Re: Willco's hoppy copper.

[H0PM0NSTER]

I've read that you can boil the water for 15 mins to lower the oxygen in it. Seems like a lot of trouble but the risk of oxygenating the beer is that it could go stale and give off-flavours. How great the risk is of not treating the water probably depends on the amount you plan to add.

 

[MikeK117]

I bottled my Hoppy Copper tonight. From OG 1.042 it struggled to get past 1.020 and eventually did get down to a disappointing 1.016 in the end, in spite of some coaxing along on my part. I put this down to the yeast which may be a clone of the Muntons Wherry yeast which also struggled to go past 1.020.
So factor in a stuck fermentation into your decision tree!!

Just an update, after 12 days in primary this dropped 30 points to 1.026 and was then lacking any signs of fermentation.

I racked what appeared to be gravy into secondary and after 5 days there is 3-4mm of sediment and the beer is clearing up well. SG today (day 17) is still 1.026 so we're looking at about 4% abv. I'm unsure why it's stopped so high, I used the whole packet of kit yeast for 10L.

The trial jar sample certainly looks and tastes like a bitter. But it's really bitter, perhaps this is down to the 25g hop tea (10L batch).

I'm using this kit as a trial of recycled mini kegs so I will probably rack this into 2 kegs on Sunday.

 

[Slid]

I bottled my Hoppy Copper tonight. From OG 1.042 it struggled to get past 1.020 and eventually did get down to a disappointing 1.016 in the end, in spite of some coaxing along on my part. I put this down to the yeast which may be a clone of the Muntons Wherry yeast which also struggled to go past 1.020.
So factor in a stuck fermentation into your decision tree!!

The yeast with almost all Muntons made kits is the same. I am told that it is basically Nottingham yeast, which makes beer that is archetypically English.

I stopped trusting it a very long time ago, because I have no temperature contol over fermentation.

Centrally heated houses typically are just too warm for this yeast, which is fine at 18-20C absolute max. Unless you have a brewing fridge, the initial temp will send your Muntons yeast into a lazy, statis, sort of mode, rather than conversion.

The yeast that comes with Coopers kits is OK because it has been genetically modified by selection to brew good beer at these 20-22C temps, and still work at upwards of this.

I use US 05 by default now, for these reasons, although it does need 14 days in primary and a further 7 days in a secondary FV, in my slightly limited experience.

 

[LarryF]

The yeast with almost all Muntons made kits is the same. I am told that it is basically Nottingham yeast, which makes beer that is archetypically English.

I stopped trusting it a very long time ago, because I have no temperature contol over fermentation.

Centrally heated houses typically are just too warm for this yeast, which is fine at 18-20C absolute max. Unless you have a brewing fridge, the initial temp will send your Muntons yeast into a lazy, statis, sort of mode, rather than conversion.

The yeast that comes with Coopers kits is OK because it has been genetically modified by selection to brew good beer at these 20-22C temps, and still work at upwards of this.

I use US 05 by default now, for these reasons, although it does need 14 days in primary and a further 7 days in a secondary FV, in my slightly limited experience.

Slid,, I brewed a Hoppy Copper in early September with no temperature control, I didn't need it. I used re-pitched Mauribrew 514(sorry the numbers aren't showing) and got eighty seven % attenuation, which made me a very happy bunny. I've not used safale o five yet but I just don't use kit yeast these days unless I can chuck two packs in. I do keep a supply of Wilko Gervin yeast just in case and this has always worked well for me and never stuck.

 

[terrym]

The yeast with almost all Muntons made kits is the same. I am told that it is basically Nottingham yeast, which makes beer that is archetypically English.

I stopped trusting it a very long time ago, because I have no temperature contol over fermentation.

Centrally heated houses typically are just too warm for this yeast, which is fine at 18-20C absolute max. Unless you have a brewing fridge, the initial temp will send your Muntons yeast into a lazy, statis, sort of mode, rather than conversion.

The yeast that comes with Coopers kits is OK because it has been genetically modified by selection to brew good beer at these 20-22C temps, and still work at upwards of this.

I use US 05 by default now, for these reasons, although it does need 14 days in primary and a further 7 days in a secondary FV, in my slightly limited experience.

Slid
My limited experience of Muntons kit yeast is that it really can't be trusted, that's why I have a Wherry about to be bottled for which I used a GV12 ale yeast and that had turned in a 78% attenuation when I last checked having got down to 1.010.

I have a brewing water bath in my garage set up for about 19-20*C, which I used for my Hoppy Copper and that didn't seem to make much difference to the poor attenuation I got with the kit yeast.

 

[Slid]

I think 2 packs of the 6g Muntons yeast is a good move. It is probably not much different to adding the GV 12 or the Wilko Gervin yeast. :thumb:

 

[chub1]

I did this kit with added spraymalt, carahell, crystal malt, golden syrup,challenger hops and styrian goldings hops bolied with the steeped grain liquor and spraymalt.
Nice and clear, good colour, decent head, but pretty bland despite the add ons!not much kit twang.
Came out at 3.3% a tad under the expected abv.
A bit dissapointed really as i expected it to be pretty tasty:-(

 

[chub1]

I did this kit with added spraymalt, carahell, crystal malt, golden syrup,challenger hops and styrian goldings hops bolied with the steeped grain liquor and spraymalt.
Nice and clear, good colour, decent head, but pretty bland despite the add ons!not much kit twang.
Came out at 3.3% a tad under the expected abv.
A bit dissapointed really as i expected it to be pretty tasty:-(

