Coopers, English Bitter

[LarryF]

Coopers English Bitter
Brewed 23L 23/05/15 - 06/06/15 22-24c (?)
Wilko Gervin Yeast + 1tsp Yeast Nutrient
1kg Youngs BE + 300g honey
25g East Kent Golding pellets - 20min boil and tea and bag added to FV
OG:1060

 

[terrym]

My Coopers English Bitter...
One kit can contents (thanks Tesco sale) made up with 500g Hopped DME and 500g Brewing Sugar and brewed short to just under 21 litres. OG about 1043, down to 1010 and clearing in six days fermentation at about 19degC using kit yeast. Racked off to secondary and dry hopped with 25g Goldings pellets for four days before bottling, having cleared well in FV.
Five days in the warm and then into the garage since clarity and carbonation good (I use clear 2litre PET bottles so I can monitor ).
Completely clear at about eight days in.
Opened first bottle at day twelve. Fully drinkable. Compact yeast, Good lacing down the glass. It has overtones of a dark malt somewhere which might explain the colour.
It comes over as what I would describe as a 'Northern Bitter'.
I will now leave it to see how it matures.

 

[LarryF]

I brewed a Coopers English Bitter and bottled it on 07/02/15, 1kg BE, 454g Lyons Golden Syrup, dry hopped, 25g Aramis hops for five days. I've tried a couple lately after four months in the bottle and they are gorgeous, the hop flavour of the Coppers hop profile and the added Aramis are a lovely mixture and the deep flavour of the beer is a real pleasure. This Coopers English Bitter just continues to impress me, it's very nice, very early but if you leave it then it really comes into it's own.

 

[cmaxx]

Had this kit for my first ever brew! Bottied it on Sunday and the sample I tried before tasted pretty good, now to be patient!

 

[LarryF]

Had this kit for my first ever brew! Bottied it on Sunday and the sample I tried before tasted pretty good, now to be patient!

Hang in there cmaxx it's worth the wait.

 

[cmaxx]

Had this bottled and in the cupboard under the stairs for a week now (well it'll be a week by tomorrow), how long should I leave in there before I put them in my garage?

 

[LarryF]

My first taste is twelve days in the warm, two days in the fridge. After that, I stay away from them as long as I can. You can't go wrong with the 2-2-2 rule. 2 weeks in the FV, 2 weeks in the warm, 2 weeks in the cold.

 

[cmaxx]

Thanks! Going to crack one open next weekend, then put them down in garage. That'll free up the cupboard to brew up one for Christmas!

 

[LarryF]

Thanks! Going to crack one open next weekend, then put them down in garage. That'll free up the cupboard to brew up one for Christmas!

The Coopers English Bitter is a corker beer, it tastes really good early and even better later on. You're going to love it.

 

[Rockhopperross]

This was one of my first ever brews and although it turned out ok I wasn't over the moon with it. If memory serves me correct I brewed with 1kg of coopers brew enhancer 2. With an og of 1042 and an fg of 1007 giving me 4.7%
It brewed well and after 2 weeks it was carbed, bottled and left warm for 2 weeks then into the cool shed for another month.
After about 2 months in the bottle I tried some and could instantly tell it was young and it had a strong after taste that wasn't pleasant. So I left it for another month to mature a bit. This time it tasted much better but had still retained a bit of a twang which became bareable the longer I left it. Not sure what happened with this one to make it taste so twangy but it's all still been drunk! :p

Ross

 

[pms67]

Yeah,my one and Only Coopers Bitter was dreadfull early on but turned into a very nice pint,guess it was the first time i learned that what a difference time makes with every beer.Dry hopping this kit is a must now,just takes it up.a level.

 

[MyQul]

This was one of my first ever brews and although it turned out ok I wasn't over the moon with it. If memory serves me correct I brewed with 1kg of coopers brew enhancer 2. With an og of 1042 and an fg of 1007 giving me 4.7%
It brewed well and after 2 weeks it was carbed, bottled and left warm for 2 weeks then into the cool shed for another month.
After about 2 months in the bottle I tried some and could instantly tell it was young and it had a strong after taste that wasn't pleasant. So I left it for another month to mature a bit. This time it tasted much better but had still retained a bit of a twang which became bareable the longer I left it. Not sure what happened with this one to make it taste so twangy but it's all still been drunk! :p
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]R[/FONT]oss

Kit twang comes from either using table sugar or a stale kit. I think almost all kits are stale to some extent or another as I think LME probably begins to oxidises pretty soon after it's made so I think your EB might have been sitting on a shelf somewhere longer than usual

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"So often, the extract you buy may be more than a year old and the resulting beer may have a dull, soapy character due to oxidation [kit twang-my highlight]"

http://www.howtobrew.com/section2/chapter13.html[/FONT]

 

[cmaxx]

Tried one before moving them down into the garage and it was pretty good, could have easily drank a few more but held strong! Can't wait to try the next one to see how it changes over time! Just finished brewing up my next batch too, Youngs APA.

 

[DanST]

Emptied most of a barrel of this last night as I was having a Halloween party. Fair play it was lovely, got a lot of positive comments. Bloody dangerous though, did the kit and a kg of bke (tesco sale of course) in June/July. Ended up about 5% but went down like a 3% pub bitter very drinkable. Don't know if it was extra conditioning time or what but couldn't catch a hint of twang and it's something I try and pick up.

