then, the video said to sprinkle on the yeast and immediately stir it in, then seal the container. Unfortunately, I didn’t stir it in. I had to go back later and agitate the container to stir it in. I know how sensitive yeast can be, so I have my fingers crossed. When I woke up this morning, the air seal thingy up on top of the lid was bubbling, so I know there is some fermentation going on.

Here are some photos of what it looks like…

Basically, you mix together the concentrate, sugar, water and yeast and seal the container. Then, you have to keep the mixture between 21 and 27 degrees celsius. That’s the best temperature for the yeast to work. You have to keep it that way for 4-7 days, until the bubbles stop. Then, you have to check the mixture with a hydrometer to check it’s alcohol content. After that, bottle the beer and wait a little more. I will write more about that when I get to it. For now, I am just hoping that it ferments properly.

Coopers Brewery Micro Brewery Kit - Oh Yeah!!!

Monday, January 28th, 2008

I am wicked excited. I just placed an order on Amazon for my soon-to-be home brewery kit. It’s the Coopers Brewery Micro Brewery Kit. My brother-in-law got me all wound up tonight when we were talking about his first batch of home brew. Do you know what kind of jealousy I have when I see a nice home brewed beer sitting on someone else’s table? For some reason, whenever I think of home brew, I always think of that nice sampler of 4oz. beers I had at Liberty Steakhouse and Brewery at Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach. I had the best non-filtered raspberry beer there.

Anyway, Steve had great luck with his first batch and is now going to dive into a batch of Stout. Now, that’s what I am talking about. That’s what stout’s about, no doubt. HAHAHAHHAHA.

The home brew kit I am getting makes six gallon batches. That should be good for a while to see if I like doing this kind of stuff. Then, as soon as summer rolls around and we open the new porch back up, we can rock out to Crosby, Stills & Nash and drink beer out of the bucket all day, every day.

Now, that’s what I’m talkin’ bout.