Coopers Premium Selection Family Secret Amber Ale

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Hopping_Mad

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First time out of around a dozen Cooper's kits where I've been left disappointed.

Colour is certainly not Amber like the tin. It's Newcastle Brown Ale coloured. It's got a very bitter finish, and very little hop aroma so I don't find it very balanced.

Finally, even after 5 weeks in bottles this is the first time I've had a bit of HB 'twang' from a Cooper's kit - although this has usually dissipated in time.

Perhaps they should have 'kept it in the family'?:lol:

Got a Cooper's IPA to placate myself !
 
First time out of around a dozen Cooper's kits where I've been left disappointed.

Colour is certainly not Amber like the tin. It's Newcastle Brown Ale coloured. It's got a very bitter finish, and very little hop aroma so I don't find it very balanced.

Finally, even after 5 weeks in bottles this is the first time I've had a bit of HB 'twang' from a Cooper's kit - although this has usually dissipated in time.

Perhaps they should have 'kept it in the family'?:lol:

Got a Cooper's IPA to placate myself !

hi , i started a thread on the 10th december asking about this beer , but got little response, I made the kit , bottled (looked like a viennia red ?) and its been conditioning now around 4 weeks so i will try one and get back to you, I also bottled a coopers Mexican cerveza this week and it was tasteless on bottling so i hope that develops as it ages.
 
Got a Cooper's IPA to placate myself !
If that's a Brew A IPA I hope you like it better than I did.
I now only buy two Coopers kits, the Australian Pale Ale which is ideal to boost in some way, and the Irish Stout .
I have tried a number of other Coopers kits and was a bit underwhelmed or thought there were other kits that did the same thing better.
 
If that's a Brew A IPA I hope you like it better than I did.
I now only buy two Coopers kits, the Australian Pale Ale which is ideal to boost in some way, and the Irish Stout .
I have tried a number of other Coopers kits and was a bit underwhelmed or thought there were other kits that did the same thing better.

Terry i have just read that Coopers renamed all there old beers kits ,:nono: so were getting the old recipes but with new fancy names ????????? The family secret was previously known has there Premium selection draught bitter,
 
Terry i have just read that Coopers renamed all there old beers kits ,:nono: so were getting the old recipes but with new fancy names ????????? The family secret was previously known has there Premium selection draught bitter,
You could be right.
Coopers revamped and expanded their range about 15 months ago, but did drop some kits previously sold, Thomas Coopers IPA is an example. This seems to have been replaced by the Brew A IPA but it didn't hit the spot for me and others. (see the review here http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=64555).
If you buy a kit with an old label chances are its very old stock by now.
 
Bought one of these recently but it will be a little while before I make it. Got a can (1.5kg) of light malt extract to use with it.

Hope it turns out better than what's been said on this thread so far. Maybe a dry hop or hop tea towards the end of fermentation may help? Usually the first time I make something new I stick fairly closely to the suggested recipe and then if the end result is ok then think about tweaking it next time around.
 
First time out of around a dozen Cooper's kits where I've been left disappointed.

Colour is certainly not Amber like the tin. It's Newcastle Brown Ale coloured. It's got a very bitter finish, and very little hop aroma so I don't find it very balanced.

Finally, even after 5 weeks in bottles this is the first time I've had a bit of HB 'twang' from a Cooper's kit - although this has usually dissipated in time.

Perhaps they should have 'kept it in the family'?:lol:

Got a Cooper's IPA to placate myself !

Just cracked my first bottle of Coopers family Secret.Its been conditioning 4-5 weeks. I normally leave my ales ten weeks but opened one to review for this thread, Colour very dark nice and clear , goes red brown when a light is put behind it, Pours a nice creamy head that lasted 30 seconds no head retention , Aroma very slight hop smell more like a wet sack. Taste not a lot of flavour with bitter tannin finish, Needs more sweet malt and some East Kent Goldings hops would do it proud, Its drinkable (thank god i have 39 more pints) wont buy again . there a lot of kits out there that **** all over this one , After tasting the Cooper Mexican Cerveza when bottling last week (it tasted of nothing, very poor indiscriminate) I think these coopers kits are living on there laurels , and have been left behind by far better kits with superior Ingredients. Wont be buying another coopers kit , If you want bitter buy the Woodfords kits
 
I agree with Tanzanite, it drinkable alright however, like a lot of Cooper's kits, it's quite bland on the hop front and those Aussies must like their beers bitter too.

I also found the Australian Pale a Ale quite bitter for a light pale ale.

The IPA kit is the Selection IPA and I've had great results from that, albeit with dry hopping having found it a bit bland first time around (common theme with Cooper's kits?).

The bog standard stout kit always comes out great.

This Family Secret kit is the first time I've had twang with a Cooper's kit. Blandness aside, I've always found the quality of the kit LME to be excellent.
 
The IPA kit is the Selection IPA and I've had great results from that, albeit with dry hopping having found it a bit bland first time around (common theme with Cooper's kits?).

The bog standard stout kit always comes out great.
The Thomas Cooper Selection IPA like below.....

51xzo-i3C2L.jpg


......have been discontinued for well over a year, so if you have one of these to do the yeast might be a bit suspect.
Coopers used to stamp their yeast with the date as follows https://club.coopers.com.au/coopers-forum/topic/7290/
I have just started a new label Irish Stout with a best before date of 17/03/18 but the yeast was date stamped 32315 ie 19Nov2015 and I have to say it has not been the most energetic of starts to the fermentation
 
Checked BBD on bottom on tin when starting - Feb 2017.