Reminded me of brains SA (I'm in South Wales and not a big bitter drinker) and if I'm honest the first kit I've done that really tasted like I could have bought it in the pub.

Would recommend this one. If you're thinking about it buy one in the tesco sale next summer, stick it on and shove it in the attic when it's bottled. Get it back down with the xmas trimmings and you'll have a lovely pint.

 

[Bandy]

I have just cracked open my first bottle of home brew which was the Coopers English Bitter and I have to say it is a million times better than I expected.

I brewed this with 1kg of Coopers Brew Enhancer 1, used the Coopers yeast, and left in the FV for 14 days (after reading advice on this forum) and at day 7 I dry hopped with approx 30g of Columbus.

The OG was only 1038, the fermenting action was over fairly quickly and the FG only went down to 1014. I primed 750ml bottles with 2 coopers carbonation drops and 500ml bottles with 1.5 coopers carbonation drops (They are easily cut with a sharp knife) I was not expecting much and was ready to put the brew down as part of my learning curve.

However, when I cracked it open and poured it in the glass I have managed to produce a lovely clear, aromatic English Bitter that is an absolute pleasure to drink. The addition of the hops in the FV for 7 days have definitely helped with the flavour/aroma and I would recommend doing this to anyone. The beer is only around 3.7% which is lower than I would normally drink but doesn't suffer from this as there is plenty of flavour.

So pleased with this brew and I would highly recommend this kit.

 

[LarryF]

I have just cracked open my first bottle of home brew which was the Coopers English Bitter and I have to say it is a million times better than I expected.

I brewed this with 1kg of Coopers Brew Enhancer 1, used the Coopers yeast, and left in the FV for 14 days (after reading advice on this forum) and at day 7 I dry hopped with approx 30g of Columbus.

The OG was only 1038, the fermenting action was over fairly quickly and the FG only went down to 1014. I primed 750ml bottles with 2 coopers carbonation drops and 500ml bottles with 1.5 coopers carbonation drops (They are easily cut with a sharp knife) I was not expecting much and was ready to put the brew down as part of my learning curve.

However, when I cracked it open and poured it in the glass I have managed to produce a lovely clear, aromatic English Bitter that is an absolute pleasure to drink. The addition of the hops in the FV for 7 days have definitely helped with the flavour/aroma and I would recommend doing this to anyone. The beer is only around 3.7% which is lower than I would normally drink but doesn't suffer from this as there is plenty of flavour.

So pleased with this brew and I would highly recommend this kit.

Nice one Bandy, I've done the Copers English Bitter twice and loved them both. You know you're doomed now, once you start HBing there's no going back. Shop around for brew enhancer that has spray malt in it, I used the Youngs from the Tesco Sale at £3.75 a kilo it gives a richer beer and check out the "How to" on dry hopping or hop teas. So what's your next brew going to be?

 

[Bigcol49]

I brewed this with 1kg of Coopers Brew Enhancer 1

Hi, Bandy,
Cooper's Brew Enhancer 1 is 60% dextrose and 40% maltodextrin. Your low(ish) ABV is explained by the fact that the maltodextrin isn't fermentable, but adds body to the finished beer and aids in head retention.
I use BE1 but add extra Dry malt Extract to get the fermentables up to 1kg, or a little higher.
Colin

 

[Brewed_Force]

I woke up early on Sunday and had a burst of energy, so did the laundry, washed the dishes, mended a puncture on my bike, all before 11, then thought what can I do next.... Then I remembered I had a tin Of Coopers EB from Christmas 2014 in the cupboard, plus some ingredients I bought in preparation for my first extract brew.
So I 'pimped' the kit with 200g Crystal steeped for 30 mins, boiled 1 tin of light LME, water and 25g Fuggles pellets for 10 mins. Added kit and topped up to 23L and added the supplied yeast.
Within an hour the airlock was popping!
I haven't used hops before so was surprised how pungent the Fuggles pellets were! I offered them around the family for a sniff test, nobody had a good word to say....:sick:
OG was 10.1 brix at 23°C which works out to 1.0413
Can't wait to see how this turns out. I did a standard Coopers EB last year so it will be interesting to see the comparison with the Crystal & Fuggles version.
Just need to think of a snazzy name and design a label now....

 

[pms67]

I woke up early on Sunday and had a burst of energy, so did the laundry, washed the dishes, mended a puncture on my bike, all before 11, then thought what can I do next.... Then I remembered I had a tin Of Coopers EB from Christmas 2014 in the cupboard, plus some ingredients I bought in preparation for my first extract brew.
So I 'pimped' the kit with 200g Crystal steeped for 30 mins, boiled 1 tin of light LME, water and 25g Fuggles pellets for 10 mins. Added kit and topped up to 23L and added the supplied yeast.
Within an hour the airlock was popping!
I haven't used hops before so was surprised how pungent the Fuggles pellets were! I offered them around the family for a sniff test, nobody had a good word to say....:sick:
OG was 10.1 brix at 23°C which works out to 1.0413
Can't wait to see how this turns out. I did a standard Coopers EB last year so it will be interesting to see the comparison with the Crystal & Fuggles version.
Just need to think of a snazzy name and design a label now....

Yeah, hops are pungent, especially the pellets, sounds good.

 

[pms67]

..............