Coopers, Original Dark Ale Review

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I bought this kit to make up the order for free delivery and regretted it when I read the reviews. I decided to brew it as I had an empty F.V. and it's turned out to be one of the best beers I've made!

I brewed short to 18 litres and used 1kg of DME, 11 days primary, 7 days in secondary with a few Simcoe hops thrown in late, 6 weeks in the bottle and it's better than any 'peculier' commercial brew IMO. One of my brother's favourite beers is Jenning's Sneck Lifter and he was very impressed with it.

Body is fairly light even at 6.2%, there's a pleasant burnt caramel & coffee taste, not overdone and the extra hops give it a nice finish. If I were to brew this again I'd brew to 15L and add a few more hops and maybe some other adjuncts but it's better than I ever thought it would be for a single can kit.

Here's the label;

Dark Dog.jpg
 
I brewed this before Christmas and it has been in the bottle for 3 weeks now. I brewed it with .5kg dark spraymalt and 1kg enhancer, I also added some dark chocolate powder and fresh brewed coffee, something that has worked for me when doing a Coopers original stout.

Well the first bottle made a pleasing pfft when opened but poured flat :-( it has not cleared at all and looks like mud in the glass and I raised it to my lips with some trepidation. However flavour wise it is fantastic, the closest I've got to Hobgoblin yet. If it ever clears and carbonates it will be my No (Coopers stout ATM)

Hopefully time will improve its condition fingers crossed. :-)
 
proost said:
Well, tried this again tonight and I have to say this just tastes bland. No character at all, sweet and er'..... thats about it.
The worse kit Iv'e done so far (17 kits)

:(
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I have to agree. This is my first kit and enough to put anyone off home brew for a lifetime. I tried it tonight and it was terrible! Sweet, thin, watery and no head. Vile :sick:
I've also got a Woodfordes Wherry on the go and taste tested a bottle of that. I was worried that all home brew might be thin and watery like the Coopers Dark Ale.

Thankfully it's lovely. Even at only 3 weeks!!! So I wont be selling all the gear on Gumtree quite yet. :smile:
 
Hi newbie here. After doing the turbo ciders for a number of years I thought id have a go at making a beer. I picked up a Coopers dark ale a couple of weeks ago and started my brew. S.G came out at 1.050, I used 1kg of beer enhancer. Checked it after 6 days and it was 1.012 so I kegged it with about 100g of brewing suger, should come out at about 5.5%. Whist I was siphoning I had a little taste and boy it tastes good. I cant wait for a pint of it
 
Hi all

Started this yesterday with Brew Enhancer 2 and Safale S04 yeast as I was having trouble getting below 1014 with all my other kits so thought I'd try a different variety of yeast other than the one that comes with the kit.
The only thing that I find worrying is that the O.G. was only 1034 with this kit even at 22 litres, that's the lowest O.G. of any kit I've ever done, the only difference this time is that I've used bottled water instead of the usual tap variety. Here's hoping the F.G. turns out a good bit lower than usual.
 
coupe3234 said:
Hi all

Started this yesterday with Brew Enhancer 2 and Safale S04 yeast as I was having trouble getting below 1014 with all my other kits so thought I'd try a different variety of yeast other than the one that comes with the kit.
The only thing that I find worrying is that the O.G. was only 1034 with this kit even at 22 litres, that's the lowest O.G. of any kit I've ever done, the only difference this time is that I've used bottled water instead of the usual tap variety. Here's hoping the F.G. turns out a good bit lower than usual.
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The Coopers DA was my first ever kit as it came with the coopers starter kit I bought. 1.034 is unusally low for a cooper kit. You used 1kg brew enhancer, right?

S04 is not the best yeast if you want a lower FG but I think you should be OK. However with a 1.034 OG your probably going to want some body to the beer. If you use a yeast with a higher attenuation you with thin out the beer. For my tastes, I like my beer to be a bit chewy I'm not concerned about ABV%, in fact I like low alcohol beer. I've just bottled a mild, 1.034 too and also used S04. The FG was 1.011, for me that't perfect, however if you want a yeast with a higher attenuation (and therefore higher alcohol) I would use, unitl the weather cools, US05 if you don't have temperature control or Nottingham/Gervin G12/Wilko Ale yeast (all the same yeast going by different names, nice and cheap at £1.75 from wilko) if you do.
 
MyQul said:
The Coopers DA was my first ever kit as it came with the coopers starter kit I bought. 1.034 is unusally low for a cooper kit. You used 1kg brew enhancer, right?

