Coopers, English Bitter

[Slid]

During a recent Wilko sale I picked up a number of their own branded 2 can kits at £12.75. The Golden Ale kit is pretty good, and sort of indistinctive, but nice.

Today's brew is a Coopers English, plus one can from the 2 can Golden Ale kits. This is quite a well bittered effort and I am planning to use this as a base kit to add some Cascade hops as a hop tea and then as a dry hop addition.

Have had good results in the past from this sort of approach, so it will make a nice break from my attempts at a "Saison".

 

[pms67]

You won't have time to try anything now your a mod :rofl::thumb:

 

[Mr P]

I just popped the cork on one of these this evening and i must say i am very pleased with the result :thumb: I brewed this back in November allmost to the Coopers recipe. Instead of brew enhancer i used light spraymalt dektrose and 150g suger. Not being a fan of useing Molases or treacle in beer :| i halved the Coopers recommended 200g. (I still think it is too much) After 10 days i tried a sample and then dry hopped it with Fuggles. Which was definately a good move :thumb: This one is definately improving with age

 

[BruinTuns]

That's interesting..
So dry hoppng is still effective after fermentation has ceased?

 

[pms67]

That's interesting..
So dry hoppng is still effective after fermentation has ceased?

Some would say even more so.
I usually wait till it's finished as any hops I've added in at the start usually disappear in taste by the time fermentation is complete.
I dry hop with as much as I dare (almost always pellets,difference in incredible) for 5 days then transfer,batch prime then bottle.
Cheers

 

[Mr P]

That's interesting..
So dry hoppng is still effective after fermentation has ceased?

Yes and at the same time as you hopp your letting more of the yeast waste fall from the brew :

 

[BruinTuns]

Thanks chaps, I'll do exactly that with my next brew. I believe it adds more aroma than flavour?

 

[Bernie]

Did this kit as my first brew, it appeard to be cheap off eBay...

I didn't do the kit full justice to be fair to it, I used white sugar in place of brew enhancer or spray malt, I started the brew before reading much on here, blame lack of patience, probably a bad thing for a brewer


Not the best beer I ever drank, but a long way from the worst, nice bitter after taste, lingers nicely on the pallet, 3/4 of a pint made my head spin slightly. I'd been really worried the use of white sugar would ruin it, but it appears not to have, so yay :)

Palate

This is the kit I started homebrew and it gave a good approximation to a decent bottled real ale.
I've since brewed it with liquid malt extract (Muntons amber) and it does make a difference as does fermenting near 20 °C.

 

[Joeyriles]

Kicked this off last night as my first brew of 2015. I'm still saving for some All Grain equipment so am trying to get a few brown ales ready for the spring.

Brewed short to 20l and added brew enhancer, dextrose and honey. Came out with a S.G of 1045. I'm hoping that the shortened brew length will help with the mouthfeel.

I actually did this kit as one of my first ever brews back in 2012. It was brewed judiciously to 23litres and I used only sugar. I also tried to drink it all after two weeks, despite tasting ****e. How much I've learned!

 

[pms67]

Thanks chaps, I'll do exactly that with my next brew. I believe it adds more aroma than flavour?

I believe this to be a myth,maybe if its done with leaf hops for too little a time and not enough hops then yes,but add 50g upwards of pellets and the difference is night and day.
Superb

 

[Joeyriles]

I'm thinking of getting some hop pellets but can't decide which ones would be best for the kit. I don't really like a heavily Fuggled beer (always has a bit of a pungent aftertaste IMO). What else would work? EKG?

 

[clibit]

I'm not big on Fuggles either. EKG would be good, I also like First Gold and Northdown, the two together is good. Challenger, Brewer's gold and Bramling Cross are all great too. I also love Bobek, which is a type of Styrian Golding, as a flavour/aroma hop in a pale ale. We all have our own tastes of course.

 

[Joeyriles]

Went for some Goldings pellets in the end. Have put half a pack in now and will add more, later. Smells very nice indeed and the krausen was pretty thick!

 

[Covrich]

Thanks chaps, I'll do exactly that with my next brew. I believe it adds more aroma than flavour?

I dry hopped my Youngs AAA (which comes with 100gr hop pellets)

I did this 5 days before bottling , fermenting had finsihed x amount of days ago.

At bottling the flavour was booom which citrusy grapefruit fresh kick:thumb:.. this should mellow and blend with the maltiness as it now ages and carbs but the difference is massive..

 

[pms67]

I dry hopped my Youngs AAA (which comes with 100gr hop pellets)

I did this 5 days before bottling , fermenting had finsihed x amount of days ago.

At bottling the flavour was booom which citrusy grapefruit fresh kick:thumb:.. this should mellow and blend with the maltiness as it now ages and carbs but the difference is massive..

I
You are in for a treat,this is the best kit i have done,very,very tasty.
They give you pellets instead of leaf hops as they transform the brew altogether.
I haven't bought leaf hops since (except Nelson Sauvin as it was all i could get)

 

[Covrich]

I
You are in for a treat,this is the best kit i have done,very,very tasty.
They give you pellets instead of leaf hops as they transform the brew altogether.
I haven't bought leaf hops since (except Nelson Sauvin as it was all i could get)

Sounds great

I am going to do an extract next but also try the IPA which I hear loads of good things about

Did you find it a big grapefruit kick? I only sampled the pre bottled beer and is was very fresh with the grapefruit.. very nice.. am hoping it blends more with the malt backbone as it ages.

But yes I am really looking forward to cracking one open this weekend to try a "tester" (will be 2 weeks in bottle).

I do not know all the science about whether it adds flavour and armoa / armoa and perceived flavour, all I can assure you is you can smell and taste it.

 

[pms67]

Aroma and lots of flavour,it settles down afterba couple of weeks to become awesome.
Smooth,refreshing, malty and hoppy
Enjoy

 

[pms67]

Apologies, just realised this is a Coopers English Bitter thread.
This kit took a long time to become drinkable and whilst it was very good after around 10 weeks i feel the Cooper's IPA is a better bet.
Only my opinion though

 

[Speccy]

Just coming to the end of a batch of this, and it's been one of my favourite brews so far. It was perfectly drinkable within a week or so of bottling, with a hoppy hit followed by a lovely, lingering, toffee aftertaste. While it's mellowed over the weeks it's still one of the more bitter kits I've done, which is maybe why it seems to divide opinion. For what it's worth, it was one of the highest scorers in a homebrew tasting session I took it along to.

I made it with beer enhancer, and didn't mess around with it other than brewing it slightly short to 21 litres. Would probably do the exact same next time.

 

[Joeyriles]

I've brewed this to 20L and added the Goldings. I'll probably add some more before bottling. Been in the FV for about a week now and it smells really good. I might leave it another week to give the yeast a chance to clear up after itself.

Off topic but: I recently purchased a Brupak's Brewer's choice dry beer kit in the bargain bin at my LHBS. I can;t find any advice on here (a first!) Could anyone help to direct me?