I always rehydrate yeast carefully before pitching. It's going great guns this evening at a steady 21*C with my Inkbird and a heat pad - all is good! :thumb:

I hope they haven't changed the recipe as this is my 'go to' mid-price IPA! :-?
 
Checked BBD on bottom on tin when starting - Feb 2017.

I always rehydrate yeast carefully before pitching. It's going great guns this evening at a steady 21*C with my Inkbird and a heat pad - all is good! :thumb:

I hope they haven't changed the recipe as this is my 'go to' mid-price IPA! :-?

The Better Brew IPA you have is a decent drink make it with light spray malt and dry hop with 30g of you chosen hops , I use East Kent Goldings or Falconers Flight for something a bit more Exotic. :thumb: The Better Brew kit is £10.99, Spray Malt £7.00 for two 500g packs from Discount home brew at Doncaster.
 
Just cracked my first bottle of Coopers family Secret.Its been conditioning 4-5 weeks. I normally leave my ales ten weeks but opened one to review for this thread, Colour very dark nice and clear , goes red brown when a light is put behind it, Pours a nice creamy head that lasted 30 seconds no head retention , Aroma very slight hop smell more like a wet sack. Taste not a lot of flavour with bitter tannin finish, Needs more sweet malt and some East Kent Goldings hops would do it proud, Its drinkable (thank god i have 39 more pints) wont buy again . there a lot of kits out there that **** all over this one , After tasting the Cooper Mexican Cerveza when bottling last week (it tasted of nothing, very poor indiscriminate) I think these coopers kits are living on there laurels , and have been left behind by far better kits with superior Ingredients. Wont be buying another coopers kit , If you want bitter buy the Woodfords kits

I got this one brewing last night, probably wouldn't have bought it if I'd read this thread first but never mind. As per the advice above I'm pimping this one a little to try to improve it. Made it up last night to 23L with a 1.5kg can of pale malt extract, OG was hovering around 1.040 so happy with that. Got 50g of EKG on the way which I'll dry hop it with for 3-4 days once it's finished fermenting. It's going in the pressure barrel once made so it will be my session beer once the Cobnar Wood and Wherry has gone. Fingers crossed it's not too bad :)
 
I got this one brewing last night, probably wouldn't have bought it if I'd read this thread first but never mind. As per the advice above I'm pimping this one a little to try to improve it. Made it up last night to 23L with a 1.5kg can of pale malt extract, OG was hovering around 1.040 so happy with that. Got 50g of EKG on the way which I'll dry hop it with for 3-4 days once it's finished fermenting. It's going in the pressure barrel once made so it will be my session beer once the Cobnar Wood and Wherry has gone. Fingers crossed it's not too bad :)
As a suggestion
- leave it 8 days min in the FV or more until hardly any airlock activity
- rack off followed by 2 more days in the 2nd FV
- assuming you have pellets make up a hop tea in a sanitised jug with the EKG and about 300-500ml cooled boiled water at 85*C (volume of water dependent on how thick the hop slurry is) cover and allow to cool to room temp
- chuck in the hop tea liquid and hops
- leave at fermenting temp for four more days
- move FV to the coldest place you have for two more days
Package the beer.
I have changed to doing this for recent brews and the beer that goes into bottles/PB is almost fully clear but with enough yeast to still carb up. Plus the additional time in the FV allows the yeast longer to clean up.
And the hop tea will give you more hop flavour as well as aroma compared to just dry hopping.
 
As a suggestion
- leave it 8 days min in the FV or more until hardly any airlock activity
- rack off followed by 2 more days in the 2nd FV
- assuming you have pellets make up a hop tea in a sanitised jug with the EKG and about 300-500ml cooled boiled water at 85*C (volume of water dependent on how thick the hop slurry is) cover and allow to cool to room temp
- chuck in the hop tea liquid and hops
- leave at fermenting temp for four more days
- move FV to the coldest place you have for two more days
Package the beer.
I have changed to doing this for recent brews and the beer that goes into bottles/PB is almost fully clear but with enough yeast to still carb up. Plus the additional time in the FV allows the yeast longer to clean up.
And the hop tea will give you more hop flavour as well as aroma compared to just dry hopping.

Thanks, may well try that though I'm a lazy so and so and racking off beer into a secondary has never been entertained before but we'll see this time!
 
First time out of around a dozen Cooper's kits where I've been left disappointed.

Colour is certainly not Amber like the tin. It's Newcastle Brown Ale coloured. It's got a very bitter finish, and very little hop aroma so I don't find it very balanced.

Finally, even after 5 weeks in bottles this is the first time I've had a bit of HB 'twang' from a Cooper's kit - although this has usually dissipated in time.

Perhaps they should have 'kept it in the family'?:lol:

Got a Cooper's IPA to placate myself !

As a final update to this one pretty much agree with the above. Pretty underwhelming kit. Lacks body, overly bitter, and I addressed the lack of hop characteristics side of it with the addition of some EKG but I fear it was really a bit of a waste of those hops. It hasn't got the twang and is drinkable but it certainly won't be memorable. Two pints down, thirty eight to go. Think it might be a bit better chilled so I need to find myself another beer fridge!
 

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