Coopers IPA review

Tony1951 said:

I have made the mistake of brewing full sized brews with hops that I find really not great. Fortunately, my over cooked (no chill) brews with admiral in at 20g as a sixty minute hope are moderating a bit as they get older, but I have 15 gallons of that....... At a month in the barrel it is just about tolerable to me, but I really don't like it much. It may come good in time.

. My Greg Hughes, English IPA is looking great. Goldings and progress. I know where I stand with them.

My impressions may be personal, or maybe down to the fact that I brewed these dodgy brews before I got a chiller and they spent too long at high temperatures. Anyway - I am back on track now, albeit that I have a lot of 'iffy' stuff to drink my way through.

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Just a quick note as someone who BIAB no chills (because I'm on a water meter); I've taken to First Wort Hopping (FWH) which takes more hops but is meant to give a softer bitterness and flavour. The bittering hops go in after mashing as you start to bring the wort to the boil. I also put the flavour hops in at the end of the boil (0 mins) and leave to steep for 20 mins before I transfer the still very hot wort into a clean and sterile fermenter.

I've done about five brews so far this way - pale ale, bitter, saison, ESB and a rye pale ale - which have all turned out pretty good (the rye pale is conditioning and it must be said taking ages to clear...although it tastes really nice.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice

louis macneice said:

I also put the flavour hops in at the end of the boil (0 mins) and leave to steep for 20 mins before I transfer the still very hot wort into a clean and sterile fermenter.

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So the hops dont go in the FV?

Do you not put any hops in during the boil?

clibit said:

So the hops dont go in the FV?

Do you not put any hops in during the boil?

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The FWH are in there all through the boil, but all the flavour hops go in at the very end. I read about it on a BIAB board as a way of combating over bittering; it also makes timings very straight forward which is handy while I'm getting used to BIAB. I do subsequently dry hop as well(as appropriate), which isn't meant to affect flavour, but I'm not so sure on this, as taste and smell are so closely linked.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice

p.s. if you want to try the results send me you're address and in a month or so I'll send you a bottle of my latest bitter.

I spent a few days in a brewery that did what you're doing. Two hop additions, first wort and flame out. Flame out hops sat in the hot worr during transfer to FV via cooler, this took about 90 minutes. No need to send beer, but thanks for the offer.

louis macneice said:

Just a quick note as someone who BIAB no chills (because I'm on a water meter); I've taken to First Wort Hopping (FWH) which takes more hops but is meant to give a softer bitterness and flavour. The bittering hops go in after mashing as you start to bring the wort to the boil. I also put the flavour hops in at the end of the boil (0 mins) and leave to steep for 20 mins before I transfer the still very hot wort into a clean and sterile fermenter.

I've done about five brews so far this way - pale ale, bitter, saison, ESB and a rye pale ale - which have all turned out pretty good (the rye pale is conditioning and it must be said taking ages to clear...although it tastes really nice.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice

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I'm a no-chiller too. Normally I take 3L of wort out the next day, boil for 15 mins and add my late additions to that. Then cool, strain the hops out then return the 3L to the main body of wort.

I like the look of FWHing. So after you've yanked the grain bag out (and done any sparging you might do), you add your bittering addition then turn the heat on?

Yes the hops go in the wort straight after the mash.

Cheers........

I don't understand how they make smoother bittering if there in the wort all throughout the boil

Neither do I.

clibit said:

I hear what you're saying but for me brewing is about learning and trying things. Which is why I make small batches. But I also read a lot and taste commercial beers. I've discovered hops I really like and hops I wouldn't use again. Same with grains and yeast. And I've drunk everything. :-)

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There's a lot to be said for the above, particularly (because of the large stock I have of 'ify' beer) the bit about trying a small batch first. :)

MyQul said:

You'll be surprised how a good long condtioning time can transform a dodgy brew. I know I''ve made enough of em :lol:

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Your experience gives me hope for the future.... :) It costs nothing to keep three barrels quietly conditioning in the garage.

MyQul said:

Cheers........

I don't understand how they make smoother bittering if there in the wort all throughout the boil

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Here's a couple of links to forums where this opinion is supported; I'll keep having a look around to see if I can find anything a bit more technical/scientific to support it.

http://www.forum.realbeer.co.nz/forum/topics/first-wort-hops-in-biab

https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/comments/2q39in/first_wort_hopping_and_biab/

Cheers - Louis MacNeice

http://beerandwinejournal.com/?s=first+wort+hopping

This is worth a read....

I sometimes bung the bittering hops in the wort as its heating up after the mash, I just don't think about calling it first wort hopping, and I don't seem to notice a difference, but perhaps I don't pay enough attention to the tasting to assess the affect on the bittering.

Dug out a couple of bottles of Cooper's IPA that I had forgotten about - I brewed it on 10th April and bottled it on 21/4/15. It was surprisingly good; much better than when I drank the first couple of boxes in May. The extra four and a half months really made a big difference to the flavour. I'd kind of abandoned my last box and a half of 'kit beer' when I got into all grain, but I'm quite glad I found this 'aged' stuff. really nice. If only I could hang onto my all grain beer this long, it might be even better. I have 14 bottles of this stuff, so I feel rather pleased with myself. :)

Have this on at the moment with sugars as recommended on tin i.e. 500g Light Spray Malt and 300g dex. Wanted to dry hop, I have Centenial and Target anyone got any experience with either of these in this Kit or recommendations please.

