Coopers Australian Pale Ale

[Kinleycat]

Picked up a couple of these off tesco online (£9.77 each), anyone used them and are they any good?
A brief character discription would be good as i am new to pale ale, it looks somewhere between a lager and a beer - is that right?

 

[anthonyUK]

It is pretty bland TBH but a great base for experimenting.
The IBUs are pretty low in this kit so using both cans is an option.

 

[Pearlfisher]

It is pretty bland TBH but a great base for experimenting.
The IBUs are pretty low in this kit so using both cans is an option.

I agree , I'd also be tempted to bung the tucans in with no added sugar or beer enhancer.

 

[Brewing Boilerman]

I have just bottled this. In Primary for a little over a week. Bulk primed with 150g of sugar. Brewed with 1kg light spray malt and 300g brewing sugar. Ill let you know how it comes out.

 

[Kinleycat]

thanks peeps!! :thumb:

 

[SloeBrewer]

I used to drink this in Australia and I like this as a nice refreshing summer drink, although it's hard to get in the UK, so I was interested to see how the kit turns out. I have brewed it to 22 litres with 1kg of light DME, as I don't want it to be too heavy. OG came out as 1.040, although there were a couple of lumps of DME which just refused do dissolve, although I don't think it's enough to raise the gravity any further.

Not sure what the ABV is supposed to be, but I reckon it should come out at about 4%, which is enough for me, for supping on a sunny evening (here's hoping, anyway!).

I'll report back in a month or so when it's ready :drink:

 

[mmaguy41]

Did a mini mash with this last week, mashed 2.5k of marris otter and about 175g of crystal 80. Then did a little boil and added 15g of styrian goldings at 10 mins. Added the kit and topped up with cold water. Its ready to keg in the next few days but my keg fridge is full so will post back here in a few weeks when its on tap!

 

[Kinleycat]

Did a mini mash with this last week, mashed 2.5k of marris otter and about 175g of crystal 80. Then did a little boil and added 15g of styrian goldings at 10 mins. Added the kit and topped up with cold water. Its ready to keg in the next few days but my keg fridge is full so will post back here in a few weeks when its on tap!

If you are short of storage i could help :drink: :drink: :drink: :drink: :thumb:

 

[MadrikXIV]

Kegged one of these 9 days ago, brewed with Brew Enhancer 2

Pretty much as everyone else said as I couldn't resist, and 'finally' tried it last night, it's drinkable, light on flavour, think it ended at 4% region, useful for a summer session (not that it will make it that far, or that we will get a summer)

Got to get the 'Festival Golden Stag Summer Ale Kit' on before the kegs empty, so I can tell swmbo that I need a 4th keg

 

[Kinleycat]

Not sure wether to bottle or put it in a cornie.
Anyone? :

 

[mmaguy41]

mines in the corny right now, if i were to do it again i might brew it short to 19l to fit in a corny as its a little light on flavour

 

[Kinleycat]

mines in the corny right now, if i were to do it again i might brew it short to 19l to fit in a corny as its a little light on flavour

It ended up in bottles :thumb:

 

[MadrikXIV]

I finsished the lsat of mine last week, and after it had been in the keg for 4 weeks, it was great for a cheap tin with some brew enhancer, very nice pint, so will be looking at doing another but maybe use light malt instead

 

[SloeBrewer]

Bottled this 5 weeks ago, so it's been conditioning for 3 weeks and I tried my first one tonight (already on my second!).

I made this with 1kg of extra light DME, so as not to change the colour and it is a really nice golden colour and probably the clearest beer I've made to date.

Flavour wise, well, as others have said, it doesn't have a lot. I wouldn't say it's bland as it's nicely carbonated, and dry rather than sweet. No real taste of malt and just a hint of bitterness, so it's pretty lightly hopped I reckon. It's going down way too fast, and will make a lovely drink for the summer.

It actually compares pretty well to a bottle I had in a bar a few weeks ago, so for the price, not a bad kit.

If I do this again, then I'm thinking it would benefit from dry hopping some nice citrus-y hops, maybe Amarillo?

If you have any friends who are lager drinkers and afraid of real ale, then get them to try this and bring them into the light!

 

[PuggledPrune]

Think I'm going to brew one of these with 1kg brew enhancer, a summit hop tea, and dry hopping with cascade....

 

[SloeBrewer]

Had some more of these last night and even one extra week has changed it and really improved the flavour. Gave one to a committed lager drinker and they loved it.

I'd like to do this again, might use some hopped, light DME and/or dry hop as well with something light and fruity. I just hope the summer is actually hot, cos I'm looking forward to cracking a few of these open of a warm evening :

 

[Richfarr562]

I like lighter bitters so this one suits me, I brewed a couple of these last summer with 1kg of dme. It makes a great summer pale ale, which works well chilled. I already have some in the barrel for this summer :thumb:

 

[SloeBrewer]

Had another couple of these last night and I have to say, time is key with this brew. My bottles are 2 months old (2 weeks carbonating and 6 weeks conditioning now) and there is a definite improvement over the first one I tried 2 weeks ago.

It's not got a lot of bitterness, but that's not a bad thing in itself, but has developed a nice, fruity flavour and is very crisp and refreshing. I don't think this batch is going to last very long!

 

[Rilers]

Had another couple of these last night and I have to say, time is key with this brew. My bottles are 2 months old (2 weeks carbonating and 6 weeks conditioning now) and there is a definite improvement over the first one I tried 2 weeks ago.

It's not got a lot of bitterness, but that's not a bad thing in itself, but has developed a nice, fruity flavour and is very crisp and refreshing. I don't think this batch is going to last very long!

Agree with giving it time - this was recommended by the guy in my LHBS, so I brewed a few months back with the June Bank Holiday in mind. Used 1kg light DME and topped up to 20.5 litres. Tested one at the weekend, not a huge amount of flavour, but a nice crisp refreshing pint - perfect for a summers day and a BBQ to suit all palettes. Came out stronger than I expected at 5%

 

[nobyipa]

Seems like what ever you do with coopers apa
You cannot do enough
Dry hopped one of my first ones
With Cascade hops about 20 grams
Improved it quite a bit
Used a kilo of brew enhancer 2

Then the next batch I boiled up 100 grams of cascade hops in a litre of water in a muslin sack thingy and mashed all the goodness out of the hops and added that to the mix
With 500 grams of hopped light spray malt 400 grams of brew enhancer and 250 grams of liquid malt extract
And dry hopped too
That was even more tasty

So experimenting with hops and fermentable's seem to be the way.