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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...

I'm clearly struggling to get the right level of carbonation in my mini kegs - I'm now down to 5 teaspoons of dextrose in a pale ale and that's in 5 ltrs of beer! As I was trying to stick my Beerking tap in a slightly more carbonated keg (but no more than 8 tps) I got an almighty pop and when...

Not done a lager before, but confident enough in the quality of Simply kits to give theirs a try first. It has attached to the bottom of the bag one of the usual plain foil packets of yeast. My guess is that it's an ale yeast and not a genuine lager yeast - anyone know for certain? I can't...

Ok, I've done the Amber Ale and Pale Ale in this series and they were both awesome but I wanted to try new styles so I thought I would have a go at their saison. Did this in February and, as is the case with saison yeast, I made sure I had the heat pad on full ready for the FV. Usual MO with...

I can sum my review of this kit up in two words - DON'T BOTHER! It is the worst kit I have made in two years of homebrewing. I thought I would give it a try after my favourite pale ale kit (Simply) went back to full price. Given that it was very cheap, I planned to improve it with a 1.5...

Trying to find my 'go to' non-premium IPA kit, I thought I'd try the Coopers Selection IPA and do it 'as per instructions' - which is what I have done - kit LME, 500 gms of light spraymalt and 300 gms dextrose. Rehydrated yeast with a little dextrose (very happy after 30 mins and bubbling)...

Anybody tried these relatively new kits yet? http://http://www.art-of-brewing.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Beer_kits___Budget_9.html I'm guessing they are aiming at the 'LME in a bag' budget end, same as Ritchies Simply range. Having had decent results from the Simply Pale Ale using...

So, measuring gravity is an exercise in measuring the density of a liquid right? When I've brewed cider the expected gravity is 1000, same as water, so, once the yeasties have done their thing in cider and turned the sugar to alcohol it's the same density as water (I assume this is why the...

I have no idea why I added yeast nutrient along with the kit yeast to my second batch of Coopers dark ale, especially as the first lot I did was pretty vigorous without any help! I guess I just wanted to give the little blighters a good start in life.:oops: I must say I made sure the wort was...

I have no idea why I added yeast nutrient along with the kit yeast to my second batch of Coopers dark ale, especially as the first lot I did was pretty vigorous without any help! I guess I just wanted to give the little blight eras a good start in life. I must say I made sure the wort was...

So, I'm a cautious guy despite liking very hoppy ale, as my username suggests. Instead of sticking the hop pellet sachet in after 4 days like my Festival instructions say, knowing that I usually wait for at least 12 -14 days before priming/bottling instead of the suggested 10 days, I waited to...

As with most home brewers, when bottling my brew I like to re-use bottles from commercial drinks. My local rugby club keep filling a milk crate for me so I have a good regular supply. Some are great to get the labels off, such as Magners and Adnams, as they use foil and/or paper labels which...

Don't know if this has been done already but I'm interested to know which kits most closely resemble commercially available beers (other than the obvious like the St Peters kits)? I ask as I've done dark, ruby and amber ale kits already and now I want to do a golden ale next. I'm currently...

Folks - just after your thoughts on priming, although I suspect this has been done before I don't want to wade through pages of thread titles! So, I'm third kit in - drinking (too quickly I might add! :o ) the Coopers Dark Ale I got with my newbie kit, bottled a St Peters ruby ale last week...

Er, not sure what I'm supposed to be putting here, except how my recent re-introduction to home brewing came about? Brewed with my late father at home in the 80's when Boots kits were somewhat rudimentary (although the stout wasn't too bad and did the job for a teenager who wanted to get a buzz...