Coopers, English Bitter

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I think with these you add a kg of dried extract or a kg of brew enhancer. Not done any of them sorry.

If it was me I would just use either of those options and also steep some grains, probably a mixture of crystal and roast barley. 150g to 200g of each. Steeping some grains usually lifts a kit. Hops too, but not crucial with a stout, and there may some hops in the kit?
 
I actually kicked this off last night. The kit came with three big tea bags of hops and malt. Gave off a lovely aroma. Didn't use any sugar at all and stuck to the kilo of dark DME as an additional ingredient. OG of 1045 which isn't too bad.
 
I'm looking to start the coopers English bitter at the weekend, but I've read lots of mixed reviews on whether to use a kilo of normal sugar, brew enhancer or spray malt. can anyone recommend what is best to use so I could pick up the spray malt or enhancer before the weekend if needed :-D
 
Either enhancer or spray malt. Or spray malt with brewing sugar (which is what enhancer is). Some sugar is fine, it lightens the body of the beer, which can be a good thing.

If you like maltiness and body, just use spray malt. If you like a lighter body, use a mix of spray malt and sugar.

A lot of light bodied beers like American Budweiser, Corona, Michelob use corn sugar (same as brewing sugar) or corn syrup and/or rice syrup to lighten the body and the flavour.
 
I'm looking to start the coopers English bitter at the weekend, but I've read lots of mixed reviews on whether to use a kilo of normal sugar, brew enhancer or spray malt. can anyone recommend what is best to use so I could pick up the spray malt or enhancer before the weekend if needed :-D

I adda can of Muntons Amber LME and it turns out a very close to a good pub pint.
 
Coopers English Bitter
Brewed 23L - 25/01/15 - 08/02/15 21c
1kg Youngs Beer Enhancer + 454g Lyons Golden Syrup
11g Wilko Gervin yeast
Dry hopped 25g Aramais hops for five days
OG:1050 - FG:1003
Bottled with 1/2 teaspoon of light brown caster sugar
ABV, about 6.5% (after secondary fermentation)
two weeks hot conditioning then two weeks in the shed

From my first taste of this a month after bottling it's a really,
really nice beer and very difficult to leave alone.
I'm absolutely over the moon with this one as it was my second brew
and patience has just gone out the window. It has a deep brown colour,
a nice head that it holds all the way to the bottom of the
glass and has a rich full taste that is very moreish. I will hold 5 litres
over and give it a full four months so I can see how it ultimately turns out but it won't be easy.

I would heartily recommend this kit and tweaking it will certainly be worth your while. Next time I will pre and dry hop it and my only issue is that I didn't buy two or three of these kits when the Tesco sale was on, I certainly will next time.

Coopers Englis Bitter.jpg
 
I've had 2 coopers english bitter kits for some time so I decided to experiment a little. This is my recipe:

2 tins coopers eb,
500g muntons medium DME
Crystal malt teabag,
2 x Chocolate malt teabags,
Fuggles hop teabag,
Styrian Goldings teabag,
1 campdens tab.

( the teabags were steeped for 25 mins at 66 degs in 10l water).
Topped up to 21 litres, the hop teabags added to the FV.

I waited ages with the FV in a cold bath for the temperature to fall to 24 degs, then pitched the 2 coopers yeast packets.

I did this yesterday, and its bubbling away like a goodun at the moment.
It smelt wonderful, I hope its going to taste as nice.

SG was 1050 so if it goes as low as some have reported, then I'm going to end up with a brew of around 5.5%. :smile:
 
I've had 2 coopers english bitter kits for some time so I decided to experiment a little. This is my recipe:

2 tins coopers eb,
500g muntons medium DME
Crystal malt teabag,
2 x Chocolate malt teabags,
Fuggles hop teabag,
Styrian Goldings teabag,
1 campdens tab.

( the teabags were steeped for 25 mins at 66 degs in 10l water).
Topped up to 21 litres, the hop teabags added to the FV.

I waited ages with the FV in a cold bath for the temperature to fall to 24 degs, then pitched the 2 coopers yeast packets.

I did this yesterday, and its bubbling away like a goodun at the moment.
It smelt wonderful, I hope its going to taste as nice.

SG was 1050 so if it goes as low as some have reported, then I'm going to end up with a brew of around 5.5%. :smile:

Sounds like a fantastic brew, I've just had a bottle of mine now and it's gorgeous. I do the same with the Coopers yeast I use a Wilko Gervin yeast on one and then two Coopers yeast packs on the next and get great results with both. I've ordered another English Bitter with the Tesco Sale going on, I may copy some of your ideas to dress it up. Hope it comes out well, look forward to hearing about it.
 
Annoyingly mine hasn't cleared (despite being in bottles since February) and, even though I let it ferment out, all the bottles are over primed.

So I have cloudy, overly fizzy beer which also doesn't taste particularly good...bugger.

Looks like this is one for the in- laws when they come over.
 
This took a lot longer than I thought it would, stuck at 1020, now down to 1012, so I'm finally gonna bottle it :mad: so next update probably 3 weeks or so.
 
Well, I couldn't wait any longer so I just had a bottle. I was aiming for something similar to hobgoblin, and I think I've got quite close although mine is a little more bitter, I think (not having any hobgoblin to compare it to :-( ). The head didn't last much more than two thirds of the pint, but I think time will improve this. It has plenty of body and just the right amount of carbonation, which in itself is a bit of a success for me :) It got down to 1010 ish eventually so its around 5.2 - 5.3%. All in all I'm very pleased, imo my best brew to date. My next is a St. Peters red, to tweak or not? that is the question:cheers:

20150521_135049.jpg


20150521_134901.jpg
 
I forgot to add, I primed with demerare. A half teaspoon per bottle. I found one of those measuring thingies in the cooking thingies drawer, which explains my carbonation success. :-)
 
did this kit with just a 1.5kg tin of lme and nothing else,put it in my pb for 4 weeks and started drinking it yesterday,already a lovely pint but I'm sure it will be even better in a couple weeks if it lasts that long.:drink:
 
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