Javalian said:

Have this on at the moment with sugars as recommended on tin i.e. 500g Light Spray Malt and 300g dex. Wanted to dry hop, I have Centenial and Target anyone got any experience with either of these in this Kit or recommendations please.

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I've been using centennial in some AG brews lately and it is REALLY nice. I left my late addition centennial hops in the beer as it fermented and got a really big hoppy character and very fruity.

If you are dry hopping with this hop, try about 50 grammes of Centennial leaf hops in the FV on about day four of the fermentation and leave them there until you bottle. Just before bottling take a sterilised sieve and strain out the leaf hops which will mostly be floating on the top. Don't be worried about scooping them repeatedly to get them out, because if your sieve is clean it won't matter. When I do this I just sweep them out and dump them in a bowl and sweep again. This is my FV a couple of weeks ago stuffed with centennial. It's a banging brew I'm telling you. :)




I've never used Target so I can't help there.

Tony1951 said:

I've been using centennial in some AG brews lately and it is REALLY nice. I left my late addition centennial hops in the beer as it fermented and got a really big hoppy character and very fruity.

If you are dry hopping with this hop, try about 50 grammes of Centennial leaf hops in the FV on about day four of the fermentation and leave them there until you bottle. Just before bottling take a sterilised sieve and strain out the leaf hops which will mostly be floating on the top. Don't be worried about scooping them repeatedly to get them out, because if your sieve is clean it won't matter. When I do this I just sweep them out and dump them in a bowl and sweep again. This is my FV a couple of weeks ago stuffed with centennial. It's a banging brew I'm telling you. :)

I've never used Target so I can't help there.

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Tony, you must have loads of sediment left over, how do you filter it to save it going into bottles ?

Javalian said:

Tony, you must have loads of sediment left over, how do you filter it to save it going into bottles ?

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I scooped out the floating hops with a clean sieve which I had boiled in a large pan for ten minutes. I dumped these floating hops in a large bowl and this left the top of the beer easily clean enough to rack off without blocking the tubes with a hop flower. The trub is always there be it fine (maybe a centimetre, or thick. I just rack off carefully using a rigid plastic tube in the FV with a rubber tube going into the receiving vessel. As the brew empties into the bottling bucket, I very gently tilt the FV towards the bottom of the racking tube so that I extract as much clear liquor as possible, AVOIDING stirring up the trub. I can usually get almost all but the last pint of clear beer off the trub without contaminating the bottling bucket with suspended trub.

One thing that helps is that I always allow a fortnight in the FV without disturbance, even though my beer is usually at final gravity by seven days. This means I have quite clearish beer in the bottling bucket.

Just thought I'd share my results with brewing a Coopers Brewmaster IPA because I was so chuffed with the results...

This was only my second go at homebrew (the first was a Coopers English Bitter which I was also very pleased with) but I thought I would have a good go at pimping it up;

Coopers Brewmaster IPA kit
500g Light Spray Malt
650g Dextrose
Swapped the Coopers Yeast for Safale US 05 Yeast

Boiled the Light Spray Malt in water and added 30g Cascade and 10g Columbus and boiled for 4-5 minutes.

Topped up to 22 litres - OG was 1044

Really good strong fermentation with this yeast - went down to 1006 in 8 days, at this point I dry hopped with another 30g of Cascade.

Left it in the fermenter for 15 days.

Bottled in a mixture of 500ml glass bottles (1.5 Coopers Carbonation drops) and 750ml plastic bottles (2 Coopers Carbonation drops).

Left in brewing cupboard for 2 weeks, then moved into garage for 1 week before sampling and even then was very impressed. I had exactly the sort of beer I was hoping for - 5.7% and really full of flavour. I am convinced that the Safale Yeast helped greatly with how this beer ended up, a lovely crisp, clean finish. It is on a par with some of my favourite IPA's, Jaipur and Old Empire spring to mind.

I would recommend using this kit with some of the additions I have mentioned, and if you use the Safale yeast don't be shy of adding plenty of fermentables because the yeast seems to be very hungry.

The beer has now been in the bottle for 6 weeks and has mellowed slightly, so is getting even better. The only bad thing about it is that I only have a few bottles left!

Better get another batch ready for summer....:thumb:

Like most of the reviewers, and similarly to most Cooper's kits, this makes great beer in you leave it three to four months, but it's a bit bland in terms of hop flavours.

So, again like lots of other Brewers, second time I brewed this I stuck some Zeus and Centenniel leaf hops in a bag (don't ask me how much, I just fill the bag! Probably about 40-50g), make a hop tea then shove it in after 7 days, before bottling around day 14. This gives a much more pleasing 'American' style IPA. I also always follow the Cooper's instructions for additional fermentables.

Don't drink for the first month as it can still be a bit 'twangy' but by 4 months is really very good. I think the quality of the LME from Cooper's must be top notch as I've never had a sub standard batch following their instructions.

i made it with 1,25 kg. pale ale malt and 0,25 kg. carared malt, half kg sugar. i added 15 gr hops last min boil and 15 gr. dry hops. kit is a bit too bitter. hence hard do notice aroma hops. but lessen bitter taste by time. clearity was great even though i squized malt bag after mash. Nice kit after all. Thomas coopers series seems better than normal coopers series.