Back in after 20 yrs, a few questions.

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So i'm hitting at least 2-3 weeks on all of the last 3 I brewed.

- Coopers Euro ale - At a week it tasted ok, with a very IPA-ish finish. After 2 weeks in, the finish though has dropped off to a good half of what it was which is good. I guess this is why they say to leave a month lol. However, everything seems to have been lessened during the wait, including the overall flavor. I didn't find the flavor to be that intense at a week, and I brewed this to 20L, not 23. Now it seems even lighter than a light beer in taste. The finish seems to still, even though it is far less bitter, overwhelm any flavor and be the most noticeable thing as it is all relative as those things dropped together over the 2 weeks. I'll drink all of these, but a bit disappointed.

- Mangrove Jacks Mango Ale - Like the coopers above, this has sat for a week longer so now pushing 3 weeks. The overpowering bitter finish (what I think is overpowering) is now about half of what it was. This smells nice, but there is hardly any taste to it. Others have said the same and I think have added juices prior to bottling.

- Mangrove Jacks Grapefruit Ale - Like above, another IPA. Even though I'm not a huge IPA fan, was looking forward to this because of all of the positive reviews on it. Like above, bitterness has dropped considerably, but also any flavor this had.

Last night I bottled the Coopers 86. I needed some extra bottles so had to pour a good 20 bottles of previous brews. I didn't want to hit the Coopers Euro Ale, so I chilled and opened one of each of the grapefruit and mango, and let the wife chose. She loves IPAs, but was meh on both of these so really doubt she will crack many of them. The grapefruit she said reminded her of the little floral gum candies, or what we call 'soap candies'. I think I mentioned above, that I also tasted a bit of a soapiness to this early on. Overall she chose the grapefruit if I had to empty more of one or the other. But also commented that there is no real taste.. no IPA punchiness with the floral fruity flavors in the middle, before the bitter ending. It's like an IPA, but it's missing a piece right in the middle. Disappointed in both of these, especially considering the rave reviews. I have to also consider that this is a UK site, I'm in Canada, so tastes might be different.

A local craft brewery here I hit last Friday had a great IPA that they added a couple different fruit juices to, and it was really good. I think I may try a frozen fruit punch concentrate, or grapefruit/citrus concentrate and add a small scoop to the bottom of a glass before pouring and see how these taste.

I still have a Mangrove Jacks session IPA to brew down the road. I have a feeling it will taste pretty close to these. What would adding a can or two of frozen juice concentrate do if done prior to bottling? If the yeast processed all of the sugar in that, would the flavor still be there or be appealing?
 
So I bought a couple frozen cans of 5Alive citrus punch for the 2 MJ IPAs to salvage. One scoop in the bottom of the glass makes the IPAs a 'lot' more drinkable.

I tried one of the Coopers 86 last night which is at about a week. For this I brewed to 22 liters, used light malt as per can recommendations, and this time used spring water vs the house tap water I have been using. I'm feeling that the water we have may be affecting the taste to some extent. It is incredibly hard water, so I have a water softener and the sodium might be playing a factor. I let this sit for about 16 days.. mainly because I just didn't have time to bottle, and on that day felt I had to get it done or potentially lose the batch. Bottling I used 160g of dextrose mixed with enough water to bring it up to 23L in a secondary.

At a week these are crystal clear. The sediment is actually very little compared to the previous 3 brews, and again sticks to bottom and doesn't come out with the pour. The smell is definitely more malty than the others, and is a dark golden color. I was 'really' surprised by this even at this early stage. Perhaps the water made a big dif, but what a crisp, clean finish. It almost reminded me of a Carona in taste, and is the first out of 4 brews that I felt there is actually a full 'beer' taste there vs a watery beer with a larger bitter finish.. I'm looking forward to how this will be in another week or two. If it gets even better (I expect the slight bitter finish to wane a bit), this will definitely be one I wouldn't hesitate to do again.
 
Sounds like a result!

I tried my stout on the weekend after 3 weeks in the bottle and found it to be very good, well worth a go if you like a Guinness style beer. It's not as smooth as Guinness of course as they use nitro, but the flavour is all there.

The MJ cider is in the bottle ans I will try that in a couple of weeks, got my fingers crossed.

Then another lager can go on, may try the 86 after reading this.

Oh yeah, I only use bottled spring water in mine also, so thar may help flavour etc.
 

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