Just had another this evening and perhaps i have been a tad harsh with my comments. Perhaps a little more time has helped but it's actually quite drinkable now with no apparent kit twang at all. Guess at 3.3% it's an easy pint to sink on a hot day and actually went down rather well. If i did another i think i would just up the hops a tad as i do like a hoppy beer otherwise i am actually quite happy with it:thumb:

 

[LarryF]

Just had another this evening and perhaps i have been a tad harsh with my comments. Perhaps a little more time has helped but it's actually quite drinkable now with no apparent kit twang at all. Guess at 3.3% it's an easy pint to sink on a hot day and actually went down rather well. If i did another i think i would just up the hops a tad as i do like a hoppy beer otherwise i am actually quite happy with it:thumb:

If you are going to do another one chub1 now's the time to buy it, it's £8 in Wilko at the moment.

 

[chub1]

If you are going to do another one chub1 now's the time to buy it, it's �£8 in Wilko at the moment.

I actually would probably do another at some point. At present i have three kits to use up but really want to concentrate on my small batch extract brews before trying AG.

 

[LarryF]

I actually would probably do another at some point. At present i have three kits to use up but really want to concentrate on my small batch extract brews before trying AG.

I'm in much the same boat, I did the Wilko Hoppy Copper and really liked it but I've got two kits to do and then I'm looking at stocking up on grain. So much I want to brew but just the one FV.

 

[Mbanyard]

I found it tasted quite "home-brew'y" like my dads honebrews, however this was very early on in my brewing and I used regular sugar, which I think was a bigger contributing factor to that than the kit itself. Benefitted from some decent time in bottles to mature

 

[Godsdog]

I found it tasted quite "home-brew'y" like my dads honebrews, however this was very early on in my brewing and I used regular sugar, which I think was a bigger contributing factor to that than the kit itself. Benefitted from some decent time in bottles to mature

Give it or any kit for that matter a go with golden syrup only puts your cost up by a quid or so and makes a difference especially if you dry hop it.I like to go the citra route myself

 

[chub1]

I did this kit with added spraymalt, carahell, crystal malt, golden syrup,challenger hops and styrian goldings hops bolied with the steeped grain liquor and spraymalt.
Nice and clear, good colour, decent head, but pretty bland despite the add ons!not much kit twang.
Came out at 3.3% a tad under the expected abv.
A bit dissapointed really as i expected it to be pretty tasty:-(

Ok 2 months on in the bottles. Had one today, too cold really straight out of the fridge, poured and sipped to allow it to get a tad warmer. Actually a really quaffable beer now, nice malty smell and just a pleasant easy lightish bitter.
Anyone wanting to mess around with a bitter kit could do worse than to buy one.:thumb:

 

[LarryF]

I found my write up for this kit:

Wilko Hoppy Copper
23L 05/09/15 - 19/09/15, summer temps no temp control
Re-pitched Mauribrew 514, 1tsp YN
40g East Kent Golding hop pellets, 20m boil, bag and tea added FV
SG:1048 - FG:1006

ad my first one after ten days in the warm and two days in the fridge. It came out very nice, it's a very drinkable beer I had an OG of 1048 and and FG of 1006 (5.7% or thereabouts). I certainly wouldn't recommend doing this as per the kit instructions and just using brewing sugar I have a feeling you'd have a very thin brew wanting in flavour. What I forgot to add on the last post was that I used 1kg Youngs BE and 100g of honey and this gives the beer a body that I don't think it would have with just brewing sugar. The East Kent Golding hops bring a lovely flavour and it's these that make the beer. This is a good base kit to add to or to tweak and if on sale again I will get it but line up some good hops to add to it and maybe even add a tin of Lyons Golden Syrup to add the extra body. Anyway, I've 35+ pints of this now and really looking forward to drinking them.

I really enjoyed these and they were getting really nice when they ran out, would I do it again, maybe for £8.

 

[Clint]

Hello all,
picked up one of these kits earlier for £6 as it had no yeast with it....any more suggestions to improve it? I was thinking 1.5kg lme and hop tea bag later on. Not used the hops so open to suggestions!

cheers

Clint

 

[chub1]

Hello all,
picked up one of these kits earlier for �£6 as it had no yeast with it....any more suggestions to improve it? I was thinking 1.5kg lme and hop tea bag later on. Not used the hops so open to suggestions!

cheers

Clint

Yup either LME or DME, hop it as well.
I did one and it was ok, could have done with even more hops though.Not a bad kit to muck around with

 

[Clint]

Thanks...couldn't leave it there at that price!

cheers

Clint

 

[Clint]

Hello all
Thinking this kit will be next up ..I'm planning to go the Adnams Broadside /battleship bitter clone off the Coopers Web site which adds 1.5kg dme to their bitter kit ( total 3.2 fermentables )plus 25g EKG 5 minute boil and 25g Centennial steep for 10 minutes after boil then strained into fv. I have the wilko kit plus 2 x 1.5 liquid malt (3.9 kg fermentables) plus the same hops. Any further suggestions? Could I add a further dry hop etc? I'm going to use all the liquid malt as otherwise I'm driving into to town just to get a 500g bag of spraymalt and pay parking etc..

Cheers

Clint

 

[Clint]

Just kicked this off. ..tin plus 2 x 1.5kg liquid malt EKG boil for 5 minutes and centennial steep...house smells like a brewery! Gravity...1060....oops!
..crawlin juice....


Cheers

Clint