S04 is not the best yeast if you want a lower FG but I think you should be OK. However with a 1.034 OG your probably going to want some body to the beer. If you use a yeast with a higher attenuation you with thin out the beer. For my tastes, I like my beer to be a bit chewy I'm not concerned about ABV%, in fact I like low alcohol beer. I've just bottled a mild, 1.034 too and also used S04. The FG was 1.011, for me that't perfect, however if you want a yeast with a higher attenuation (and therefore higher alcohol) I would use, unitl the weather cools, US05 if you don't have temperature control or Nottingham/Gervin G12/Wilko Ale yeast (all the same yeast going by different names, nice and cheap at £1.75 from wilko) if you do.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info MyQul. Yes I used 1kg of Brew Enhancer 2 this time. I had brewed a lager kit before with Brew Enhancer 1 and it came in at 1042 O.G. that's why I was a bit annoyed that this only attained 1034 but it's done now, just have to wait and see what the end result is. I'm sure it will be a good session pint !!!! Maybe need to have a glass of Smirnoff with each one though...!!!:D
 
Hi all

Bottled this yesterday with a heaped half teaspoon baking measure of caster sugar per bottle as usual. Final Gravity was 1012 so not going to be the strongest beer I've brewed but I have to say, the Safale yeast left a very clear beer, it's been in the bottles for 24 hrs now and is just about totally clear. will let them sit for 4 weeks and let you all know how it turns out.
 
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Got this on the go today, brewed to 20l with 1kg beer enhancer and a can of dark treacle thrown in for good measure. OG was 1042. I fancied this is I'd never done a coopers kit before and wanted a straightforward beer on the go for an easy drinking evening pint whilst my other brews are conditioning. Hopefully this will do the trick.
 
Hi all

Tried a couple of testers at the weekend as it had been in the bottle for two and a half weeks now. 14 days in the warm and 3 in a cooler area. Bottom line..........this is already a very good pint....I'm pleasantly surprised. Reminds me of McEwans Champion without the strong alcohol taste.
 
Kegged mine today with 100g of dark muscavado sugar that i had hanging about, fg came in 1009, around 5.2ish%. Nice dark colour and a pleasant enough taste from the trial jar sample. Hopefully a couple of weeks in the keg and I'll be able to have a decent pint.
 
Well I'm pretty chuffed with myself! This has turned out really well, makes a nice easy going pint that doesn't have a hint of homebrew about it. I'll definitely have another one of these on the go soon. I might even put another can of treacle in the next one as I like my beer on the heavy side.
 
DarkHorse said:
Well I'm pretty chuffed with myself! This has turned out really well, makes a nice easy going pint that doesn't have a hint of homebrew about it. I'll definitely have another one of these on the go soon. I might even put another can of treacle in the next one as I like my beer on the heavy side.
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DarkHorse, if you like your beer heavy have a go at some honey. If you use Beer Enhancer and add 100g of honey and you're up around the 6% mark, 120g nearer 7%. I just mix boiling water with the honey and into the FV with it.
 
LarryF said:
DarkHorse, if you like your beer heavy have a go at some honey. If you use Beer Enhancer and add 100g of honey and you're up around the 6% mark, 120g nearer 7%. I just mix boiling water with the honey and into the FV with it.
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Thanks, I'll try that on the next one:thumb:
 
Brewed up my second Dark Ale kit last night. The first time I brewed this kit I used it as a base for a spiced winter dark ale adding orange zest, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, muscovado sugar and prunes! It was pretty good (perhaps a little too much ginger), but I was keen to try the kit again this time with extra hops.

Here's what i brewed (I used up a few left over grains from a recent AG recipe)
250g biscuit malt
125g caramunich malt
100g chocolate malt
1kg light dried malt extract
15g first gold hops & 15g Bramling cross hops

I steeped the grains for 30mins in 4ltrs of water at 66c. Then strained them out and boiled for 10mins before cooling and adding the hops for 20mins. Then dissolved the DME into the wort and added to the FV with the kit malt and topped up to 23ltrs. (OG 1050). Planning to dry hop with another 20g of each of the hops.

It's currently chugging away at 20c. I'll let you all know how it turns out.
 
Drew the first pint off yesterday, very nice. Malty, slightly heavy, right up my street. I'm going to do another one next month but will attempt dry hopping for the first time as an experiment.
 
I did this on Monday

Brewed to 22L, with:

500g dark DME
500g dark muscovado sugar
500g soft dark brown sugar
approx. 200g golden syrup

Og 1.055

Gonna dry hop (Fuggles) towards end of ferment.
 
piddledribble said:
I bottled mine and was well pleased my son said it tasted like alcoholic dandelion and burdock ! but it suited me and goes down well with meat and taty pie and mushy peas....
However I do think I primed it too much ( used 2 carb drops in 500ml bottle ) and yes it is a bit fizzy, but what the heck My second brew of it is getting a bit less sugar this time in the bottle.

Anyways I like dandelion and burdock.
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Hi, Just bottled this on sunday using 2 crafty fox drops per 500ml as suggested on the pack.
Kit included Dark ale can, Brew enhancer 2 and i threw in dark treacle! i did notice alittle D&B taste and a good background hit of sweetness when i took the final sample.
But after drinking a McEwans champion tonight i found it quite similar!:thumb:
Lets see how it matures in the bottle.

will be very happy if it manages that.

D
 

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